Rockets' McHale doesn't expect further punishment for Howard's elbow to Bogut

Houston Rockets head coach Kevin McHale doesn't see any reason why his star center should be handed further punishment for his actions in Game 4.

Dwight Howard was assessed a flagrant-1 foul after hitting Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut in the face with an errant elbow on Monday. The two centers pushed one another in a battle for rebounding position, before Howard escalated the situation by throwing the blind elbow at Bogut's head.

After the game, Rockets head coach Kevin McHale brushed off the incident and said he didn't expect further punishment for Howard.

"He just tried to get off a hold," McHale said, according to Reid Laymance of the Houston Chronicle. "The second foul always gets called. He swiped his arm back, it’s not like he turned on him. It’s been that way forever in this league. The second one always gets called."

The referee crew's decision to not eject Howard came on the heels of an ejection in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday. Atlanta Hawks center Al Horford was tossed after throwing an elbow at Cleveland Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova's head.

The discrepancy in ruling between the two incidents left Warriors head coach Steve Kerr baffled.

"I mean, he elbowed him in the head, so I don’t really know what the rule is. I’m not sure anyone really knows what the rule is," Kerr said. "Seriously, it just seems like every case is a little different. There doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer, and there is a lot of gray area in all these plays, so I understand that. I didn’t really know what to expect."

Regardless, the series sits at 3-1 in the Warriors' favor. With or without Howard going forward, the Rockets will be hard-pressed to fulfill their scant hopes of becoming the first-ever NBA team to come back from a 3-0 deficit.