Orlando Magic’ center Dwight Howard has been suspended for Game 6 after throwing an elbow at the head of Samuel Dalembert in the early minutes of their Game 5 win over the Sixers on Tuesday.

The incident occured soon after tipoff, as Howard and Dalmbert were tangled underneath the net, both pursuing the same rebound. Howard threw the elbow as the two were separating. He only received a technical foul at the time, something that did not sit well with Sixers’ coach Tony DiLeo.

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

That comment ignited a response from Magic’ coach Stan Van Gundy.

“Should I talk about the game, or am I supposed to get up here and lobby for the calls I want next game? Is that …

It was discussed a lot leading up the beginning of the 2009 baseball season, would Philly fans give their team a break from booing since they won the World Series last year? If the team started slow, would they just be appreciative that they were the reigning world champs? While it turns out the fans did not cut them much slack, that is of little concern to the Phillies’ players now, because someone much more important is seemingly very ticked off at how they are playing: Charlie Manuel.

The Phillies’ normally congenial and tight lipped manager is starting to come unraveled. Manuel has made it a policy throughout his career as a major league manager to deal with things internally. If he has a problem with a player, he takes care of it face to face, and then moves on.

But the Phillies’ lackluster start to just their second ever season as defending World Champs has started to really irk Manuel.

Earlier this week Manuel let slip that he …

Facing elimination at the supposedly hostile Mellon Arean, the Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0 Thursday, forcing a Game 6 back in Philly.

Despite the Penguins’ attempts to match the Flyers’ Orange Crush with a White Out of their own, the Pittsburgh fans were flat and uninspired, much like the Penguins themselves.

The Penguins played a solid first period, outshooting the Flyers 15-5, but were unable to get one by Marty Biron, who had brought his A-game. After the first period, however, the Penguins seemed to just be hoping the puck would go in the net and that they would pull out the eliminating victory. After the first period, the Penguins had just 13 total shots on goal, all stopped by Biron.

“We played a strong game and I think we came out good in the first 5 and they were a little bit flat too in the first period,” Flyers’ winger Mike Knuble said.

The Flyers, on the other hand, played with a sense of urgency, understanding that this …

While the Phillies were almost the victims of a no-hitter Thursday at Citizen’s Bank Park, starting pitcher Cole Hamels was hit by a liner off the bat of Prince Fielder in the fourth inning.

The ball hit Hamels near his left shouler, which also happens to be his pitching arm. The Phillies later said Hamels suffered a left shouler contusion, which forced him to leave the game.

Hamels had looked sharp early, throwing three scoreless innings while striking out six. Hamels faced 10 batters, and struck out six of them.

Unfortunately he gave up a two-run home run to Ryan Braun before getting hit by Fielder’s line drive.

J.A. Happ relieved Hamels, and gave up three innings in 1 1/3 innings pitched. The Phillies pitching continues to struggle this season. Hamels’ three scoreless innings to start the game Thursday was the second longest a starter has gone without giving up a run this season. The longest period was Wednesday, when Joe Blanton went four innings before allowing a run. Every …

Despite earlier reports, the Eagles are saying they are not shopping offensive lineman Shawn Andrews.

The news that they were came as somewhat of a surprise as the Eagles signed both Andrews brother (Stacey Andrews) and his college roommate (Jason Peters), both O-linemen, this off-season.

However, according to a story earlier this week by the Philadelphia Daily News’ Les Bowen, Andrews might be unhappy with his current contract. Andrews signed a 10-year, $35.5 million deal in 2006. He is now making considerably less than both his brother and his roommate.

That being said, Andrews’ agent, Rich Moran says his client is happy to be an Eagle and ready to play ball.

“He just wants to play ball,” Moran said in a text today to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Bob Brookover. “No contract issue that I know of Bob.”

The news about Andrews comes amid a firestorm over cornerback Sheldon Brown’s recent demands to be traded. The pro-bowl corner has said he is unhappy with his deal, signed just two years ago, and …

Despite a valiant comeback starting towards the end of the third quarter from 18 points down (sound familiar?), the Sixers weren’t able to pull out a second straight miracle Wednesday, losing to the Orlando Magic 96-87 in game two of their opening round playoff series.

It looked like the Sixers were going to pull off another stunner when Dwight Howard fouled out of the game with 3:11 left in regulation. The score at that time was 84-76; the Sixers were only down by eight. Unfortunately, they were unable to take advantage of the loss of the Magic’s best player.

The Sixers were able to score nine points after Howard went down, but unlike Sunday night, they allowed the Magic to score 15 points during that span.

Unlike Sunday night, the Sixers did not get the big stops. instead allowing Rashard Lewis to score six of his 16 in the final few minutes.

A big reason why the Sixers had such a huge deficit to overcome was because Andre Iguodala did …

Villanova Wildcats’ guard Scottie Reynolds has declared for the upcoming NBA draft.

Reynolds does not intend on hiring an agent, which will keep him eligible to return to the team for his Senior year if he ultimately decides to withdraw from the draft.

Villanova coach Jay Wright appears to fully support Reynolds decision, even though it would be a significant blow to his roster.

“Scottie and I have decided that it would be smart for him to experience NBA workouts at this time,” Wright said in a statement. “This will enable him to assess where he fits in the draft process this year and give him a better understanding of what it takes to play at that level.

“Scottie is completing all of his spring semester classes and is not hiring an agent. He will be working closely with our NCAA compliance staff so that he can return for his senior year if that is the path he chooses.”

Reynolds appears to be leaving the door open to a possible return …

In a rare move for a modern day professional athlete, Phillies’ ace pitcher Cole Hamels has admitted that he was not well prepared or ready to start the season.

In an exclusive interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jim Salisbury Monday, Hamels admitted that post-World Series events delayed his off-season preparation in January, which in part led to his injury during spring training. In an attempt to help make up for his late start, Hamels tried to expedite his training program during camp, and that resulted in soreness and inflammation in his left elbow.

That injury caused Hamels to miss his Opening Day start, and he has not looked like he did in 2008 in his first two starts this season.

“If it comes down to the end of the year and we lose the division by one game, I can easily raise my hand and say I [messed] up,” Hamels said. “I didn’t help the team in my first couple of games of the season.”

In just 9 2/3 innings …

According to a brief report by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Andy Martino, Phillies’ manager Charlie Manuel is not happy with some of what he’s seeing in the clubhouse.

“We’ve got some very professional players, we’ve got some players that love the game just like they always did, but now we’ve also some guys who, I think that they need to kind of look back and think how we got there, and what we did to be a winning team, and I think that sometimes you can do things that get away from the fact that the game is the first priority and winning the game is the first priority.”

According to Martino, more on this story will come tomorrow. Of course, as is the usual with Manuel, he would not name names or give specific examples.

We’ll bring you more on this story as soon as it’s available.

After the Eagles responded to a trade demand by Sheldon Brown with some of the harshest language used against a player in years, Brown is speaking out.

Apparently Brian Dawkins and Tra Thomas aren’t the only players who have felt mistreated and unappreciated by the Eagles’ front office.

Speaking with the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Les Bowen earlier this evening, Brown stated that he’s “always been treated like the redheaded stepchild, ever since I was drafted.” He was reacting to a statement released by the Eagles that adamantly denied his trade request and reiterated he is under contract  for another four seasons.

“I’ve always been the nice guy, never said anything. I think they took that for granted,” Brown said.

According to Bowen, “Brown said he reached the boiling point when, after a year of trying to get the Eagles to address his deal, he heard that team president Joe Banner had gone on WIP and said Brown’s dissatisfaction had not been brought to his attention. Subsequently, Brown said, agent Jason Chayut’s attempts to …

Responding to reports that cornerback Sheldon Brown has demanded a trade as a result to dissatisfaction with his contract, the Eagles released a very strong statement Monday, essentially telling the pro-bowler to sit down and shut up.

“It’s very unfortunate and counterproductive that Sheldon has chosen to go public with his feelings about his situation. After thorough evaluation by himself and discussions with his family and agents, he chose to accept an extension of his rookie contract early that provided his family financial security for the rest of his life. It removed any concerns about health or performance that all other players in his draft class had to worry about. He has four years remaining on that contract and, after taking the signing bonus and his first two years of salary into account, we feel that Sheldon is being paid fairly. Focusing only on a player’s salary for a given year is not a valid analysis.

“There have been league MVP’s, Super Bowl champion quarterbacks, and perennial Pro Bowlers …

According to an ESPN report, Eagles’ cornerback Sheldon Brown is fed up that the team refuses to renegotiate his contract and has requested a trade.

Brown signed a contract extension in 2004 that would keep him in Philadelphia until 2012, but that was two years before the collective bargaining agreement opened up the salary cap to previously unprecedented levels.

According to Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Brown has been attempting to negotiate with the Eagles for months now, but the team has flatly refused.

So now the pro-bowl cornerback is demanding the Eagles trade him.

The Eagles are reportedly aware of the report, but have yet to comment.

According to Bowen, Brown has not made it a secret that he (along with the now departed Lito Sheppard) wanted his deal reworked, but the assumption was that the Eagles would accomodate him in some fashion. Brown is thoroughly more durable than Sheppard, who was shipped off to the New York Jets earlier this off-season.

With the NFL draft this coming Saturday, …