Is Dwight Howard Over-Rated?

Dwight Howard has become an iconic NBA figure with his monstrous dunks, Superman costume, and childlike enjoyment of the game. Its always hard to crap on a guy you like (and I really like Howard and his swagger), but isn't Dwight Howard overrated?

Looking at the Celtics Magic series its hard not to see him that way, especially looking back at game five. I know Howard is a dependable double-double every night of the season; I know he fills out every inch and pound of his 6' 11", 265 pound frame; I know his dunks can make you involuntarily rise from your seat. However its the things Howard can't do that have left the bigger impression on me.

The biggest problem is that he can't score in an offensive set, at least not with Kendrick Perkins and Glen Davis guarding him. His game fiver effectiveness was minimal, even worse than his stat line says: 37 minutes, 5-10 FG, 17 reb, 4 TOs, 12 points. Let's start with Dwight Howard's meager 12 points, which came on five baskets. Three of those five hoops came on offensive rebound putbacks or fastbreak dunks, meaning 40 percent of his baskets (only two hoops in 37 minutes!!!) came from offensive sets. Here's who else had two baskets in offensive sets: Brian Scalabrine. Here's who had five baskets in offensive sets: Stephon Marbury. (And in case you were wondering, of his 31 field goals, only 20 of them are from offensive sets, making him pretty harmless in a halfcourt set.) Seems to me that a solid box out from Perk (6'10" 280 lbs) or Big Baby (6'9" 285 lbs) would cut his already limited offense by about a third.

Howard called out Stan Van Gundy after game five for not getting him the ball enough especially down the stretch. Again, another Howard boo-boo. While Van Gundy looked like MacGruber trying to get the bomb out of the missile silo during the fourth quarter, Howard's lack of touches ranks extremely low on the list of errors (listing said mistakes would put me over my imaginary word count).

Now you might counter that Dwight Howard is known for his defense too, and that's a good point since he was the defensive player of the year. Howard's 11 blocks are the same number that Perkins has had in less time. He may have the edge in steals but Howard's shot changing ability is apparently matched by our rarely praised center. Oh and don't forget Howard's turnover margin is disastrous, with Rondo being the only Celtic dishing out more mistakes than him.

In the end, clearly a team that has Dwight Howard is lucky to have him, but in this playoff series I am underwhelmed. He should have been the one major advantage the Magic have over the Celtics, especially with Garnett on the sideline, and yet has been neutralized by Perk. We're talking about a guy who was first team All-NBA against a guy who was our worst starter heading into the playoffs. I'm sure Van Gundy's game plan isn't helping him, but eventually a star exerts himself on the game, instead of the letting the game exert itself on him.

Cant Win Em All

Statistical truth: Its very hard to win a basketball game when your opponent shoots lights out from the three point line in the first half and you are running on tired legs. That's not an excuse, its a statistical truth. It's also hard to win a basketball game when your two players who step it up the most are Brian Scalabrine and Stephon Marbury. (Seriously how great was Scalabrine? His intensity on defense and hustle and knack for open shots on offense was the driving force behind the Celtics second half energy.)

The good news? For a team that looked fairly overmatched for most of the game, the C's kept it close, kept it interesting, and kept the faith. We can look at it as something to build on or something to pack up after. "Get busy living or get busy dying, you damn right." If we had let the Magic continue that early second half beatdown, it would have been easy to quit or say the Bulls series was enough. Basically the team could have pulled a Shaughnessy. Instead they stared down the deficit and the deficit blinked. Now this series doesn't seem so daunting.

Four simple tactical changes that could turn the series real quickly:

1) Take advantage of the mismatches on offense. Ray Allen wasn't great but you have to work him on Reddick more than we did. Calling Reddick a defensive liability is like calling swine flu a medical inconvenience. Same goes with opening the floor for Rondo against Alston; let Dwight Howard sink down and open up shorties for Perk and Big Baby. When you dictate the play, advantage you.

