moving up in payout...checking down

I know that David talks about it in one of his books, but I cant find it.
An example situation:
10 person SnG, NLH, with 4 people left(top 3 pay out).
The button moves all in, as he is short stacked with about twice the big blind. The small blind and myself, in the BB, call.
flop comes, and small blind bets out, I have to fold since I hit nothing. he turns over 4 4. The All in turns over 10 J, and has hit top pair. That holds up and he triples up.
Why bet here? Why? If you arent at least pretty confident you have the all in beat, why force the other person out of the pot, when you are talking about moving up in the payout structure. Leave me in the pot, and lets both try to beat the all in.
The pot wasnt that big (compared to the 3 decent stacks), moving up is much more valuable than the small pot.
He protected his hand in an empty side pot!
Does anyone know where David talks about this.
I mean, unless you have a big hand, check it down, and move up in the payout.