Dwight Howard Actually Giving James Harden Help
Last season, the Houston Rockets suffered the worst kind of defeat any team could imagine, being an overtime buzzer-beater to Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers. Now that the Houston honeymoon is over, James Harden has taken back full control of his team to become batman to Dwight’s superman.
The former dominant center saw career lows all-around his stats this season, but this was contributed to injuries ranging from his back and more importantly, his knees. On the verge of turning 30 this year, Howard has finally lost his smile like another Texas-based athlete and is looking to prove himself among the masses.
Rockets head coach, Kevin McHale has taken precautions this season to make sure his protégé has enough in the tank and is healthy to not miss any games this spring. Outside of James Harden’s ego rightfully hitting an all-time high, Dwight still wants to be looked at as an superstar in the league and has vocally made it known that he’ll be a changed and more focused player on the court this post-season.
Whether that happens remains to be seen, but an entire year of constantly being reminded of the buzzer-beater from 2014 should be added incentive to leave the jokes for the off-season. He obviously wants a championship and to possibly hit the Mount Rushmore of NBA Centers, but has a different mindset to be a big contribution to the injury-plagued rockets franchise.
After losing consecutive first rounds to the Northwest, Houston is looking to reach the second round for the time since 2009. We’re not worried about Dwight’s defensive ability because that will never change in our opinion, but his offensive woes have to end now heading forward.