Boston center Kendrick Perkins will not be suspended for Game 4 after hitting Orlando's Mickael Pietrus in the throat with an elbow.

An NBA spokesman said the Perkins play "stands as called," meaning he will still be charged with one flagrant foul point, but will not have to sit out Sunday's game.

Players receive an automatic suspension when they accumulate four flagrant foul points.

"I was just trying to fight through a screen. It wasn't like I was trying to hurt him or elbow him in his mouth or nothing like that, I was just trying to fight through the screen and ended up hitting him," Perkins said of the elbow that occurred late in the fourth quarter of Orlando's 117-96 win on Friday night.

NBA rules call for the automatic ejection when a player strikes an opponent above the shoulders with an elbow or a punch, but Perkins was not tossed from the game.