Dwight Howard’s Los Angeles reunion started on a high note this past Thursday. Shortly after the NBA trade deadline wrapped up, Howard was all smiles as he participated in a post-practice Zoom call with reporters hours before tip-off at his old stomping grounds at the Staples Center.
Howard admitted he was thrilled to be back in his former home. He was also excited to receive his 2020 NBA Championship ring for the first time while getting honored in front of the home crowd in LA before the matchup.
Once Thursday’s game started, though, everything went South. Howard checked into the game with under seven minutes left to go in the first quarter. As always, Howard was working on playing aggressively and getting under his opponent’s skin.
Going against Lakers big man Montrezl Harrell, Howard matched up with a player just like him who wasn’t willing to back down. A lot of trash-talking, unnecessary contact, and shoving ensued in a short timeframe, and Howard eventually found himself in a difficult situation, which he couldn’t get out of.
Walking back to the Sixers’ bench after the conclusion of the first quarter, Howard accidentally intentionally bumped into Harrell. Although he was nonchalant about it, a nearby NBA referee caught Howard initiating to contact and tossed the big man.
“I just thought it was very selfish play,” said Sixers head coach Doc Rivers after the game. “You got one tech. You can’t get another one. We just have to have better discipline. I know there’s a lot of emotion, but we had one center on our team, and he got thrown out. I was not very happy with that one. I know it’s an emotional game, but he’s a veteran. We got to have better discipline.”
Saturday night was Howard’s chance at redemption. Once again, the Sixers were set to play at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, but this time against the Los Angeles Clippers. Howard behaved in the first half for the most part, but the second half became a different story as the 76ers as a whole started growing frustrated.
With a little over ten minutes left in the fourth quarter, Howard started chirping again, but this time, it wasn’t to a player. Instead, Howard was popping off at NBA officials, which eventually led to another early departure for the big man.
After the game, the officiating crew chief of the night, Tony Brothers, explained the reason behind Howard’s second-straight ejection at the Staples Center on Saturday. “He said something derogatory to the official he was talking to about the official who called the first technical foul,” Brothers explained.
“The first technical was called. He was called for an offensive foul. During the next possession, he ran all the way down the floor to the calling official and pointed at the calling official and yelled at him, and that’s why the first technical foul was called.”
Following the disappointing 122-112 loss to the Clippers, Doc Rivers wasn’t willing to single Dwight Howard out this time. Instead, the head coach made it clear that his team, which picked up five technical fouls, needs to have better composure on game night because the frustration was killing them.
“I think (Dwight Howard) is a pro, and he understands that,” Rivers said. “We always talk about technical fouls as a group. We just did right after the game. I didn’t single out Dwight, honestly. I just said, ‘As a team, we had five.’ That means more than one guy was frustrated. It means a lot of guys were frustrated.”
Considering a handful of players went through their fair share of frustrations on Saturday night, Rivers doesn’t seem as upset with Howard as he was on Thursday night. Regardless of what he thought about Howard’s actions on Saturday, Rivers and the Sixers know that the veteran center has to be better than that — especially now considering the depth at the center position is scarce.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_ & Instagram: @JGrassoNBA.