Howard joins Kobe with 5 T's

[VC15]

Howard picks up 5th technical:

By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

Orlando's Dwight Howard picked up his fifth technical foul of the playoffs in Sunday night's Game 3 win over Cleveland, tying him with Kobe Bryant for the league lead and leaving Howard just two technicals shy of a one-game suspension.

Players who reach the five-T barrier in the playoffs receive a warning letter from the league office, with one-game suspensions assessed after the seventh technical and every other one thereafter (ninth, 11th, 13th, etc.).

Howard was called for pushing Ben Wallace underneath in the third quarter, and upset with the whistle, he said something on his way to the bench that referee Joey Crawford didn't like and was T'd up. Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy had warned his star to keep his composure so as not to risk a suspension.

"I didn't say anything to Joey Crawford," Howard said. "The response was to the other team. I didn't say anything to Joey Crawford. I'm not stupid enough to get in his face and say anything, so I try to keep it to the other team."

Denver's Kenyon Martin has also been hit with five technicals this postseason, but his past three technicals were rescinded by the league, putting Martin officially at two. A pair of Martin's technicals in Denver's second-round series with Dallas were wiped away -- one of them when a Game 1 hit on Dirk Nowitzki was upgraded from a technical foul to a flagrant foul -- as well as double technicals Martin and L.A.'s Pau Gasol were assessed in Game 2.

Bryant has actually rung up six technicals this postseason, but one of his Ts was also rescinded. After collecting No. 5 in the first game of the Western Conference finals against the Nuggets -- with potentially 13 games left in his season at that point -- Bryant vowed: "I won't get another one."

Other players besides Howard and Bryant who have to be mindful of their T count include Orlando's Hedo Turkoglu (four), Denver's Carmelo Anthony (three) and the Lakers' Lamar Odom (three).

Howard was already forced to a serve a one-game suspension in the first round against Philadelphia after elbowing Sixers center Samuel Dalembert, but Orlando won Game 6 on the road without him to eliminate Philly.

Now, Howard's on thin ice, but the win is what interested him.

"We just kept fighting. That's what we got to do, we fight to the end," Howard said. "We can't worry about nothing, we can't worry about the calls, can't worry about nobody else. We just got to get out there and play."

Interesting that the two teams that hold series leads at this point are in a position that each star player is are two techs away from being suspended for a playoff game.

 

[.snowy]

You mean two techs away.

 

[VC15]

My bad. I always thought it was six techs needed to be suspended for a playoff game.

 

[elcheato]

He should have got another technical for throwing an elbow at one of our players.

 

[mojo]

Interesting to see what happens if both teams make the finals!
Funny if both of them are suspended for the same game, a Game 6 or 7 to decide a series!
haha