Okay so I’ve been wanting to dive into Dwight Howard’s time with Atlanta for a while now. People always talk about his Orlando magic days or Lakers stint, but that Hawks season? Kinda gets buried. Pulled up my basketball-reference tabs and NBA League Pass archives last Tuesday to really dig in.
The Research Grind
First thing I did was hunt down actual game footage from that 2016-2017 season. Scrolled through hours of Hawks games and found like eight full matches where Dwight played heavy minutes. Man it feels weird seeing him in that red jersey after years of him dominating in blue or purple. Took notes on my phone every time he did anything noticeable – rebounds, dunks, blocks all got timestamps.
Crunching Those Numbers
Opened my stats spreadsheet yesterday morning and started plugging in his Hawks data. Couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw he averaged 13 rebounds per game that season. For a dude past his prime? Wild. Typed out every double-double he had against specific teams – Knicks, Cavs, Heat kept popping up. His stat lines against those teams were:
- 16 points & 15 boards against Cleveland in January
- 20 rebounds against Miami in March
- That monster putback dunk over Porzingis at MSG
Biggest Finds
After rewatching that December game against Detroit twice, spotted his defensive highlight that nobody talks about. Fourth quarter, Hawks down two, Drummond gets the ball low – Dwight stonewalls him twice then blocks the putback. Crowd went absolutely nuts. Got so hyped I spilled coffee on my keyboard.
Then that February sequence against Milwaukee where he grabbed four offensive boards in one possession before slamming it home. Rewound that play six times just to see how Giannis looked so defeated afterwards.
Putting It Together
Compiled everything in a rough draft last night – all stats, clips and commentary. Realized most folks don’t remember how Dwight actually anchored their defense that year. Had to trim down from twelve highlights to five after my wife complained I’d been replaying dunk noises for three hours straight. Final list shows what he did best: gobbling rebounds and throwing down lobs from Schröder. Not flashy, just old-school center work.
Honestly surprised how much I enjoyed this dive. Dwight gets meme’d a lot these days, but that Hawks year proves he still had gas in the tank. Probably uploading the highlight reel tomorrow after I tweak some transitions.
