The Weekside: Dwight Howard and the search for a villain

Dwight Howard is easy to hate, but his excellent play this postseason led the Rockets to their best finish since 1997

Dwight Howard is easy to dislike. He is an overgrown adolescent who presents himself as a Toys R’ Us kid one moment and a stoic leader the next. Nothing about him comes off as genuine, and ever since his flip-flopping final days in Orlando, few have taken him seriously.

Then, and now, he seemed like someone who lacked convictions and was overly concerned about appearances. It only grew worse when he joined the Los Angeles Lakers. His body betrayed him even before he left the Magic, and Howard was never himself in Hollywood. With such limitations, the high hopes put upon that team once it acquired Dwight and Steve Nash became too much to bear, but few had any sympathy since Howard so willingly participated in the hype-building and reportedly feuded with Kobe Bryant behind the scenes.

Kobe was a militant leader and Dwight was an excuse-making pity wallower, at least that’s how it seemed. The real story doesn’t matter. The assumptions became reality soon after Howard’s exit to Houston when he and the Black Mamba clashed on the court, and Kobe called Dwight “soft” on national television.

Then there is the hypocritical nature of his off-court behavior. Though it may not be fact, reports have circled that Howard might have up to eight kids with eight women. Whatever on that. Do you and live your life, and far be it for a godless heathen like myself to say anything about how you walk down here below the heavens. But if there is anything Americans hate most, it’s someone who says one thing and does another. So seeing the lord-praying in public and hearing about the babymaking in private causes a lot of eyes to roll.

Yes, Dwight Howard is easy to dislike.

But he has played stellar basketball throughout the postseason — including during the first half of the Rockets’ embarrassing Game 3 loss. As his teammates came out listless in a must-win game at home, Howard loomed large.

He logged a double-double (12 points and 10 boards) in his 19 minutes on the court before halftime. His 5 made field goals were as many as James Harden, Josh Smith, and Trevor Ariza combined. Dwight even broke out his cape for a Superman dunk in the opening minutes to bring the Houston faithful to their feet.

It wasn’t to be, however.

No other Rockets showed up, and the game — along with Houston’s season — was all but over when the Warriors took a 62-37 lead into the break.

Howard’s performance didn’t much matter in this one, but he played nearly that well all postseason. It was arguably the best he has looked for an extended stretch since 2011, back when him winning Defensive Player of the Year was more of a formality than a vote.

He has led all players in rebounding during these playoffs, grabbing 14.0 per night as he has grabbed nearly one-third (31.5%) of the misses on the defensive end while he has played. His 16.4 points per game don’t stand out compared to his scoring days of yesteryear, but he was a force above the rim in Houston’s first two series, leaving both the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers helpless to stop the lobs that went his way.

Overall in his 15 playoff games, Dwight has 11 double-doubles. In a Game 2 win against Dallas he scored 28 points on 10-for-15 shooting (66.6%). He averaged 23 points and 13 rebounds in the first two games against the Clippers while making 17-of-24 shots (70.8%). He logged 16 points and 15 boards on 6-for-8 shooting as Houston destroyed Los Angeles in Game 7. In Game 2 against the Warriors, he put up 19 and 17 while hitting 8-for-11 from the field.

And all of this game on top of dominant rim protection.

Dwight Howard has been nothing short of spectacular during these playoffs.

Then again, you can list all the stats you want to show Dwight’s dominance this postseason and none have the impact that one short video clip can. When Steph Curry — all prepubescent-looking 5 feet and 74 pounds of him — snuck in from the baseline in Game 3 and stole and offensive board over the titan-sized center with an Avengers’ physique, the world had a field day with Dwight.

It looks bad, yes, but boxing out is a skill like any other. It isn’t just about brawn, and Curry is as well versed in the leverage, technique, and timing involved in getting a board as much as he is at all the other fundamentals of a game he has mastered. Dwight. He is a master or time and space, and he caught Howard napping a little bit. It happens, and it was one small play in a game decided by a huge margin.

In short, you don’t need to clown Thor just because Vision is from another dimension.

But this is Dwight Howard, and he long ago lost the battle for the benefit of the doubt.

Perhaps the better scape goat is James Harden.

He was the superstar who played awful in Game 3 after all, making just 3-of-16 shots, including 1-of-8 in the first half when the game was still — somewhat — in doubt. Then there was his Game 2 finish, which found him mishandling the ball and seemingly panicking as the Rockets failed to even get a shot up with the game on the line.

Harden knocked down a curtain but couldn’t knock down the game winner.

If you dig a bit deeper, you can go back to Houston’s Game 6 comeback against the Clippers and note that Harden didn’t even step foot on the court as his teammates bailed him out to resuscitate the season. After falling into a 19-point hole, it was Josh Smith and Corey Brewer who brought the team back while Harden sat on the bench watching.

But all this rings false.

Harden was similarly stellar throughout the playoffs, and cherry picking a few blemishes won’t change that. He was the heart and soul of a high-octane offense and looked deserving of his MVP runner-up status.

Neither Howard nor Harden are the reason that the Rockets will lose this series.

The Golden State Warriors are the reason.

They are the reason the Rockets will lose and they are the reason that no other team has really stood a chance to win this year’s title. They are simply that good, and like all the teams remaining in the playoffs except the Warriors, Houston is battered and bruised.

Patrick Beverley isn’t a household name, but the third-year Rockets guard has started the past two seasons, pestering opposing ball-handlers all over the court. When Beverley was healthy, from December 6 to March 23, the Rockets allowed just 101.2 points per 100 possessions, good for 11th best in the league, per NBA.com. After he went down for the year with a wrist injury, Houston allowed 103.1 points per 100 in its final 12 regular-season games. It’s been even worse in the postseason: 107.3 points per 100 allowed, which ranks them 12th out of 16 playoff teams.

The loss of Beverley’s hound dog defense wasn’t the sole cause for the drop-off (and playing the Clippers and Warriors certainly inflates those playoff numbers), but he single-handedly disrupted opposing offenses on the perimeter and created turnovers.

With him on the court, they forced opponents to cough up a turnover on 16.5% of their possessions. That number fell to just 15.0% in the regular season after Beverley got hurt and further still to 13.7% in the playoffs. Following that trend, the Rockets only forced the Warriors into 1 turnover in the first half on Saturday night as they got run out of their building while allowing 62 points over two quarters.

Without Beverley, the responsibility to stop the most unstoppable shooter the world’s ever seen fell to the likes of Jason Terry. ESPN broadcaster Jeff Van Gundy has lauded the 37-year-old’s  “competitive spirit” throughout the postseason, but Terry wasn’t even a good defender in his prime, let alone five years into his decline. Kevin McHale does have the pesky Pablo Prigioni on the bench, but when he plays as poorly as he did in Game 3, the team’s thin bench turns from a liability to a fatal flaw.

Then there is Donatas Motiejunas.

Only James Harden and Trevor Ariza played more minutes for Houston this season, and they lost a lot more than his 12.0 points per game. With Montiejunas, the Rockets could put four around Dwight Howard, giving the big fella more room to roam and spreading the defense to make it even easier for Harden to rip apart its seams.

Terrence Jones (shooting 2-for-16 from behind the arc in the playoffs) brings none of this — nor many of the other threats Montijunas presents. And while McHale got some production out of rookie forward Clint Capela in Game 1, he isn’t reliable or seasoned enough to force the Warriors to change anything in their approach.

Simply put, even at full strength, Houston probably wasn’t good enough to beat Golden State — and they are far from full strength.

Sometimes you just run into a wood chipper.

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