Dieng should have said something, but there was something worse than that. The Nets were about to inbound the ball with Whitehead lying on the floor. The REF WHO STOOD LESS THAN 5 FEET AWAY FROM ALL THIS DID NOTHING. ALL HE DID WAS LOOKING AROUND AT THE NETS BENCH TO SEE IF THE COACH WOULD CALL A TIME OUT. THE NETS COACH FINALLY CALLED A 20 SECOND TIMEOUT AT WHICH TIME THEY ALL RUSHED TO SEE IF HE WAS OK.
Why was there no protocol for the Ref to step in at this point considering it's potentially a serious head/concussion injury. Surely this is WAYYYY more important than whether or not the Nets would burn a timeout to see if the player was OK.
The NBA cannot rely on players like Dieng to do the right thing, but they can set up a process in which the REF CAN STEP IN WHEN THEY SEE IT AND DO THE RIGHT THING.
I was actually quite angry about all this when I first saw it. SERIOUS INJURIES SHOULD NOT TAKE A SECOND SEAT TO THE OUTCOME OF THE GAME OR A SIMPLE TIMEOUT CALL.
Btw fun fact: In Germany you can face a prison sentence when a court manages to prove that you've indeed witnessed someone in situation where he needed help and chose not to. Human ethics should be included in the rulebook, even if it results in a player abusing that rule once a year to gain his team half a point. That player will face the backlash from fans, media, other players and referees no longer giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Reason I singled out Dieng was that when your 250 lb body lands on an uneven surface like the jaw of another player that you just pushed to the floor with your lowered shoulder(and should have been called a charge) then you notice that unless you have nerve damage in your feet as a result of chemotherapy or whatever. You're the one who knows best how severe the injury of your opponent that you just injured could be apart from that person himself.
I'm also surprised that CLinton didn't win Ohio. I would have predicted before the election that the support of James could have really swung that state. I really thought he'd have that kind of personality to influence people's political orientation.