Dwight Howard shoves Al Horford in testy confrontation (Video)

Dwight Howard was not a fan of Al Horford after this foul

Dwight Howard went back home to Atlanta this offseason, and by doing so, he replaced longtime Atlanta Hawks center Al Horford. It was never a for sure thing that Horford would return to the Hawks so Atlanta had to make a move. They chose Howard while Horford bolted for the Boston Celtics. At the time everybody seemed pretty happy with their decision. Horford had a great run in Atlanta, but sometimes the best decision longterm is to move on from each other.

However, it looks like there’s a little testiness between Horford and his former team. Reuniting in Boston the game has been very physical and emotional with both sides trying to send the other a statement. These types of atmospheres are great in the regular season but they can lead to highly emotional moments. The fans attending got a taste of that when Horford gave Howard a particularly hard foul.

Horford’s foul wasn’t the hardest, but in this kind of situation it makes perfect sense why Howard would be upset with it. It’s been physical the entire night, and in the heat of the moment some players want to send a message. However, Howard probably should have sent his message in a way that wasn’t going to get him a technical foul. He had no reason to physically shove Horford no matter how frustrated he was. It leads to a technical foul which is not what his team needs right now.

Howard had every right in the world to be frustrated, but by gaining a tech he’s put himself in a bad position for the rest of the game where the refs aren’t going to give him much leeway. Which is how he got himself ejected later in the game on a controversial tech call. Hopefully that shove was worth it.