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Chris "Birdman" Anderson on the Miami Heat has officially been suspended for shoving Indiana Pacer player Tyler Hansbrough during their 2013 NBA Playoffs game on Thursday night. The initial foul was called as a flagrant during the game but has since been upgraded to a flagrant 2 violation. If that had been called during game play, Anderson would have been immediately ejected at the time. Anderson will miss game 6 of the heated playoff matchup, leaving the Heat with one less strong player in their quest for the championship.
In a taped interview with NBC Sports Radio, NBA Commissioner David Stern said he thought Andersen should have been ejected after the foul.
"I don't know what he was doing," Stern said, according to a network transcript. "A serious review of his activities is called for."
After Miami turned the ball over and the Pacers made a fast break play down to the other end of the court, Hansbrough perhaps got a little too close to Birdman and was shoved to the ground. Anderson knocked the Pacer to the floor with a shoulder-shove with about nine minutes left in the second quarter. Hansbrough got up and confronted his attacker, only to be pushed backwards as players, referees and coaches intervened.
But Anderson still did not back away or calm down when the referee stepped in. The league later released a statement saying he "resisted efforts to bring the altercation to an end."
After reviewing the play and upgrading the shove from a foul to a flagrant, the officials chose not to make it a Flagrant 2 and throw Andersen out of the game. But on Friday the league upgraded the flagrant to flagrant 2 and has suspended the Heat player.
Chris "Birdman" Andersen has attempted and made all 15 shots from the field in the series. The Miami Heat could miss his size this Saturday against the bigger Indiana front line.
Check out the fould right here:
