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Trail Blazers a Victim of Dwight Howard’s Cheating?

By Steven Dewald

Feb 6, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard (12) grabs a rebound from Portland Trail Blazers center Ed Davis (17) in the second quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 6, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard (12) grabs a rebound from Portland Trail Blazers center Ed Davis (17) in the second quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports /
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Has Dwight Howard’s foul play given him an edge over the Trail Blazers?

Dwight Howard is once again in the headlines for the wrong reasons. This time it isn’t related to his poor attitude, broken shooting mechanics, his decline in talent, or his trade availability. Instead it has to do with an incident that occurred this past weekend against the Hawks. Chris Vivlamore detailed the incident in his article for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. According to the story, Howard applied Stickum (adhesive spray) to his hands during a dead ball and returned to the game. Paul Millsap noticed the foreign substance when the ball was handed back to him (while shooting free throws) after Howard had touched it.

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This might be a partial explanation on how Howard has been able to routinely torch the Trail Blazers on the boards. In his four games against the Trail Blazers this season he has averaged 14.75 RPG, which also includes a 19 rebound performance. Those rebounding numbers are well above his 12.1 average on the season. This is surprising, especially when you consider that the Trail Blazers are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the league and Howard does his damage on the defensive glass (8.5 DRB). Is it possible the veteran center is applying a little more spray before facing the 4th ranked offensive rebounding team in the NBA (per TeamRanking.com)?

Howard certainly didn’t deny that he frequently uses Stickum. He had this to say after the game:

"“I don’t know why people are making a big deal out of it… I do it every game. It’s not a big deal. I ain’t tripping.” – Howard (Houston Chronicle)"

Besides his increased rebounding rate against Portland, he has another piece of evidence working against him. Steven Adams recently suggested that Howard’s poor free throw shooting might be a result of using Stickum (his explanation below). Against the Trail Blazers, Howard has gone 13-32 from the charity stripe. That amounts to a .406 FT%, which is well below his season average of .505%.

It will be interesting to see how the NBA deals with this situation going forward. The numbers certainly point to the Trail Blazers being a victim of Howard’s foul play. This only further adds to the villain status that the Rockets big man already has in Portland. These accusations will turn up the temperature in an already heated playoff race in the bottom half of the Western Conference.

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It really shouldn’t come as a surprise that this has come out. Howard has gone through a monumental change in his status in the NBA. He has gone from franchise cornerstone to un-tradable in a very short amount of time. Not exactly the situation you want to be in when you are about to hit the market in search of a big contract.