Houston coach J.B. Bickerstaff was also fined $10,000 for public criticism of the officiating after the game.
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Howard was ejected from Saturday’s game against the Washington Wizards after picking up his second technical foul for pushing Nene Hilario in the fourth quarter.
“We don’t like to blame referees”, Bickerstaff said.
In their final meeting of the season, the Houston Rockets host the Miami Heat at the Toyota Center in the regular season of the National Basketball Association. After Howard received a technical foul for the exchange with Nene, he struck the arm of official Mitchell Ervin.
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Howard is averaging 14.4 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game for the Rockets this season while shooting 61 percent from the field. The ankle caused Howard to effectively miss four games and being ejected in the last two has not allowed him to be on the court as much as the Rockets need him. “The big guys should be able to bang and should be able to be physical, there’s no problem with that, in my opinion”. Everybody says it’s not a contact sport, but if you ask any post player, it’s a contact sport, and we’re OK with that, we’re OK with that physicality, it plays at an advantageous for us at times. It was his second consecutive game ending in an ejection.
