CHAPTER SIXTEEN CHAPTER SIXTEEN In early September 2008, Dwight Howard stood before a small crowd in his old high school gymnasium. Around his neck was something he’d always longed for: an Olympic gold medal.
Just two weeks before, Team USA had beaten Spain 118–107 to capture the United States’ first gold medal in men’s basketball since 2000. Dwight had made five out of nine shots in the final round and averaged 10.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game overall.
“It’s just tight to say that I represented my country,” he told the audience. “It’s great to know that I’m a part of history.”
Of course, Dwight hoped to be part of NBA history, too, by leading the Orlando Magic to their first championship title. He set himself a personal goal to rule the boards, both in rebounding and in blocked shots that season.
The team raced through the early games in November. Howard was a force to be reckoned with, conquering the boards and denying the other team shots. By mid-November, he was leading the league in blocks with an average of 4.2 per game. He was posting double-doubles regularly and on November 12, racked up his first career triple-double, with 30 points, 19 rebounds, and 10 blocked shots.
“I wish he would have had one more rebound. It would have looked really even on the stat sheet—30, 20, and 10,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy joked after the game. “You can’t dominate a game much more than that.”
Howard and the Magic continued to dominate throughout the rest of 2008. In December, they lost just three games and won twelve to end with a record of 25 wins and only 7 losses. Unbelievably, they lost just three in January, too, to make their record 35 and 10. It was the best showing by the franchise for several years.
Howard himself had reached his goal of leading the league in rebounds and blocks. He was also ranked sixth in field goal percentage, a fact that earned him more than three million votes in All-Star balloting.
He hoped to be just as popular when he defended his Slam Dunk title during the All-Star weekend. But that night he wound up on the wrong side of an over-the-top dunk.
The contestants were Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks, Rudy Fernandez of the Portland Trail Blazers, and J. R. Smith of the Denver Nuggets. After the first two-dunk round, Fernandez and Smith were eliminated, leaving Robinson and Howard to duel for the title.
That’s when Robinson got a leg up on Howard—or two legs, actually. A day before the Slam Dunk contest, Robinson asked Dwight to help him out with his final dunk. Howard agreed, not knowing what the five-foot-nine guard had in mind. Had he known, he might not have said yes!
Nate positioned Dwight in front of and facing the basket and told him just to stand still so he could jump up and over him on his way to the hoop!
Dwight knew he’d been had. “I thought about turning around and blocking it, like ‘I’m not going to let you jump over me,’ ” he confessed later. “But then I was like, ‘Just go ahead, man, it’s all for fun.’ ”
Robinson made the shot, and in doing so, he proved that he was just a bit stronger than “Superman.” When the voters dialed in, they awarded the Knick guard the trophy.
Howard took it in stride for the most part. Would he have won if he had refused to let Robinson jump over him? Probably. But as he said later, “I’d given him my word.”
Dwight didn’t take revenge against Nate, but a few weeks later, he did get a chance to show up someone else who was bent on taking him down a notch.
Shaquille O’Neal had made several unfavorable comments about Dwight that Dwight shrugged off, for the most part. But when he got the opportunity to put Shaq in his place, he took it.
The moment came during a game in early March. Howard and O’Neal both went up for a rebound. Howard came down with it. As he did, his shoulder hit Shaq. Shaq went down, and he went down hard!
“Yeah, I flopped,” Shaq confessed later. To add insult to injury, Dwight dunked the ball.
By March 25, Orlando had secured the Southeast Division title by beating the 2008 NBA champions, the Boston Celtics. Dwight was virtually unstoppable that night, posting 24 points, 21 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Unbelievably, half of his points and rebounds came in just the first twelve minutes of play! That game was his eighth 20-20 game of the season. Only three other players had had more 20-20 games in a single season.
And Howard wasn’t through yet. On March 30, he surpassed Wilt Chamberlain to become the youngest player to post 5,000 career rebounds. Five nights later, he added a ninth 20-20 game with 21 points and 23 rebounds. He also had a game-high 5 assists, plus 4 blocks and 3 steals.
The Magic’s season ended with a win over the Charlotte Bobcats. That victory brought their record to 59 and 23, the second best ever in the history of the franchise and good enough for the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
“If we play consistent basketball,” Dwight Howard predicted of their chances in the postseason, “we can beat anybody.”