A laugher for Howard, Hawks
Star big man lifts new team past ex-teammates
In first meeting, ex-Rocket helps new club romp past former teammates.
ATLANTA — K.J. McDaniels knew who was protecting the Atlanta Hawks’ rim. That was the point when he went up to try a dunk that would have topped any he’d had.
Dwight Howard knew he was coming, sending his shot back with a strong right hand — and a smack in the face with his left — that might not have been any kind of a statement, but it was typical of the Hawks’ 112-97 rejection of the Rockets in Philips Arena on Saturday night.
While Howard rose to the occasion, even while insisting his first game against the Rockets since he left them was just another game, the Rockets treated the encounter as no big deal.
While the Hawks battled, the Rockets gave away the paint. While the Hawks turned to Howard to put the game away, the Rockets turned the ball over, playing far too carelessly at both ends to make their reunion anything to celebrate.
“At some point, we got to guard a guy,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “We didn’t really get down and guard. We weren’t tough. We didn’t battle them hard enough.”
Too many turnovers
They did, however, offer Howard a reminder of the team he left, with the Rockets allowing 62 points and 73.8 percent shooting in the lane, collecting a season-high 25 turnovers and often failing to get back defensively when Atlanta was on fast breaks.
Howard might have really believed he had no need to make a point, but he might have anyway when he scored 11 of the Hawks’ first 13 fourthquarter points as Atlanta’s lead swelled to as many as 21 points. He repeatedly spun out of the low post to catch lobs. He grabbed six offensive boards. He made eight of 10 shots, scoring 20 points with 14 rebounds in 29 minutes.
His most memorable moment, however, came when McDaniels tried the dunk he always told Howard would be coming.
“Every time we prac- ticed last year, when I was with the Rockets, he said, ‘I’m going to try and dunk on you,’ ” Howard said. “I expect him to try again and keep trying.”
Including the two free throws off that foul, McDaniels had a season-high 13 points. But as with the Rockets as a whole, he said he fell short in ways more significant that trying to jump over Howard.
“I told him that I would try it, so I tried it,” said McDaniels, who along with Montrezl Harrell and Trevor Ariza visited briefly with Howard before leaving the court. “Dwight is a great defender. It’s his job to protect the paint. It’s a challenge to go at him, but I love challenges.
James Harden had 30 points, nine rebounds and 12 assists, his fourth game with 30 points and doubledigit assists, more than any player in a season’s first six games since 198384. When he scored eight points in the final minute of the first half, he closed the deficit to six points at halftime. But when the Rockets’ renewed defensive effort lasted only a few minutes, the Hawks pulled away again.
“If we have that many breakdowns, teams are going to score against us,” Harden said. “We have to be better on that end, and that’s going to help our offense.”
Downplays reunion
Howard insisted the reunion with the most recent of his former teams meant no more to him than any other game, other than as a chance to stop the bleeding of a two-game skid in which the Hawks lacked the intensity they displayed Saturday.
“It was about us tonight,” he said. “We had two games that we felt like we gave away. We needed this one. Guys came out with the right mentality and got a good win.”
Yet, as much as Howard meant to be describing only his current team, he pointed to what was lacking from his former team. He said the game was not special to him.
The Rockets played that way.
“They were a little more desperate than we were,” D’Antoni said. “We didn’t play with a lot of urgency. We turned it over 25 times. You can’t do that on the road and think you’ll have even a remote chance to win.”