PHILADELPHIA VS. TORONTO MILWAUKEE VS. CHARLOTTE SAN ANTONIO VS. DALLAS L.A. LAKERS VS. SACRAMENTO

Wednesday, May 30 Howard plucks Rose with another hard foul Associated Press DALLAS -- Dallas forward Juwan Howard took down another airborne San Antonio Spurs player and again was hit with a flagrant foul. Howard Howard drilled Malik Rose as he was soaring toward the basket with 1:24 left in San Antonio's 104-90 victory Wednesday night that put the Spurs up 3-0 in the best-of-seven series. The play was very similar to the way Howard took down Derek Anderson in Game 1. Anderson separated his right shoulder and is out 3-to-6 weeks. On that play, Howard was assessed the most severe type of flagrant foul, which included an ejection. This time, Rose remained in the game and Howard received a lesser flagrant. Rose landed hard and Howard was the first to reach down to help him. Rose walked off the pain, then sat on the scorer's table to catch his breath. Howard tried apologizing, but was shoved away by Terry Porter. Howard saw no reason to apologize for his action. "It always happens to me, unfortunately," Howard said. "We got the Spurs thinking I do this on purpose. He's trying to dunk on me, our arms got tangled and we collided." San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich took offense to Howard's play. "I thought what happened was totally unnecessary," Popovich said. "We're tired of hearing 'I didn't mean it.' At that point in the game, that's not necessary." Howard shrugged off Popovich's reaction. "I don't have to apologize to him. I told Malik I'm sorry," Howard said. "I'm sick and tired of explaining myself. I asked Malik if he was OK." Rose stayed in the game and hit both free throws. "We can't afford to keep losing guys," Spurs' David Robinson said. "It's frustrating for us because we've already lost one guy." Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories

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