Brent Yarina, BTN.com Senior Editor, May 20, 2012
Former Fab Five member Juwan Howard played a total of three minutes through the first three games of Miami's Eastern Conference semifinal series against Indiana. The Wolverine product made his biggest contribution of the series prior to Game 4 on Sunday, when he confronted Indiana's Lance Stephenson during shootaround. The two needed to be separated. Watch the video of Howard confronting Stephenson.
Why would Howard seek out a player like Stephenson, a guy with 143 career points? Because he was the player on the Indiana bench who gave LeBron James the choke sign late in the third quarter of Game 3. Howard and the Heat took offense, clearly, and he wanted to let Stephenson, a second-year pro out of Cincinnati, know that kind of behavior won't fly.
Howard, in his 18th NBA season, nowadays makes his impact with his leadership and intangibles, and this is a perfect example. Averaging 1.5 points and 1.7 rebounds in 6.8 minutes per game this season, Howard is fully aware of his role. The No. 5 pick in the 1994 NBA Draft has career averages of 13.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg and 2.2 asp.
[View Howard's NBA.com player page]
Brent Yarina is a web editor and blogger for BTN.com. Find all of his work here and follow him on twitter at @BTNBrentYarina.
