On March 21, 2018 in a regular season game without stakes, an aging Dwight Howard gave us an extremely rare performance in the NBA, even more so in the modern NBA. 32 points and 30 rebounds in the same game. Here is the story of this lunar evening:
Nothing suggested anything significant that evening at the Barclays Center. Quite the contrary. We are treated to an end-of-season duel between losers from the Eastern Conference: Nets – Hornets, it rhymes but that doesn’t mean it’s good. Dwight Howard, approaching 33 years old, had been traded the previous summer from Atlanta and was apparently offering a good job painting Charlotte.. Better than the slump of recent seasons, this is his most successful exercise since his last All-Star Game played in 2014: he averages 16.6 points and 12.5 rebounds at almost 56% shooting.
And Charlotte’s racket, well she really needs it! The pivot rotation to which Dwight was added this season? The legendary trio Cody Zeller – Willy Hernangomez – Frank Kaminsky! How to say… It’s a bit the opposite of the three post 5s sent by Team USA to the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson. This racket with these three interiors is a bit like preparing Carbonara with uncooked pasta, eggs expired since 2014 and parmesan left in a car trunk for the entire month of August. This is not to pull the wool over the eyes, but it was rare for the triplet to manage to combine 15 rebounds and 2 blocks in a game. Not reassuring to protect a circle and secure the rebound.
That’s good, to protect the Nets’ racket that evening, Brooklyn is counting on a rookie named Jarrett Allen assisted by Allen Crabbe. And to spin on the bench? Quincy Acy! We should have fun. Dwight Howard had a not-so-great first half, with 4 points and 10 rebounds. The Nets took a comfortable lead from the start thanks to their very good back line made up of Caris LeVert and D’Angelo Russell. 19 points ahead at halftime, Brooklyn will lead a good part of the match. Until Dwight Howard started dominating them. Dominate them wildly!
The old father locks the entire opponent’s racket with his hips and collects offensive rebound after offensive rebound, slamming them with powerful two-handed dunks in the third quarter. Once, twice, three times. The Nets, who had a 23-point lead 5 minutes from the end of the third quarter, saw their lead melt away like snow in the sun. That’s seven offensive rebounds in eight minutes for Dwight, Quincy Acy gets beaten up violently on live television. At the same time, have you ever tried to take a defensive rebound with an oak trunk in your racket? A third quarter with 19 points and 12 rebounds for Dwight. The Hornets are only twelve points away!
In the last quarter, D12 offered 9 points and 8 rebounds while Kemba Walker finally decided to burn Brooklyn’s strings, helped by the spaces created by Superman on pick-and-roll. Dwight scores a few final baskets to secure the win and the 30 pawns, then will grab his thirtieth rebound, all smiles, celebrated by his teammates. The Hornets inflicted a scathing 36-18 on the Nets in this quarter, allowing them to win 111-105 on the wire.
Dwight Howard finished with 32 points & 30 rebounds.
The first 30-30 game in nearly EIGHT years 👏 pic.twitter.com/LaTHRyTmK3
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 22, 2018
Dwight finished the evening with 32 points at 10/17 shooting including 12/21 shooting (good…). He added 30 rebounds including 11 offensive ones, all in 34 minutes of play. This is the first 30-30 game since the Kevin Love era in Minnesotta in 2010who will congratulate him on Twitter for the occasion.
Congrats to @DwightHoward the new Mr. 30/30. Hell of a night!!!
— Kevin Love (@kevinlove) March 22, 2018
“Congratulations to Dwight, the new Mr. 30-30. What a great evening!!!”
By setting his career high in rebounds, Dwight earns himself a place in a very exclusive club. That of the players who managed a 30-30 match: Kevin Love, Robert Parish, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Bill Russell and Bob Pettit. It was the first 30-30 game against the Nets since Kareem’s 37 points and 30 rebounds in 1978.
After the match, Dwight declared:
“I told myself that my energy and effort level wasn’t what it needed to be to help our team win. I received a text message at half-time and it motivated me and gave me energy. It’s huge to be mentioned next to Kareem’s name. He’s one of the guys I looked up to growing up, along with Wilt Chamberlain.
This will be Dwight Howard’s first and only 30-30 game, 123 fewer than Wilt.
This match was a great opportunity to see the immense player that Dwight Howard was, before he went to get his ring with the Lakers. Since then, no player has gone 30-30 in an NBA game. It’s not to be chauvinistic but we know how to recognize a good challenge for Victor Wembanyama when we see one…
2024-03-21 14:12:00
#Dwight #Howards #points #rebounds
