One lapse in judgment apparently led to another during the Miami Heat‘s opening-round NBA playoff series against the New York Knicks.
A week after Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire injured his left hand when he struck it against a fire-extinguisher case following New York’s Game 2 loss at AmericanAirlines Arena, Heat public-address announcer Michael Baiamonte announced Stoudemire had been “extinguished” when he was disqualified with his sixth foul during the Wednesday Game 5 loss that eliminated New York.
Thursday, the Heat issued a statement apologizing for the call:
“Last night at our game, our PA Announcer had a momentary lapse of judgment and used a poor choice of words in describing Amare Stoudemire’s fouling out of the game. This is not who we are as an organization or who he is as an announcer. Both the Miami Heat and Michael Baiamonte apologize to Amare and the New York Knicks for the inappropriate choice of words.”
Bialmonte was previously best known for his signature “DOS Minutos!” call that comes with two minutes remaining at the end of each quarter, which NBA fans do not love as much as Bialmonte seems to think they do. Stoudemire shrugged off Bialmonte’s joke after Game 5, but it was in poor taste and unnecessary, so it’s good to see the Heat apologize to Stoudemire.