Gay: Broken jaw came on ‘dirty play’

Team USA forward Rudy Gay told USA Today on Saturday that the broken jaw he sustained in Thursday’s win over Lithuania in the FIBA World Cup in Spain came on a “dirty play.”

The Sacramento King is part of a U.S. squad that will play in the gold medal game against Serbia.

“I’ve got a fracture in my jaw, a broken tooth and am going to probably need a root canal,” Gay said. “The top is where I got hit. It’s painful. It’s uncomfortable, and it still bleeds, so I’ve got to continuously gargle. It is what it is, man.”

He also said the play in which he was elbowed was unnecessary.

After the game, he spoke up about it in the handshake line. That started a shouting match between the two teams.

“I think (the elbow) had a little bit to do with (the situation afterward),” Gay said. “It was a dirty play, man. It was a dirty play.”

Gay said he was not sure who elbowed him. It was either center Ksistof Lavrinovic or his twin brother Darjus Lavrinovic.

“I don’t even remember; I couldn’t tell them apart,” he said.

Gay had his mouth worked on until 2 a.m. Friday morning in Barcelona before flying to Madrid later in the morning.