Elbows, suspensions, head smacks ... a hot time in the NBA

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

The bell on the microwave just went ding. The pot is boiling over.

No matter how you say it, the heat is on in the Playoffs ... and we're not talking just about Dwyane Wade and his buddies in Miami. Everywhere you look, steam is rising off the courts.

Elbows are being thrown, heads slapped, bodies slammed. What already was a warmly entertaining first round has moved toward a handful of hot-under-the-collar, sizzling finishes.

They were barely three minutes into the first quarter in Orlando on Tuesday when Dwight Howard apparently had heard enough talk about his being too soft and too friendly to carry a team deep into the postseason. So as Rashard Lewis was nailing a 3-pointer, Howard came out of a scrum under the basket and threw what appeared on numerous video replays to be an intentional --- and vicious --- elbow to the head of Philadelphia's Samuel Dalembert.

Before the evening was through, Howard would collect 24 points, 24 rebounds and another victim when he inadvertently caught teammate Courtney Lee with another elbow that resulted in a fractured sinus. That will force Lee to miss Game 6.

Howard, too, will be a spectator when the series resumes in Philadelphia on Thursday night. The NBA office on Wednesday slapped him with a one-game suspension, a smackdown that was anticipated by many. Two years ago, Amar'e Stoudemire and Boris Diaw were suspended for a playoff game for simply stepping across the sideline in front of their bench. Given that, there really was little room for debate about a vicious-looking elbow to the head.

Yet there was still plenty to argue about in the aftermath of the Magic's 91-78 Game 5 victory. Sixers coach Tony DiLeo got things rolling when he arrived at the postgame press conference and announced that his club already had sent video of Howard to the league, and then further criticized the 2009 Defensive Player of the Year.

"He lives in the three-second lane on offense and defense," DiLeo said. "It's tough to defend him or get to the hole when he's just standing in the three-second lane all the time. He's a great player. He doesn't need any advantages."

That prompted tempestuous Magic coach Stan Van Gundy to fire back when his turn at the podium came.

"Should I talk about the game, or am I supposed to get up here and lobby for the calls I want next game?" Van Gundy snorted. "Is that what it's about?

"I guess that's the only reason Dwight is having success in this series. I guess it's not because he's good. He's always moving, not standing still."

In Boston on Tuesday, there was another scorching finish between the Bulls and Celtics in Game 5 of their series. The two teams have practically blown the top off the thermometer with three overtime games --- an NBA record for one series --- and four total OT periods in a series that the term "instant classic" can't begin to describe.

With each game in that series, the stakes and the level of play seem to get higher. The defending champs are trying to hang on while their injured MVP Kevin Garnett watches helplessly from the bench. Meanwhile, the young Bulls charge on, oblivious to the situation they're in and the pressure that is supposed to be weighing them down.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers already had been fined $25,000 for his comments about the officiating following Boston's double-overtime loss in Game 4 that allowed the Bulls to even the series at 2-2. Emotions were bubbling. The Bulls, with 26 points from gimpy Ben Gordon, were pushing the Celtics to the edge one more time.

Then, after another clutch jumper from Paul Pierce gave Boston a two-point lead, there was Brad Miller, with two seconds left, coming wide open on the inbounds play and rolling freely to the basket for another tying bucket ... until Rajon Rondo reached in and whacked him on the head, drawing blood and knocking him for a loop. When a dizzy Miller finally had the bleeding stopped and went to the line, he missed his first free throw and the Celtics were saved.

'We always talk about playoff basketball and no layups,'' Rivers said. ''Rondo did it on the very last play."

Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro didn't quite see it that way and called for the league to review what he said should have been a flagrant foul.

''You have to go for the ball, and he didn't come near the ball,'' Del Negro said. ''He came right across his face. I thought it was a flagrant. I agree it is a playoff foul, but you still have to call it. I'm sure they'll take a look at it.''

The Houston Rockets might spend a long summer looking at a chance that got away in Game 5 at Portland, when they overcame the rough, tough defense of the Trail Blazers to take a 68-64 lead early in the fourth quarter to get within sniffing distance of closing out the series.

Both head coaches --- Nate McMillan and Rick Adelman --- already had been fined $25,000 each for their gripes about the referees in the series. The Rockets are tired of the mugging they say Portland's Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden are giving to Yao Ming. The Blazers are weary of Houston's stingy, physical defense.

The victory was there for the Rockets, but the Blazers took it away with red-hot 15-0 fourth-quarter run. Now it's back to Houston for Game 6, where Yao and his teammates will feel the burden of a 12-year drought without a playoff series win and the dread of returning to Portland for Game 7. In 176 previous series where a team has trailed 3-1, only eight teams have come back to win.

"We definitely believe we can win this series," said the Blazers' Brandon Roy. "Especially now that we feel the pressure is back on them."

So early in the playoffs. So many pots already boiling over.

Longtime NBA writer Fran Blinebury's column appears weekly on NBA.com.