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If you've not been paying attention (and really, who could blame you?), the U.S. men's basketball team is playing in the FIBA World Cup and recently faced New Zealand. Former Pitt center and New Zealander Steven Adams isn't playing for his country, but still has found a way to get involved.
As you would expect, Team USA had little trouble with New Zealand in the game. But the real drama was off the court. Before the game, New Zealand's players performed their ritualistic Haka dance. Golden State Warriors guard Andre Iguodala commented afterwards on Twitter, which is where all fueds start these days, right?
New Zealand thought they dance was gone intimidate us.... That ain't nothing but the A town stump! #GoUSA #FIBAWorldCup2014
— Andre Iguodala (@andre) September 2, 2014
Adams saw the tweet and, well, let's just say, he wasn't amused. His tweet has since been deleted, but here's a photo of it, where he asked Andre to respect his culture.
If we're being fair, Iguodala didn't really disrespect the dance. He's only saying that it wasn't intimidating. That said, there really wasn't much need to bring it up and it's just kind of childish to call out a ritual that New Zealanders take very seriously. I mean, it's just bad form.
Adams deletion of the tweet pretty much shows me that he may have realized that he took Iguodala's tweet too seriously. It will be interesting to see how they interact when their teams face off this season - especially if Adams and Iguodala both happen to start since the starters shake hands during introductions.
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