Dwight Howard’s first real night in a Hawks uniform had no shortage of 6-foot-11 high points.
Howard got his 572nd career regular-season double-double, a statistical milestone that the Hawks fan may officially begin taking for granted.
He fit comfortably into a role that will allow him on a given night to be this team’s fifth leading scorer (with 11 points) so long as he is its knight champion in the middle.
Oh, and also, the Hawks won big on opening night, 114-99 over Washington.
Yes, the Dwight Howard Title Page — one game does not an era, much less a chapter, make — got off to a cracking good start Thursday. One whole night had passed and no one even thought to ask about Howard’s aging, if almost absurdly sculpted, body. If questions came up about his reputation as an unsettling influence in the locker room or his overall seriousness as a professional, I must have missed that interview scrum.
There only was an abundance of happy talk that Howard was brought home to fundamentally alter the Hawks’ profile.
It was with a child’s enthusiasm on Christmas morning that Hawks guard Kyle Korver greeted the 19 rebounds (along with three blocked shots) that Howard brought to Thursday night. It took Howard exactly one night to snatch more rebounds in a game than any Hawk did in all of last season.
“I’ve been thinking about it all preseason. We had to fight so hard for every rebound last season. We were all in there trying to dig in on the big guys’ legs. It takes away from your ability to get out and run. We’re all in there slamming trying to get that ball,” Korver said.
“Now with Dwight — I just go to the free-throw line and try to get the long (rebounds). I’m not helping down there now,” Korver said with unmasked delight.
Howard said he tried to block out the emotions of starting over, with his fourth team, in the town where he was born and from where he launched his now 12-season NBA career. At least that sounded good in the planning stage. “He was more nervous than anything. He couldn’t breathe there for a minute,” his father, Dwight Howard Sr., reported. Which could help explain the ragged start overall for the Hawks and the couple of missed put-back bunnies that Howard suffered early.
The first 120 seconds of his Hawks career were eventful. He won the opening tip, committed a turnover at the top of the key, scored his first Hawks points on a put-back jam, and set one very sincere pick to free up Korver for a rare two-point jumper.
One of the loudest cheers of the night was reserved for the 4:31 mark of the second quarter when Howard, notorious for his work from 15 feet, sunk his first free-throw attempt as a Hawk. He was 3-for-4 from the line Thursday. So, take that all those who certainly will employ the popular hack-a-Dwight strategy again.
It was the rebounding — and the ripple effects from it — that was most enlightening. No, rebounding is not a star’s work per se. Not a glamour assignment. But when performed at the level Howard is capable of, so much spins off the humble task.
It is a topic upon which Howard will perform a virtual soliloquy.
“It’s my job,” he said Thursday night. “That’s the first thing Coach said in our first meeting as a team: He said, ‘Dwight, we want you to rebound. You have to defensively and offensively rebound. You have to set the tone for our team on the glass every single night.’
“If we can hold teams to one shot we’re going to be able to get out in transition with guys like Kyle and Dennis (Schroder) and Baze (Kent Bazemore) where they tend to do great. If I can get the ball and kick it out to them early and get those easy shots, our defense is always set.
“It’s my job and I take pride in it. For us to win, especially win a championship, we got to rebound.”
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer looked back on opening night for Dwight and immediately requested the encore that he is certain his newest piece wants to provide.
“We’re going to want that again from Dwight on Saturday (on the road in Philly) and whenever we play again after that. I think he’s looking forward to being a force,” Budenholzer said.
Howard has been through three other of these opening nights, and all three were promising. As a rookie straight out of Southwest Atlanta Christian, he went for 12 points and 10 rebounds with Orlando. He had 19 and 10 with the Lakers in 2012. With Houston the following year his line read 17 points and 26 rebounds. And in all three cases, the good feelings eventually wore thin and then irreparably shredded.
Only this is certain, that the course Howard’s curious career will take back home in Atlanta is one that will fascinate, regardless of its direction.
There is only this to say with any conviction one game into Howard’s homecoming:
Yes, please, more of that.
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