The Houston Rockets caught a break on Tuesday when Rod Thorn, the NBA’s President of Basketball Operations, announced that Dwight Howard‘s flagrant foul-1 will stand, and will not be upgraded to a flagrant foul-2, as reported by Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group.
The foul occurred during the third quarter of the Golden State Warriors 128-115 loss to the Rockets in game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, when Andrew Bogut tried to keep Howard from getting a rebound. As you can see below, Howard did not take too kindly to the hold, and threw his arm back in frustration, catching Bogut in the head.
If the foul was upgraded to a flagrant-2, there was a possibility that Howard could be suspended for Thursday’s game 5.
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After the game, Bogut was asked about the play when a reporter mentioned the fact that he got hit in the face.
“Yep. I sure did. It was a foul on me too. I got hit by his elbow.”
When asked if he thought the call should have been a flagrant-2, his answer was short and sweet.
“It is what it is. Whatever they called it is.”
The Rockets players and coaches did not believe the foul rose to the level of unnecessary and excessive. In the postgame locker room, Howard was asked about the foul and his concern of it being upgraded.
“I don’t mean to do anything intentional, to hurt anybody on the floor,” he said. “My reaction was just to get away from him, and I was glad I didn’t hit him.
My reaction was to try to get him off me, but I can’t react that way. Just try to do my best to get away from the situation as quick as possible.”
On Wednesday, before the NBA announced their decision, Kerr was asked what he saw on the play.
“I mean he elbowed him in the head. I don’t really know what the rule is. I’m not sure anyone really knows what the rule is,” Kerr said during media availability. “Every case is a little different. There doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer and there is a lot of grey area in a lot of these plays. I saw one replay on the board. He definitely elbowed Andrew in the head.”
When asked if he hopes Howard is suspended for Game 5 he laughed and quickly responded.
“I’m not answering that.”
Now that the decision has been made, Howard will be eligible to play in Game 5 which tips off tonight at 6:00PM PDT at Oracle Arena.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via USA Today)
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