Howard’s Best Performance
Howard had himself some very good games in his first season as a Hawk. But his performance against the Toronto Raptors in December was the best.
It was a signature performance for Howard, as he led the Hawks to a big road win over the Raptors. Howard finished with 27 points and 15 rebounds in 34 minutes against a good Toronto team and did so in a very efficient way.
He shot 10-for-13 from the field but the key to this performance might have been the free-throw shooting. Howard went 7-for-10 from the charity stripe in this game and forced the Raptors to respect that aspect enough to get his offense going.
Dwight was a dominant physical force inside in this game and was the difference for Atlanta. The Hawks stole a four-point win in this game and Howard had a plus-minus of +15. He also took great care of the ball, having just one turnover.
Howard was the definition of efficient in this game. While it wasn’t always pretty this season, this version of Howard is what Hawks fans dreamed of seeing from the hometown star.