CJ McCollum obviously wasn’t in the best mood after getting swept by the New Orleans Pelicans, and one of his local writers didn’t help matters any.
The Portland Trail Blazers guard was involved in a scrap in the second quarter of Saturday’s season-ending loss to New Orleans when he committed a hard foul on Pelicans counterpart E’Twaun Moore. Some words and shoving ensued, and McCollum was whistled for a flagrant 1 foul on the play.
Pelicans and Blazers get heated after C. J. McCollum foul pic.twitter.com/bAcJDAq9kE
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) April 21, 2018
Shortly afterwards, basketball writer Jason Quick, who covers the Blazers for NBC Sports Northwest, sent a tweet about the “frustration” foul and said that McCollum had “always bordered on cheap and dirty.” Here is a screenshot of the tweet, which has since been deleted.
Boom pic.twitter.com/cWvHmljYur
— #LakerNation (35-47) (@TAizenberg) April 22, 2018
Hours later, Quick admitted to deleting the tweet and offered a retraction.
An earlier tweet regarding CJ McCollum's flagrant foul has been deleted. I used a poor choice of words. CJ has always been a spirited and tenacious player. Tonight was no exception.
— Jason Quick (@jwquick) April 22, 2018
The damage was done however, as McCollum soon responded to Quick’s “apology” and called him out for disrespecting his character in the first place. The former Most Improved Player also added a stinging reference to how Quick was always trying to get quotes from him for a story.
A lion doesn’t concern itself with the opinion of sheep. However don’t disrespect my character. You said what you said and you meant it. Have that same energy next time you want to write a story or get a quote from the one who has “always bordered cheap and dirty” https://t.co/E2kwgs5wVK
— CJ McCollum (@CJMcCollum) April 22, 2018
McCollum, 26, has always been for holding the media accountable, and Portland’s disappointing first-round sweep at the hands of a lower seed provided the perfect storm for him to put Quick in his place here.
