Charlie Villanueva Trash Talks Isaiah Thomas About Hard Fouls

Just because Charlie Villanueva’s wallet is a little lighter following the $25K fine he received from the NBA for elbowing Isaiah Thomas’ mug, doesn’t mean he’s got any less bravado. Charlie V took shots at the diminutive Sacramento Kings point guard through the media today. Per the Detroit News: “Charlie Villanueva, dirty player? According to Sacramento Kings guard Isaiah Thomas, Villanueva qualifies for that label, after Villanueva’s hard foul Tuesday night resulted in a flagrant 2, an automatic ejection. Villanueva was incredulous when the notion was presented to him. ‘Dirty player? Not at all,’ said Villanueva. ‘It was an open lane, I tried to block it, he’s 4-foot-11, 100 pounds soaking wet so it looks bad.’ Villanueva felt Thomas, who is 5-foot-9, doesn’t have the NBA experience, as a second-year player, to differentiate between a hard foul and a dirty play. ‘None. He has less than 100 games? I didn’t know that,’ Villanueva said. ‘He was a rookie last year? I didn’t know that.’ His obvious annoyance and sarcasm about Thomas’ credentials notwithstanding, Villanueva felt the ejection itself was unwarranted, given that Thomas’ reaction seemed to lead to the officials reviewing the foul, which came after the shot clock expired with seconds remaining in the first half. ‘He came after me. I learned my lesson after the last time (laughs); I wasn’t gonna do anything,’ Villanueva said. ‘I’m not trying to hurt anybody out there.'”