dwight howard suspended

Orlando center Dwight Howard's elbows ended up sidelining two Magic players for Game 6 against Philadelphia on Thursday.

The NBA suspended Howard one game without pay for a right elbow delivered to 76ers center Samuel Dalembert's head with 9:15 left in the first quarter of Game 5 in Orlando's 91-78 victory Tuesday.

Later in the first quarter, Howard jumped to block Willie Green's shot, and when Howard came down, his left elbow smashed guard Courtney Lee in the face and fractured his sinus. Lee will also miss Game 6.

“I’m very disappointed but I have to respect the N.B.A.’s decision,” Howard said in a statement. “I didn’t intend to hurt anyone.”

Stu Jackson, the league’s executive vice president for basketball operations, said Howard would have been ejected from the game if the referees had seen him make contact. Jackson said the contact was clear-cut on video replay.

“They saw the elbow thrown but they couldn’t determine whether or not the elbow actually made contact with Dalembert,” Jackson said. “This was an elbow that was thrown that made contact above the shoulders, and by rule there’s an automatic suspension.”

On his blog, Howard wrote Wednesday: "I'm just out there trying to win. That's got to be taken into consideration. I think when the league looks at the total picture of what's happened throughout this series that they will understand it's a physical game down in the paint."

The Magic leads the Sixers, 3-2, in the best-of-seven series.

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