The Miami Heat will have to play Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals without Udonis Haslem or Dexter Pittman. Both committed hard fouls in the Heat's Game 5 win over the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night that have been upgraded to Flagrant 2s and suspensions in an effort to cool off the rising tensions between the two teams.
Haslem was issued a Flagrant 1 foul in the second quarter Tuesday after he fouled Pacers forward Tyler Hansborough hard on a jump shot. Not appearing to make any effort to swipe the ball while Hansborough was in mid-shot, Haslem came down hard on his face and shoulder in mid shot, sending Hansborough to the floor. He will serve a one-game suspension for Thursday's Game 6.
The foul was clearly a retaliatory move for a hard foul Hansborough committed on Dwyane Wade a few minutes earlier, but Haslem was lucky the officiating crew did not issue a Flagrant 2, which carries an automatic ejection. "I've seen worse in this league in nine years," he said after the game. "Nobody wants to give an inch and everybody's going hard."
Hansborough's flagrant foul was also upgraded to a Flagrant 2, but he will not be suspended for Game 6.
Stern has precedent for a one-game suspension and fine if he chooses to issue that penalty to Haslem. During the 2011 playoffs, the league suspended Metta World Peace (then going by the name Ron Artest) for one game after he clotheslined JJ Barea in a Lakers-Mavericks Western Conference Semis.
Artest was charged a Flagrant 2 and ejected, so it is not a perfect analogy, but a number of commentators think Haslem's foul should have been called a Flagrant 2, so the two situations are more similar than they appear at first.
Heat center Dexter Pittman has received a three-game suspension for his own Flagrant 1 foul, issued late in the fourth quarter on Tuesday. On a loose ball, Pittman forearmed the Pacers' Lance Stephenson in the chin area.
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Pittman's move was also likely retaliatory. Stephenson had been caught on camera making a choke signal in the direction of LeBron James earlier in the series after James missed a free throw. Stephenson's collarbone was X-rayed for damage after the game, but tweeted two hours after the game that he was fine.
Losing Pittman for Game 6 will not be a huge blow to the Heat, as he has played scant minutes this series. But Haslem's play the last two games has been a major reason the Heat have been able to revert the series' momentum in their favor.
The Heat have tried to make peace with the Pacers, at least verbally. "There's no room for dirty plays in our game, period - no matter if it comes from us or Indiana or anyone in the league at this point," James said Tuesday night. "We're all one group and at the end of the day you don't want to see anyone get injured."
Pacers general manager Larry Bird, meanwhile, is actually mad at his own team, and not the Heat. "I can’t believe my team went soft," Bird told the Indianapolis Star Tuesday. "S-O-F-T. I'm disappointed. I never thought it would happen."
Bird's old-school mindset on physical play might not be shared by the league office, but his team will benefit from the NBA's sensitivity on Thursday night.
