Vince Carter got hurt in the fourth quarter of the Bobcats-Magic game when he made a quick dribble move near mid-court and slipped on a wet spot, splaying his legs and suffering a hip flexor. Magic coach Stan Van Gundy spoke about it after the game:
"We got a guy hurt simply because they wouldn't dry a damn wet spot," said Van Gundy, who added that a Bobcat player slipped in the spot earlier. "When a player goes down they're supposed to do it. They didn't care. That's ridiculous. I'm just ticked off."
Obviously, he's annoyed that a key player got hurt, but...
1 -- Having seen the entire sequence of events played back on ESPN, including the 20-30 seconds of play before Carter slipped (not included in online video), one of the guys with towels who wipes down the floor is clearly visible running onto the floor to wipe up as the Bobcats brought the ball up to the Magic end of the floor. That is to say: They had someone there to wipe up. He went on the floor to wipe up. They demonstrably care about such things.
2 -- The play happened closer to the half court line than the foul line. The wiper's job is to get as much moisture off the floor as possible without interfering with play. If Van Gundy wants the game stopped to be sure all wet spots are totally dry, blame the refs for not stopping the game, not the Bobcats staff that did exactly what they were supposed to do, which is run out on the floor and wipe as much moisture as possible without interfering with the game.
3 -- Van Gundy should have stopped and thought for a moment before running his mouth on this one. Yeah, he's pissed, but he might've gotten some kid reprimanded (or fired). He got a technical during the game right after that play, so it's pretty clear he was stewing for a while. In the end, this will blow over, and Van Gundy's not exactly known for being reserved, but it's still kind of crazy that he didn't handle this with a reasonable amount of tact.