2) Go at the basket. In the first half we didn't and because of it we were down by 18 at the half, didn't shoot a single free throw, and the Magic committed only three team fouls. In the second half we did go at the hoop and drew fouls, were awarded free throws, and made legitimate scoring runs.

3) Intangibles, intangibles, intangibles. We have edges in playoff experience, game closers, and intensity. We're the defending champs, which doesn't score you any extra points on the scoreboard, but adds motivation and pride. And maybe the biggest edge we have is in team chemistry, although the five drunk yuppies singing "Just a Friend" in the Heineken commercial seem to have more chemistry than Magic starters. By the way that commercial kicks ass and sends a good message; they can't show it enough.

4) Take Big Baby out after three fouls with 11 seconds left in the half. It's that easy. And while we're here, no more big men wasting fouls on shoddy picks, reach ins, or soft and-one fouls.

5) Manage the runs. Call it the Pepto-Bismol strategy but this game was won by the team that was able to withstand the other team's offensive runs, and the Magic 3-point surges outlasted ours. It starts with Rondo being less haphazard with the ball when we're streaking and also means not getting frustrated if Pietrus and Alston hit a few buckets in a row (by the end of the game the Magic shot only 33% from downtown). Finally, it means taking advantage of a coach commonly dubbed a "Master of Panic" by his own players.

Let's stay positive. We were down 0-1 to the Bulls too, and by now we know that this is a marathon, not a sprint.

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLLLLLLLLLE

Something happened last night that I never expected. The champagne scene in Wild Things became my second favorite champagne memory of all time. But, I'll get to that later though.

It all starts with expectations. They are unsteady and fickle; they can change after any minor or major event (say a PJ Brown jumpshot or a Paul Pierce twisted knee) and as far as I can tell, they aren't consciously controllable. Maybe just my expectations are erratic and unstable...

Lets just say this, before the playoffs started, I didn't think Game 5 tickets against the Hawks would be worth the effort of a deposit. Expectations were Snoop Dogg high. Then out of nowhere came the Joe Johnson debacle, which is like calling it the Spygate misinterpretation. Sure the C's Papelbonned Game 7, but who could be sure which team would face the Cavs in the next round.

Next, LeBron came to town, making already-wavering expectations recede like the S&P 500 (shout out to my good-for-nothing 401k!!). Again my Celtics expectations elevator rose up to the penthouse and then back down to the lobby as their jerseys switched from white to green. Ya know that feeling when a 6-year brat jumps in your elevator and hits all the buttons and you have to deal with that herky-jerky ride up and down, never knowing the next stop or where it will end? That was the Cavs series. Another 7 games of the expectations elevator acting like Disney's Tower of Terror. Luckily the S&P Celtics used the TD Banknorth Fleet Center Shawmut Center Garden like Harry Potter used his cloak of invisibility; lots of close calls, but ultimately were protected the prized possession (the parquet).

It was at this point where I felt like watching the S&P C's wasn't fun and certainly wasn't healthy. Maybe I'm a pessimist but the pain of 3 losses was becoming greater than the joy of 4 wins. This wasn't the basketball team I had rooted for all year. This wasn't the best team in the NBA that played the best team basketball in the NBA. It was like looking for American Beauty and Usual Suspects Kevin Spacey, but finding the guy who was in K-Pax. 

Oddly playing Detroit made things better when I expected worse, and all of a sudden it was time for Kobe and the Condiments. Again the yo-yo expectations carried me through to game 6, where I didn't know what to expect. I wanted to believe in the team but even more I didn't want to be heartbroken again.

Yet, there I was last night watching a 10 point lead jump to 20, jump to 30, jump to 39 before I had time to chew my fingernails down. Take that lowered expectations!!

And this is where we get back to the champagne. Expectations be damned, I defied them and headed to Davo's (apparently we have good luck squinting at his little TV) with a bottle of champagne, just in case. And then, with Eddie House dribbling the clock out, Davo and I popped the cork, sprayed the bottle, and cheers'ed to Paul, Kevin, Ray, Kedrick, Rajon, Eddie, Tony, James, Leon, Glen, PJ, and even to Sam, and Doc. We drank, hugged, drank, called our dads, and laughed at Kevin Garnett seizuring with delight. No longer will Neve Campbell, Denise Richards and Matt Dillon be my Big Three of champagne.

