Dexter Pittman Suspension: NBA Justified Giving Heavy Punishment to Heat Center

Dexter Pittman is a classic example of a player not knowing where the line between sending a proper physical message to an opponent and taking a cheap shot is.

And because of it, he's now suspended for three games in the postseason.

Justifiably suspended, I might add.

Listen, I get that the Miami Heat wanted to send a physical message to Lance Stephenson after he made a choking gesture in the direction of LeBron James after he missed a vital free throw in Game 3.

And I understand that Game 5 in general got chippy, and both teams ratcheted up the dislike factor.

But what Pittman did was downright dirty, and little else. He made no attempt to even pretend like he was making a basketball play, he clearly led with his elbow and then he freaking winked at the camera as though it was all just fun and games.

Seriously dude, winking at the camera?

Not cool.

Maybe Pittman thinks he's playing hockey, though that would have clearly been a dirty hit even on the ice.

Or maybe he thinks he's returning to a style of play in the '80s, when the game was routinely more physical and played with a different level of aggression.

He should probably be glad he isn't—had he thrown an elbow like that back in the day, he probably wouldn't have cared for the retribution very much, and he might have been on the receiving end of something even more vicious than an elbow.

Clearly, the Heat players planned on sending Stephenson a message at some point in this series, and Pittman took it upon himself to deliver it. I would be inclined to think it isn't a coincidence that a reserve center, and not one of the Heat's regulars, was the one that took a shot at Stephenson.

Don't want to get one of the big guns suspended, after all.

Any way you slice it, it was a punk move, and it's the sort of play that should be avoided at all costs. Sending a physical message with a hard foul is one thing.

But intentionally throwing an elbow with no regard to that player's well-being should is quite another.

Hit me up on Twitter—my tweets will gladly have another as well.