Richardson, Pachulia suspended for skirmish

The Orlando Magic will be without starting shooting guard Jason Richardson for Sunday's pivotal Game 4 of their first-round playoff series with the Atlanta Hawks.

The NBA announced Saturday that Richardson and Hawks center Zaza Pachulia have both been suspended one game for an altercation that occurred late in Friday's 88-84 Hawks victory.

The fracas started with 2:21 left in the game, when Pachulia took offense to what he thought was an intentional elbow from Dwight Howard.

Howard's arm came down near Pachulia's head after a shot, and Pachulia went after the Magic center but first ran into Richardson. Pachulia then exchanged barbs with Richardson and made contact with the Orlando swingman's head three times.

Richardson responded to Pachulia's face-to-face contact with an open-handed swipe to the side of Pachulia's head. After the referees convened and reviewed video of the altercation, both players were ejected.

"We don't condone fighting or anything like that, but certainly, any time the play gets physical, you can't back down," Hawks coach Larry Drew said. "And I don't ever want my team backing down from rough and tough play."

Richardson, who averaged 8.7 points on 30 percent shooting in Orlando's first three games, dodged any questions about the dust-up after the game, saying he "didn't want to talk about it."

Saturday, Richardson responded on Twitter:

"Hard part about this is not being able 2 be out there with my teammates. I wouldn't change anything that happen last night because 1) I was protecting a teammate and 2) I was protecting myself. I appreciate all the support. I'll be back and ready for game 5."

The suspension didn't exactly come as a surprise, given Orlando's recent history in situations like these. Magic small forward Quentin Richardson was suspended one game for a similar altercation with Charlotte's Gerald Henderson earlier this month.

Though his efforts ended up being in vain, Howard said Friday he believes the league should strongly consider whether Richardson and Pachulia deserve the same fate.

"I don't know, if you get head-butted three times, you're going to have some kind of reaction," Howard said. "Hopefully they look at the whole thing, but if he can't play, other guys have to step up."

For Orlando, those other guys will likely be J.J. Redick, Quentin Richardson and even Gilbert Arenas. Arenas didn't play in Game 3 on Friday and seems to have fallen out of favor with Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy.

The Magic will also need a better performance out of small forward Hedo Turkoglu. After averaging 10.8 points in the regular season on 45 percent shooting and 41 percent shooting from 3-point range, Turkoglu has struggled mightily in the playoffs.

Through three games, Turkoglu has averaged only 8.3 points on 25 percent (9-of-36) shooting. Turkoglu has hit just 18 percent of his 3-pointers (3-for-17) and is shooting just 5-for-27 outside the paint.

"Like anybody, he's struggling a little bit, and because he's struggling, he's not playing with as much confidence and not playing as freely," Van Gundy said. "You miss and miss and miss, and it starts to effect you, and he's got to get over that."

Howard, who also received a technical foul for his role in the skirmish, will not be suspended, though a suspension for Howard wouldn't have been unprecedented.

Howard was suspended for Game 6 during the first round of the 2009 playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers after he elbowed Sixers center Samuel Dalembert in the head, although that elbow was far more blatant than the one Friday.

Howard said Friday's play was in no way similar to the one from two years ago.

"I didn't elbow him," Howard said of the contact with Pachulia. "You've seen me elbow somebody or come close to elbowing somebody."

The Magic should thank their lucky stars Howard avoided any additional punishment. Orlando has been a mess all season along when Howard isn't available, and that hasn't changed in the playoffs.

During Howard's three minutes on the bench to start the second quarter of Friday's game, Orlando watched a 25-25 tie turn into a 33-28 deficit, and all season long the Magic have struggled when they don't have Howard at their disposal.

"It was very hard to even let him get a drink of water," Van Gundy said. "We just struggle so much when he's off the floor. We shouldn't struggle as much as we do. We've had games we played without him, and we've played OK, but . . . he goes off the floor, and rebounding, interior defense, the game gets easy for the other team."

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