Howard gets big-man boost
May 5, 2008
An All-Star center scores more than 20 points and pulls down more than 20 rebounds in a series-clinching victory, sending a team to heights it hadn’t reached in ages and sending its fans into a frenzy.
Dwight Howard on Monday night? Yes, but also Patrick Ewing in 1994.
Howard didn’t go so far as to climb the press table at Amway Arena after the Orlando Magic eliminated the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the NBA playoffs. And Ewing, the former New York Knicks great and now Magic assistant coach, admitted the parallels between Howard’s 21-point, 21-rebound game and his own 24-point, 22-rebound performance vs. Indiana in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals 14 years ago never crossed his mind.
“I really didn’t even think about it,” Ewing said Thursday following the Magic’s first practice since capturing a playoff series for the first time since 1996. “I was just caught up in trying to help the team win and caught up in watching him dominate. He had a fantastic series for us. And he’s taken the first step to improvement and making him a bona-fide star.”
Ewing had 19 20-20 games during his 15 seasons with the Knicks. But for Howard to have three 20-20 games against the Raptors was particularly noteworthy. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the last player to accomplish that in a playoff series was Wilt Chamberlain in the 1972 NBA Finals.
Howard has come a long way from his first season, when he averaged 12 points a game and didn’t receive much Rookie of the Year consideration. While he has yet to be mistaken for Ewing from the free-throw line or the perimeter, Howard’s transformation into a 20-point scorer can be traced in part to the arrival this season of Ewing, who had spent the previous two seasons with Houston mentoring Yao Ming.
Asked what Ewing’s biggest influence on him has been, Howard replied, “Just to play every possession hard, every possession the same way, as if it was my last possession. That’s the one thing he’s been saying to me all season. And it’s no different now.”
Howard had 29 points and 17 rebounds against the Detroit Pistons a year ago. That game couldn’t prevent the Magic from being swept by them in the first round of the playoffs, and Ewing was part of an entirely new staff brought in by Stan Van Gundy.
“I wasn’t here last year, so I can’t speak on what happened last year,” Ewing said. “But I think he’s done a fantastic job of trying to do everything we need for him to do, especially going into the playoffs.”
The ordinarily fun-loving Howard took on a more serious demeanor prior to the series with the Raptors and made it a point to study as much film as necessary with Ewing, who never won a championship but helped the Knicks reached the Finals for the first time in more than 20 years.
Howard responded with 25 points and 22 rebounds in Game 1 and 29 points and 20 rebounds in Game 2, both Magic victories.
“He knows where it’s coming from,” coach Stan Van Gundy said. “And that’s a Hall of Famer it’s coming from, a guy who’s played in a lot of big playoff games. So he can trust what he’s saying. Plus, Patrick’s built up a year of a relationship with him. That relationship’s gotten stronger and becoming more influential all the time.”
“It’s business,” Ewing said. “He’s trying to get it done. He’s trying to elevate his game. And I think it’s a great thing.”
Ewing’s work has been appreciated by Howard, if not necessarily the Knicks. In an interview last week on TNT with John Thompson, his coach at Georgetown, Ewing made no attempt to disguise his disappointment at not being contacted by the Knicks for their coaching vacancy following the firing of Isiah Thomas.
“It is what it is,” he said. “I can’t worry about that right now. Right now, I’m focusing on trying to help this team go as far as it can go.”
