Super Evolution of Basketball

Chapter 372 Happy Warcraft
"How's it going, Dwight?" Bosh leaned forward and put his arm around Howard's shoulder.

Howard just laughed, and the fans seemed to see the monster in Orlando again, as if it had been a lifetime.

The man who was once known as the man who can change James alone, turned from prosperity to decline, everything started with that deal.

2012年8月10日，在一笔涉及到4支球队总计12名球员的大交易中，霍华德被魔术送到了湖人。

Magic's trade for Howard was requested by "Warcraft" himself. The reason was that he was dissatisfied with the team's dismantling of the lineup that reached the finals in 2009.

At that time, Howard was the "Superman" who eliminated James in the Eastern Conference finals. He was a superstar on par with James. However, after the Magic won the Eastern Conference championship season, they sent away the three heroes Turkoglu, Lewis and Alston without consulting Howard. This made "Warcraft" very depressed.

With the Magic losing to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2010 and the Eagles in the first round of the playoffs in 2011, Howard lost confidence in the team. He submitted a trade application to the Magic and designated two teams, either to the Lakers or to the Nets.

In the end, the Magic reached a deal with the Lakers to send "Warcraft" to Los Angeles.

Howard only played for the Lakers for one year, and many things happened in this year. One of the scenes is still fresh in the memory of Los Angeles basketball reporter Medina.

"Before a game, Howard was dancing and telling jokes in the locker room. Kobe walked by and looked at Howard without a smile on his face. You can clearly feel that they seem to be from different planets." Medina recalled.

Simply put, there is no personal problem between Howard and Kobe, but they are different in character. Kobe is serious, Howard is lively, and there is a lack of resonance between the two.

However, this is not the main contradiction. The cooperation between the two failed to achieve the desired results. The crux of the problem is that after Howard underwent back surgery in 2012, his physical condition could no longer return to the level before the operation, and he came back hastily after joining the Lakers.

Howard thought that he came to the Lakers to succeed Kobe, and Kobe felt that "Warcraft" had to fight for himself if he wanted to be the core of the Lakers.

From Kobe's point of view, Howard lacked the spirit of being brave and ruthless. This situation made Kobe miss O'Neal a little bit. Howard's situation turned out to be an opportunity for the OK combination to reconcile.

ESPN reporter Stephen Smith revealed: "Kobe once invited O'Neal, who came to the Staples Center to watch the game, to the locker room. He told O'Neal that he didn't really realize O'Neal's greatness until he cooperated with other centers."

For Smith's revelations, Bryant did not deny, he admitted that through cooperation with Howard, he discovered how good a teammate O'Neal is.

"Shaq and I didn't like each other at the time. Shaq and Dwight like to be funny, but when Shaq stepped on the court, he would become cruel and cold-blooded, and he would fiercely knock down opponents to the ground without mercy. This kind of fighting spirit is only possessed by a few people." Bryant said frankly.

The scene in the fourth game of the first round of the 2013 playoffs was a manifestation of Howard's immaturity.In that game, Howard was sent off early because of two technical fouls. He only scored 7 points and 8 rebounds when he left the game, and made 5 turnovers. As a result, the Lakers lost 21 points and were swept out by the Spurs.

In the player channel, Howard met Lakers general manager Kupchak, "Warcraft" quarreled with Kupchak, then turned around and left.

"Dwight couldn't handle the pressure of the game and was ejected. It felt like he abandoned his teammates and let his teammates wait on the court," recalls Medina.

"In that game, Kobe Bryant, who had seriously injured his Achilles tendon for the Lakers' playoff tickets, came to the arena on crutches to cheer for the team. Even if he couldn't play, he wanted to help the Lakers, but Dwight left the team behind."

Later, everyone knew that Howard went to another rising team, the Houston Rockets.

The combination of Howard and Harden also ended in failure. Unlike Howard when he was in the Lakers, there was not a lot of news about infighting between "Madden". Even Harden repeatedly stated that the two had never blushed. Howard also agreed with Harden.

"It's just a small communication problem. It's not that we can't play together," Howard said. "There's really nothing between me and Harden. When I was in the Rockets, I didn't want to compete with him. I wanted to win with him."

However, the actual situation is that Howard and Harden are getting more and more divided in the Rockets, and the root cause is that they have different tactical ideas.

Harden hopes that Howard will be more involved in the pick-and-roll, and Howard believes that the game should be handled according to the traditional basketball concept, first let him attack in the low post, and the pick-and-roll is only an occasional tactic.

Both of them actually have a reason. The key to tactics depends on the effect, while Howard's problem lies in his physical condition, which cannot provide the tactical effect that the Rockets need.

"You can give him the ball occasionally to play in the low post, but if you keep feeding him the ball, he can't get in the post, he can't even move, the back hurts him, he's not the same Howard he used to be," McHale, the former Rockets coach, said.

Howard was eager to be the core of the tactics in the Rockets, but his physical condition betrayed his ideas, which made him lose the team leader battle with Harden and eventually left the Rockets.

In the summer of 2016, in the shock of everyone, Howard signed with the Miami Heat. According to basketball experts, this is Howard's last chance to redeem himself.

Wade and Bosh are players who have already proved themselves with the championship. If Howard still can't stay in the Heat, other teams may not dare to use him again, at least they will not give him a big contract, and he will no longer have tactical status.

Fortunately, the Heat are running in well. Bosh and Howard's positions are not repeated. With Bosh opening up the defense, Howard can get enough space in the paint.

In this game, Coach Spoelstra wants Howard to play Whiteside. If it can be opened, the tactics will be enriched at once. Then Wade and Dragic will be very easy on the outside, and even Bosh will benefit. This is why the Heat are willing to offer Howard a three-year 3 million contract in the summer.

It's a pity that Spoelstra's thoughts are good, but Howard's state is very worrying.

Now it is very difficult for Happy World of Warcraft to hit Whiteside hard. Whiteside is desperately defending, and Howard is getting more and more difficult.

At the end of the first quarter, Spoelstra called a timeout, rearranged his tactics, and handed over the offensive authority to Bosh.

Bosh shouldered the heavy responsibility, but he didn't have a solid mind. Towns looked rough, but he actually had a good basic defensive skill, and he was not sloppy at all, so it was not so easy to take advantage of him.

(End of this chapter)