Dwight Howard knows all about the Hawks’ recent failures against the Cavaliers.
The center is seven games into his Hawks career. However, he watched from afar as his hometown team lost 11 straight games to the Cavaliers, including eight in a pair of playoff sweeps that ended the past two postseasons. The addition of Howard and the associated effects may help change recent history if the first encounter between the teams is any indication.
The Hawks snapped the long losing streak against the defending NBA champions with a 110-106 victory Tuesday.
“I aware of it,” Howard said from the visitor’s locker room afterwards. “I’m from Atlanta. I’ve watched in the playoffs. That’s all in the past. We want to change that. We don’t want to talk about it. We don’t want to think about it. It happened but we want to make sure it never happens again.”
There was much speculation concerning the Hawks’ new-look roster entering the season. They did bring 11 players back but they added of Howard and promoted Dennis Schroder after jettisoning core players Al Horford and Jeff Teague. So far, the results have been positive for the 5-2 Hawks, who faced Chicago on Wednesday night at Philips Arena. And, at least for one day, a demon has been cast out.
The Hawks were able to match the Cavaliers physically and win the rebound battle, both elements most certainly lacking in the past.
Howard finished with seven points but he pulled down 17 rebounds even after leaving for an extended period to get four stitches in his lip after an inadvertent hit from LeBron James. Howard helped defend Tristan Thompson and held him scoreless with no shot attempted. The Cavaliers center had more fouls (three) than rebounds (two). Thompson’s prowess on the boards against the Hawks is well-documented.
Howard entered the Bulls game fourth in the NBA in rebounding at 13 per game. He is first in offensive rebounds at 4.7 per game, easily outdistancing second-place Thompson at 3.6 per game.
“It’s definitely a different year,” guard Kent Bazemore said. “We matched their physicality. Dwight cancelled out and did a lot more against Tristan Thompson. That allowed him not to be able to guard Paul Millsap. Paul was able to have his way tonight. It’s a different look. We are playing super confident. We believe we can beat them.”
There are other benefits to having Howard on the floor and one might be the biggest key. The Cavaliers had to guard Howard with a big man, leaving others to contend with Millsap at power forward. Millsap finished with 21 points on 7 of 16 shooting, had five assists and a plus-10 rating.
Millsap didn’t hide his pleasure with how the new arrangement affected his inside play.
“When Dwight is in the game, they have to put a bigger body on him,” Millsap said. “They have to. He is a load down there. When they do that, somebody like LeBron (James) or Kevin Love has to guard me. I think the matchups favor us. We can go down to him. We can go down to me. Pick-and-roll situations, I think we can get what we need.”
It’s early in the season and it was just one win. However, the Hawks took positives from the victory. Bazemore called it the best win he has been a part of in his tenure with the Hawks. It should be noted that during the 2014-15 season, the Hawks won three of four games against the Cavaliers on their way to 60 regular-season wins. Of course, that the Eastern Conference finals matchup resulted in a 4-0 sweep by the Cavaliers.
But at first glance, the results are good.
