Miami Heat angered over suspensions handed to Udonis Haslem and Dexter Pittman – NBA News
The Miami Heat seem to have been angered by the penalties handed out to Udonis Haslem and Dexter Pittman after game 5 of their Eastern Conference Semi Final clash against the Indiana Pacers.
Game 5 saw new levels of intensity and physicality in the series when three flagrant 1 fouls were called in the game. One went to Tyler Hansbrough for hitting Wade on the face while attempting to block him as Wade went for a drive.
Wade received a cut over his eye.
The 2nd was called on Haslem for hitting Hansbrough on the face and neck with both hands as he went for a jump shot. And the final one was given to Dexter Pittman who delivered a blatant elbow to the neck of Lance Stephenson
of the Pacers as he approached the rim for a rebound.
The NBA reviewed all three plays after the match after much criticism that the referees had gone soft on the plays. They decided to hand out a one game suspension for Haslem and a three game suspension for Pittman. Hansbrough’s
foul was elevated to a flagrant 2 along with the other two, but he was not handed a suspension. That meant that Haslem did not play game 6 against the Pacers, but Hansbrough did. Miami eventually won the game and sealed the series with a 4-2 victory that saw
them progressing into the Eastern Conference Finals.
However, before the game, Heat coach made his views public about the suspensions handed to his players.
“We'll accept the decision. We don't agree with it. We totally support UD as a player and as a family member. He has supported his teammates and this Miami family for nine years. His reputation speaks for itself. He's a hard-nosed
player, a physical player, who is a clean player and he doesn't play over that line”
“In nine games now (against Indiana), there's been over a dozen hard fouls to the face, some of the tomahawk variety, some of them have drawn blood. They don't have a problem with it, so we don’t have a problem with it” said Spoelstra
as he seemed annoyed and frustrated over the league’s penalty.
Both Haslem and Pittman had already made the journey with the team to Indiana for game 6 before the suspensions are announced. Haslem took part in the team shoot around but both Haslem and Pittman were not present in the arena
during the match.
LeBron James agreed with the comments of his coach and added that if Hansbrough had been given a flagrant 2 there and then for his play on Wade, he would have been ejected from the game and Haslem’s retaliatory foul would never
have happened.
“It’s not the first time (Hansbrough) went after one of our players this year. All you have to do is look at the play. He knew exactly what he was headed for,” said James.
Even Dwyane Wade was not happy with the officiating, saying that the Pacers had been coming after him all series, and nobody else was noticing that.
However, with the Heat winning the series, the attention now moves to game 7 of the Philadelphia and Boston series. The winner will meet Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals and rest assured, it is going to be as physical as
the Miami-Indiana series, if not more.
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