Dexter Pittman Of The Miami Heat Suspended 3 Games For Flagrant Foul On Lance Stephenson

Dexter Pittman of the Miami Heat finally made a name for himself.  His vicious flagrant foul on Indiana Pacers guard Lance Stephenson on Tuesday night earned him a three game suspension from the league.  Pittman clearly did not hide the fact that he was going after Stephenson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSwdmj1arvo&feature=player_embedded

The video clearly shows an intentional elbow to the throat of Stephenson.  Combine that with the fact that Dexter Pittman winked at his teammates after the foul lets you know that something was up.  He was sent out there to send a message.  Outside of that odd start in Game 3, Pittman won’t play meaningful playoff minutes.  This was simply a thug move.

I understand that there should be good hard fouls in the playoffs.  There is a fine line between a hard foul and a cheap shot, however.  Dexter Pittman not only crossed that line, he napalmed it.  He had Stephenson lined up the entire time.  He easily could have boxed him out but he instead went for the dirty play.

This series has gotten awfully nasty the last couple of games.  Game 6 will be an all out war between the two teams.  They both hate each other, so expect more cheap shots.  If the refs decided not to kick out Dexter Pittman on Tuesday, what is going to make them kick players out of Thursday’s game?  I’m half expecting someone to swing a chair.  If you are going to ref it like pro wrestling, let’s at least get some chair shots.

Riley Schmitt is a writer for Rant Sports.