Rebuilt!

I am as happy as anyone can be who just spent three hours chewing their fingernails down. This was one of those "hero's journey archetype" games where everything worked out the way it was supposed to, but it never looked like it would. Check out the scene at the end of the game.

Paul Pierce, the captain, the only Celtic who has been here since the last time we enjoyed the C's, had the ball in his hands. New additions Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen yielded to Pierce frenzied possession after frenzied possession; it was a game that the Truth was going to win or lose; it was up to him. On a night when he exorcized his LeBron James demons, Pierce also made his return to the conference finals. He made the big plays, consistently hitting pull up jumpers that he never doubted and I never expected to keep falling. LeBron beat Pierce up and down the floor statistically, but when it counted and where it counted, Pierce reigned over King James. And again, the man who has muddled through Celtics mediocrity (at best!) the last five seasons is reborn into elusive playoff territory with a team who's rebuilding is finally complete.

How cyclical that five years after the last inspired Celtics playoff run and subsequent post-season schism, that Pierce again captains a set of contenders, that the Garden is again loud and filled with Red Auerbach's spirit, and that there is once again banner banter. Danny Ainge's self-proclaimed, widely-scrutinized rebuilding process is complete. And in slightly less time than the Big Dig took, and with one less casualty (unless we're counting Antoine Walker's career).

#34 wasn't the only hero and wasn't the only Celtic who's character arc came full circle in today's Game 7. How about Eddie House who had been relegated to a front-row spectator for the first five games? It seemed only Doc Rivers couldn't see the problem with Sam Cassell hogging the minutes and shots early in the series. House, an emotional leader and offensive spark-plug all year, literally and figuratively came to play in Games 6 and 7. To those looking back, his stats will never resemble the game he played today, but in 15 minutes House did almost everything right. A huge jumper, the extra passes to free up teammates, and the gutsiest play of the game, diving on a loose ball destined for out of bounds and turning it into James Posey free throws. There weren't enough imaginary Tommy Points that could have validated the "jump-out-of-your-seat-ness" of that play. House even made his presence felt on the bench, emphatically clapping in LeBron's ear during a wide open 3-pointer, and throwing him out of rhythm. And how appropriate that Eddie hit two humungous free throws you would expect from someone like Sam Cassell and was the one left holding the ball as the final horn sounded. Meanwhile, as House was celebrated by his teammates, Sam Cassell could be seen talking to Damon Jones, likely comparing each others uselessness.

Finally our role-players are playing the correct roles (Rondo 8 points, 8 assist, 8 rebounds; PJ Brown 10 points, each one somehow exponentially more clutch than the previous). And while no team wants to get stuck in a Game 7, this team may have been helped more than it was hurt from the extra 48 minutes. Even if two of the Big 3 Celtics headline acts had subpar performances, the team learned that it can count on some of the overlooked nuts and bolts of a well-oiled homecourt machine. Maybe we cant expect any more big games from Ray Allen (star of He Got Lame) or another career resume game from Pierce, but we know understudies like Powe, PJ Brown, Rondo, and Posey all will help the team in their way. You could argue that these long series are making our older veterans older for the worse or you could argue its making our younger players older for the better.

Detroit will be by far the best team the Celtics have played in the playoffs so far, and the most well-rounded. This is a team without one of two prime scorers and a team that resembles our own. Win or lose now, the Celtics wont have disappointed too many fans. Most, myself included, are just happy to have a hometown basketball team that makes us proud more often than it doesn't (like, in say, 4 of 7 games).

Do I feel like the last two weeks have given me more indigestion and pit-stained t-shirts? Absolutely. Have I pounded down a few more beers out of bitterness and frustration? At least 10. And now it will continue for another week, at least... and I'm pretty excited about it.

Rome wasn't built in a day, neither were the 2007-8 Celtics and even if we have to do this in stressful 7-game segments, I'm done complaining.