Wizard avoids suspension

But if Washington doesn’t improve, Brendan Haywood will only play two more games.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington Wizards center Brendan Haywood was so steamed over his lack of playing time in last year’s playoffs series against the Cleveland Cavaliers that he left the court before the final game was over and removed the nameplate above his locker.

In this year’s rematch, Haywood has very much made a name for himself. In highlight shows across the land, he’s The Man Who Shoved LeBron James.

“I’ve been criticized normally for not fouling,” Haywood said. “This is actually different ground for me.”

Under orders to give James a rough time in the paint, Haywood took the bruiser’s act a bit too far when he pushed James with both hands while the Cavaliers’ star was airborne during a layup attempt in the third quarter of Cleveland’s Game 2 victory Monday night. Haywood, who made no attempt to go for the ball, was assessed a flagrant foul and ejected from the game.

Haywood, to his relief, learned Tuesday the league opted not to penalize his playing time any further, so he’ll be back for Friday’s Game 3 in Washington as the Wizards try to rebound from an 0-2 hole.

“I feared it could have been worse,” Haywood said. “I was hoping the league wouldn’t take action, but you never know. It’s one of the star players, being LeBron James, I thought they might react a little bit differently. I mean, nothing was meant behind the foul. It was a bang-bang play. He said it himself: He is 6-9, 260, and if you go out there and try and foul him lightly, he is going to score the basketball.”

Haywood said he apologized to James after the game.

“I didn’t mean to hurt him. It’s not one of those type of things,” Haywood said. “I have been instructed to give him hard fouls so he doesn’t get highlight dunks in the halfcourt. I have to do what my coaching staff tells me to do if I am going to stay out there on the court.”

The foul was only one of many hard fouls in a series that has become testier than the trash-talk that preceded it. Both teams have pounded away — Game 2 also included a non-ejection flagrant on Cleveland’s Anderson Varejao for hitting Washington’s Andray Blatche in the face — but the Cavaliers had taken particular exception to the tactics used on James.

“Washington has come out and said they were going to hit LeBron. They said it time and time again,” Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. “You’ve got grown men who say they are going to hit somebody. If that happens, then you got to clean it up. I thought the officials did a nice job during the game of cleaning it up.”