Miami Heat center Chris Andersen received a flagrant-1 foul after shoving Indiana Pacers forward Tyler Hansbrough early in the second quarter of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals on Thursday. After a missed layup by Heat guard Norris Cole three minutes into the second quarter, Pacers forward Paul George grabbed the rebound and started up court. Behind the play, "The Birdman" ran straight over to Hansbrough and shoulder-checked him to the floor; we don't know exactly what precipitated the play, but the two reserve big men have battled throughout the first four games of the series. Hansbrough bounced up and said something to Andersen, who raced right over and got in Hansbrough's face. The two bumped chests, and then Andersen gave Hansbrough a two-handed shove that knocked him back into the arms of teammate Roy Hibbert. At that point, the referees caught wind of it, with official Marc Davis stepping in to restrain Birdman while Pacers coach Frank Vogel raced over to check Hansbrough. Andersen was assessed a flagrant-1 on the play, levied for "unnecessary" contact; upon video review, that call was upheld. Both Andersen and Hansbrough received technical fouls on the play, too; it's unclear why, exactly, Hansbrough got rung up, since his most egregious violation seemed to be "getting knocked down and getting pushed." (Maybe he just has one of those faces .)
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