Update: Howard ejected, Miller instigates

Josh Howard’s ejection followed Kings center Brad Miller shoving Devin Harris in the second quarter in what seemed like a case of mistaken identity. Miller and Mavs rookie Nick Fazekas got tangled up under the Kings basket, but as Dallas was pushing the ball up the court, Miller turned and knocked Harris down.

Miller admitted after the game he knew it wasn’t Harris on his back. He just wanted to stop the game to get the officials’ attention. Harris jumped up quickly and confronted Miller, leading to the stoppage of play with 7:01 left in the period. Howard ran down the court and struck Miller high with his forearm.

“It’s emotion,” Howard said. “I saw what he did to Devin. I came to the aid of my teammate. I’m going to leave it alone. The NBA is going to have to deal with it.”

Howard could face additional punishment from the NBA office, but his ejection doesn’t lead to an automatic suspension. The league probably won’t decide until Thursday at the earliest. Johnson doesn’t believe a suspension is warranted. Howard’s teammates are hoping for the best.

“You protect your teammates,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “Obviously Josh is heated. We all know that, so we’ll see what the league says about it. Hopefully this preseason game doesn’t come around to hurt us for the regular season.”

Howard was ejected on the Flagrant Foul 2. Miller received a Flagrant 1 and stayed in the game. Kings forward Kenny Thomas was hit with a technical.

Before he left the court, Harris patted Howard on the chest in a show of support. A smiling Howard threw his wristbands into the crowd while being escorted to the locker room.

For his part, Miller may be hearing from NBA executive vice president Stu Jackson.

“I don’t know what happened,” Harris said. “He turned and pushed me to the floor. You can’t have that.”

Officials are required to do video reviews on plays involving several triggers, including Flagrant 2 fouls and player altercations. However, officials didn’t have their review equipment in place since the game was played at a college arena.

They were only able to huddle up and decide punishment. The game was televised by the Kings and the incident was shown repeatedly courtside, but the officials never saw a replay.