Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers series getting flagrant – NBA Feature
The Eastern Conference Semi Final series between the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers has officially gone physical. The whole series has been marred by harsh exchanges and stare downs, but physicality touched another level in
the blow out game 5 victory for the Miami Heat that gave then a 3-2 advantage over the Pacers.
Three flagrant -1 fouls were committed during the game. The first one was committed by Tyler Hansbrough on Dwyane Wade.
Wade was driving into the lane for a layup when Hansbrough stretched out his arm from behind, going for the ball seemingly. However, he hit Wade smack on his face, which saw Wade crashing down to the floor. Wade received a cut
on his eye and had to leave the game to get himself checked.
“I took a shot that I thought was uncalled for at that time. Obviously my face is not the ball” said Wade regarding the play.
Seconds later, Udonis Haslem committed a flagrant – 1 on Tyler Hansbrough while he attempted a jump shot. Haslem jumped and crashed both his hands on the face and neck of Hansbrough, which saw him go down hard on the floor.
Haslem did not seem to be going for the ball in any way and it was clearly a retaliatory shot at Hansbrough, revenge for the foul Hansbrough committed on Wade and also for the foul of which he was on the receiving end in game 4.
The referee called it as a flagrant – 1 as well.
"I made a play on the ball. Check my rap sheet. Nine years in the game and I ain't never played to hurt nobody” said Haslem.
But the most ridiculous of all the fouls came with 20 seconds left in the game and both teams having emptied their benches as Miami had already sealed the victory.
Heat reserve center Dexter Pittman put his elbow straight into the neck of Lance Stephenson as he ran into the paint for an attempted rebound. The blow was in no way part of any play, and seemed as if he had done it on purpose.
Stephenson was leveled to the floor and was seen holding his neck in pain. Stephenson had been involved in an incident in game 3, when he made a choking sign directed at James after James missed a free throw. That resulted in Heat
veteran Juwan Howard having a confrontation with Stephenson during warm up before game 4. To the surprise of everyone, the foul by Pittman was also called a flagrant – 1.
All three fouls are being reviewed by the NBA because of the noise they have been making in blogs on the internet and it is likely that suspensions will be handed down.
Before the game, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat called out Pacers forward Danny Granger for creating confrontations in the previous three games. James called his actions “stupid” while Wade questioned his intentions.
“We can be physical and do all that but certain things got to stop. Are you out here to play basketball or are you out here to be a tough guy” said Wade.
Granger sprained his right ankle when he accidently stepped on LeBron’s foot and had to leave for the rest of the game. His x-ray came back negative but he is a game time decision for game 6.
After the game, Pacers President Larry Bird said to the Indianapolis Star:
“"I can't believe my team went soft. S-O-F-T. I'm disappointed. I never thought it would happen."
With all that is happening both on and off the court in this series, count on game 6 to be an even more physical and charged up game.
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