CHAPTER TWELVE CHAPTER TWELVE “Dwight Howard has to have a big series and put up big numbers offensively.”
“This contest looks like a complete overmatch with the Pistons being in the driver’s seat.”
“Detroit’s championship poise will prove to be too much for Dwight Howard and the Magic.”
Those were some of the predictions being made in the days leading up to the first round of the 2007 NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs. Such predictions were understandable.
The Detroit Pistons had a regular season record of 53 wins and 29 losses. The Orlando Magic had just 40 wins and 42 losses. The Pistons had beaten the Magic in each of their four meetings that year, with the most recent win coming just ten days before their first playoff match. The Pistons had several strong veterans, including high scorers Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, and Richard Hamilton. The Magic had their heavy hitters, too, but Detroit had a plan for handling them.
“We knew they didn’t shoot very well from the line,” Billups revealed. “So putting them on the line is a strategy.”
That strategy called for them to target Howard in particular, whose free-throw percentage hovered just above the 0.500 mark. Hacking him made sense because it could throw off his game and remove him as a threat.
The Pistons were right—up to a point. Out of eleven free throws in the first match, Howard made just three. But those shots were just a small portion of his overall game, and in other categories, he played quite well. In fact, one of his plays made the Pistons very nervous.
The Magic had succeeded in closing a gap of 14 points to just 5 by the last minute of the game. Then Chauncey Billups made a costly offensive foul that put the ball in Orlando’s hands.
That’s all the Magic needed. Darko Milicic drilled a pass to Dwight, who was waiting under the basket. Dwight leaped and—wham!—stuffed the ball through the hoop to bring Orlando to within three points.
That jam woke up the Pistons. They clamped down on defense, allowing the Magic just two more points. With just twenty-five seconds remaining, Orlando had no choice but to foul Detroit to send them to the line. If the Pistons missed, the Magic could get the rebound and convert for two.
But the Pistons didn’t miss. Instead, Billups added five more points.
Final score: Detroit 100, Orlando 92.
The Magic lost two nights later by the same eight-point margin. Howard played only thirty-five minutes that game, and had just 8 points and 11 rebounds, causing many to wonder whether he was succumbing to the pressure of the playoffs.
Not so, his coach said. “Dwight was sick, quite honestly…. Before the game, he was nauseous and had intense stomach pains.”
Howard was clearly over his stomach ailment when the Magic hosted the Pistons for Game 3. In the first quarter alone, he jammed three dunks to help Orlando match Detroit point-for-point.
But then he and the Magic lost steam. They were behind by 6 at the half and by 10 at the end of the third quarter, and fell apart in the last twelve minutes. The Pistons scored at will to add 22 points to their side of the board. The Magic tallied only 16. Final score: Detroit 93, Orlando 77.
Detroit now had a commanding 3–0 lead in the series. Orlando had to win all four of the remaining games to advance to the next round. They needed every single player to give his best performance every game.
They got just such a performance from Dwight Howard in Game 4. He picked apart the Pistons’ defense and made 10 out of 15 shots. He was fouled frequently and while several of his free throws missed, 9 of them found their mark to give him a series best of 29 points.
He absolutely dominated under the hoop, too, ripping down a game-high 17 rebounds—10 more than the Pistons’ top rebounder. A pair of assists and an equal number of steals kept Orlando’s momentum at a high. Midway through the third quarter, that momentum earned the Magic their first lead of the series. They fell below again five minutes later, but that lead had given them hope.
Dwight Howard gave them hope, too. His three-point play in the final minutes of the game boosted them back on top. But he also made mistakes that resulted in points for the Pistons. In the end, Orlando couldn’t recover. The Pistons took the game 97–93.
There would be no second round in the playoffs for the Orlando Magic. As Dwight followed the progress of the other teams from the sidelines, he set himself a goal for the next season.
“Winning a championship,” he told reporters. “That’s my goal. I want to bring a championship to Orlando.”