Cavaliers' Snow apologizes

Eric Snow's suspension wasn't as tough as having to explain to his 6-year-old son why daddy wasn't at work.

The Cavaliers guard apologized on Monday for his part in a heated exchanged with Cleveland coach Paul Silas, who suspended the well-respected Snow for one game without pay following their clash in Detroit last week.

"He's the coach," Snow said. "Everybody gets upset when they come out of the game, but there's no need to show frustration."

The Snow-Silas confrontation began when Cleveland's second-year coach pulled Snow from the game following an eight-second violation. Silas was upset that Snow hadn't taken control of the floor and sent in Jeff McInnis to replace him.

On his way off the floor, Snow cursed in Silas' direction as he walked toward Cleveland's bench. Silas didn't stand for it, angrily confronting a seated Snow before ordering him to the locker room for the remainder of the first half.

Snow returned to the bench after halftime but did not play.

On Saturday, Silas suspended Snow for one game, docking him one game's paycheck — about $54,000 — and ending his streak 248 consecutive games played.

Snow, regarded as one of the NBA's model players, said he and Silas have patched up their differences.

"We're moving on," Snow said after practice. "Things happen, unfortunately. I apologize to coach. I apologize to the fans and the team so there is no need to dwell on it. It's an unfortunate incident. It was a misunderstanding, but he's still the coach and he's still allowed to make the decisions that he wants to make and players got to live with it."

While Snow was remorseful, Silas, who suspended forward Ira Newble last season, said he has no regrets for the way he handled the situation.

"If you look at any management-employee relationship, put yourself in that situation. Would you curse at your boss?" he said. "I posed that question to a player and he said, 'I would hope he would only suspend me.' I could not see myself going to (owner) Gordon Gund and saying anything like that."

Making things more regrettable for Snow was that the altercation came during a network TV game, and the incident received added national exposure because of Silas' memorable postgame tirade when he refused to comment, asking a reporter, "Am I speaking Chinese?"

Snow was also troubled by having to tell his son, E.J., who wondered why his father wasn't playing Saturday night.