Casspi and coach have words

Omri Casspi's frustration with being marginalized in the Sacramento Kings' recent games boiled over on Friday night in Philadelphia.

By ALLON SINAI
OmriCasspi's frustration with being marginalized in the Sacramento Kings'recent games boiled over on Friday night in Philadelphia.
Casspiand coach Paul Westphal had a brief but heated exchange in the secondhalf of the loss against the Sixers, when the Israeli rookie didn'twant to be taken out of the game.
After a superb start to theyear, Casspi has dropped down in the pecking order over Sacramento'slast couple of games, ever since star shooting guard Kevin Martinreturned from injury.
Casspi scored six points and took sixrebounds in the team's last two encounters, a 98-86 defeat atPhiladelphia on Friday and a 96-86 loss on the road to the WashingtonWizards on Saturday.
OnFriday, he let his temper get the better of him, but a day later,Casspi and Westphal said the issue had been resolved immediately.
"I'vebeen on the team 40 games, and even when I had bad days, I never had anargument or fight with nobody," Casspi said. "[The outburst] was partof the game. I got frustrated a little bit in the third quarter. Ididn't really feel involved in the offense."
Casspi will not be fined for his outburst, but Westphal said that he will not tolerate a reoccurrence of the incident.
"Ithink Omri is super-competitive, and we want players who aresuper-competitive, but we've got to control our emotions, too," saidWestphal, who also added that Casspi's starting small forward spot isby no means secure.
"He got a little upset about coming out ofthe game. Everybody gets upset about coming out of a game, but he is ina fight for playing time as well as in a fight with the other team.
"You have to focus your fight towards the other team and do as well as you can and make the most of your playing time."