Magic coach Stan Van Gundy has come to the defense of Dwight Howard, who was automatically suspended for Monday's game against Portland after being whistled for his 16th technical foul of the season.
Van Gundy said he believes Howard has shown restraint on the court this season, despite his league-leading technical total.
"I think he has settled down," Van Gundy said. "He's gotten two [technicals] in the last month [and] he hasn't gotten any for arguing. His problems were early in the year when he got a lot of arguing calls. Lately what he's gotten is two for retaliating for hits he's taken after the whistle and I think to be quite honest he's already had great restraint on those plays.
"... You guys can estimate how many of those were hard hits and how many of those were above the shoulders ... I would say his control is amazing."
For every two technicals he picks up through the remainder of the regular season, he'll serve a one-game suspension.