Oh Dwight, you should know better.
Dwight Howard was frustrated by late in the fourth quarter Wednesday night. His team had squandered most of the 18 point third quarter lead it had (the Rockets would eventually blow all of it and lose), Dirk Nowitzki was pretty much scoring at will, and some Mavericks fans had been letting Howard have it all game.
So after one play where Jose Calderon made the smart play and fouled Howard rather than let him dunk, the ball ended up in Howard’s hands and he tosses it into the crowd at one of his hecklers. He didn’t throw it with anger, this wasn’t going to hurt anyone, it was a gentle toss, but it was a pretty stupid move nonetheless. Howard instantly picked up a technical for it.
He’s likely also going to pick up a fine from the league. The suits in Manhattan get very touchy on the subject of players reacting negatively to fans who paid big money to be in those court side seats. You pay the money, you can say pretty much whatever you want (even stuff that crosses the line of decency) and the players know that’s the deal. They can’t get baited. Howard bit. He chose... poorly.
(Hat tip to SLAM for the video)