Fireworks not expected at reunion
Considering drama-less exit, Howard may treat game as business as usual
ATLANTA — By now, heading into a reunion with his third former team, Dwight Howard likely has the “just another game” routine down pat.
Howard will face the Rockets on Saturday for the first time since leaving Houston after three unsatisfying seasons, joining the Atlanta Hawks as a free agent in a homecoming he believed finally would make him feel at home as he once thought he’d be in Houston and Los Angeles.
He dominated in his first game back in Orlando. He sang along with the Staples Center chants deriding him in the fourth quarter
as he sat through the completion of a Rockets rout in Los Angeles.
Howard left Houston without the drama or disruption of his departures from Orlando and Los Angeles. Howard and the Rockets seemed to move on without looking back.
Still, a day after Kevin Durant’s fiery demolition of Oklahoma City on behalf of Golden State reminded that the best response can come between the lines of the court, the Rockets were not sure how Howard will react to their reunion.
“Maybe before the game, there may be a little excite-
ment,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “But during the game, I can’t see that you’ll even think about it.”
James Harden said he didn’t give it a thought when he went back to Oklahoma City. He has averaged more points against his former team than against any other. But in that first meeting, he made just 3 of 16 shots in a Thunder blowout.
“I just went out and played, tried to win the game,” Harden said. “Obviously, there’s familiar faces you see. Me, personally, I’m just trying to win.
“Obviously, there were great memories, memories you made with that team. You have to move on at some point.”
Howard and the Rockets seemed to have had no second thoughts, both citing their happiness with how things have worked out without specifically blaming the other for the tensions and frustrations that filled and fueled last season’s slide.
With Harden and Howard, that led to widespread assumptions about their relationship. They always denied it was as destructive as it was described, but neither was it good enough for their partnership to last.
“It didn’t bother me,” Harden said of the impression that exists about their relationship. “I know what the truth is. There’s no beef. We never got into a heated argument or anything. It just didn’t work out.”
Explaining ‘the vibe’
Harden has said “the vibe” with the Rockets is better, a comment that was assumed a reference to the most conspicuous change since last season. There is no doubt the mood is better, a change he expects to last through tough times. In some ways, players seemed relieved to have last season fully behind them. Still, there was a tension now gone.
“It was tough,” Harden said. “We lost and it was draining. Everything was draining. It was tiring. It wasn’t fun at all. It’s a different feeling this year for sure. The ‘vibe’ means we have different players. We have to figure out how to make them feel as comfortable as possible. That’s what I meant by different vibe.”
Harden and Howard’s partnership was more of a brief experiment — Howard played in 183 games for the Rockets — than the eight seasons Durant and Russell Westbrook spent together.
Had Howard returned, he would have chosen to be a part of a team built around Harden and guided by D’Antoni, a coach who de-emphasizes the post play Howard favors. As the Rockets chased Al Horford in free agency, there were only touchbase conversations with Howard. D’Antoni did not make a pitch.
“I don’t think I was the right guy to have conversations,” said D’Antoni, who coached Howard with the Lakers. “I’m sure there were conversations with Daryl (Morey, the Rockets general manager). If he wanted to come back, great. That wasn’t my role to have conversations.
“He’s a good prototype of what you need, someone who guards the rim, runs the floor, pick-and-roll. I’m not a big post-up guy. He kind of is. That’s where the two philosophies kind of conflicted.”
Minimal buildup
With Howard and the Rockets, there was more tension, frustration and ultimately disappointment than conflict. There is little of the buildup for their meeting that came before Howard’s other reunion games or Durant’s against the Thunder.
That could be because the Hawks were busy with the first half of a back-toback on Friday in Washington. But just as the emotional ties were not strong enough to avoid a breakup, there seemed reason to wonder if the Rockets and Howard have strong feelings about being together again, even for one night.