Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard has been suspended for one game without pay for Tuesday’s first-quarter elbow to the head of Philadelphia 76ers center Samuel Dalembert.
The NBA announced the suspension Wednesday afternoon.
The league announcement stated that Howard will serve his suspension Thursday night in Game 6 at Philadelphia. The Magic lead the series three games to two after their 91-78 win.
Video replays clearly showed Howard swiping at Dalembert’s head.
A subsequent Howard elbow that made unintentional contact with teammate Courtney Lee has left Lee with a fractured sinus that has already ruled the rookie guard out of Game 6.
In a radio interview Wednesday morning with WIP in Philadelphia, Sixers general manager Ed Stefanski likened the elbow to a punch.
“The rule is obvious,” Stefanski told the station. “I contacted the league immediately after the play. … To me there’s no difference than a punch. The rule states clearly if there’s an elbow thrown to the head and there’s contact, then the player should be ejected. The officials said that they didn’t see contact and that’s why they gave him a technical foul instead of an ejection.
“I have no idea what the league will do, but to me the rule is black and white, it’s clear,” Stefanski continued. “What I saw was clear. I felt an elbow above the shoulders made contact on someone’s head and it wasn’t part of the play.”
The Magic have two natural options to replace Lee — defensive specialist Mickael Pietrus and sharpshooter J.J. Redick, who combined to log 59 minutes after Lee departed Game 5 — but no way to replicate what Howard, the NBA’s newly minted Defensive Player of the Year, gives them.
Reserve center Tony Battie shot 9-for-9 from the field against the Sixers in a regular-season game in November, but Battie has played only 24 minutes in this series so far and none since Game 3.
The suspension will cost Howard $125,073 in salary.
One game, how weak. But hey I guess he gets the message. Great for us considering all we have to do now is guard the 3-point line. Lets take this and even the series up!
