NBA Back: 7 Things That Could Happen In A Short NBA Season- (#2) Dwight Howard Suspended Three Games Due To Technicals
With just six days left until an NBA season cut short by a lockout begins, let’s continue the daily countdown (in no particular order) of stories we can possibly see during the truncated 2011-12 season.
After months of battling on the side of owners and administration against players in the lockout negotiations, NBA Commissioner David Stern has had enough of players exerting their power and bravado.
Stern tells referees to take no attitude from players and to be quick to hand out technical fouls when players make a scene about their disagreement with calls. And who does this hurt more than Orlando Magic center Dwight “Superman” Howard?
The rule in the NBA with technical fouls is that once a player receives 16 of them in a season, they’re suspended one game, and the one game suspensions continue for every two technical fouls after that. And even in a season shortened by 16 games, this is the prime season for Superman to demonstrate the rule.
Already upset about being stuck in Orlando instead of New Jersey or Los Angeles, as was in the works, Howard lets his frustration out by being even more aggressive on the court than ever. As in the past, this earns him fouls that maybe shouldn’t even be called on him, but are because of the way he just overpowers and throws players around.
And what does an already frustrated NBA star do when he feels he’s being bombarded by unfair foul calls? He contests it vehemently. Throws his hands up, slams the ball down, screams at the official, all which refs have been instructed by Stern to meet with a T (basketball slang for technical foul).
On April 5, against the New York Knicks, with Tyson Chandler guarding him tough, Howard makes a strong move to the basket to counterattack what he feels is holding by Chandler that’s been happening the whole game. Howard is called for an offensive foul which he immediately responds to by throwing a hard chess pass to the official. Sure he was just giving the ball to the ref like he needed to, but it was a little too strong for the official’s taste.
There goes technical foul number 16 for Superman, he’ll be sitting out the next game. During the remaining 11 regular season games and Orlando’s first round playoff appearance, Howard picks up numbers 18 and 20 for two more suspensions, all in less than the time of one normal 82-game regular season.
