Late in the San Antonio Spurs' Game 4 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, Spurs' center Tiago Splitter and Mavs' big man DeJuan Blair fell to the floor after colliding when Splitter had the ball. When they both hit the floor, Splitter fell on Blair's legs. Either the fall on the legs or the frustration of the play caused Blair to kick Splitter in the head to get him off of the Mavs' forward.
Blair was ejected from the game and the league announced Tuesday evening that he has been suspended one game without pay for the kick to the head. He will miss Game 5 of the Mavs-Spurs series Wednesday night.
Dallas' F/C DeJuan Blair has been suspended 1 game w/o pay for kicking Spurs C Tiago Splitter in the head.last night w/3:08 left in 4th qtr.
This could end up being a big blow to the Mavericks for a couple of reasons. First, Blair is capable of hurting this Spurs team as he did in Game 4 when he had 12 points and 11 rebounds in just under 16 minutes of action. Secondly, this Mavs team doesn't have a lot of depth inside and may have to rely on playing small with Dirk Nowitzki, Brandan Wright, and Samuel Dalembert as their three big men rotation.