Philadelphia 76ers veteran Dwight Howard has been a great pickup for the team. He has been a positive influence in the locker room, he has provided good play behind Joel Embiid, and he has been a big help on the boards, but he has been picking up too many technical fouls as his emotions have gotten the best of him.
Howard had 15 technical fouls after picking one up on Saturday where coach Doc Rivers felt like was not deserving of a technical foul. It seemed like that was based purely on his reputation and Howard feels like he is being targeted a bit.
“I do feel like I’m being a targeted every night,” said Howard after a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. “I have felt like I’ve been targeted but, I’m just going to continue to play as hard as I can. I want all the Philly fans to know that I’m out there giving 130% every night. The calls might not go my way, I might seem a little frustrated, but I’m out there to help this team win a championship. Sometimes the refs do give me some calls that I feel is warranted even the technical fouls. Last game, I got a tech and I just clapped.”
Howard is a guy who brings a lot of energy and he is a guy who will play with emotion and bring it to the basketball court every night. He is also a guy who will play an old-school style of play and he is an irritant at times to give the team a bit of an edge.
“A lot of my techs have been just really quick,” Howard continued. “When I’m on the court, I’m passionate. I want to win. I came from old school basketball so I like to talk trash. I like to hit people. I like to push people’s hands down. It’s not like I’m doing it to be malicious, but it’s how I play. It’s Philly basketball. I can’t help it.”
As mentioned, Howard is one technical foul away from an automatic one-game suspension with his 16th. He needs to be smarter out there on the floor and he needs to be able to have a better mindset heading into the postseason.
“I feel like I have to be smarter, especially in the playoffs,” Howard finished. “Sometimes they catch the tail end of a play or me moving somebody out of the way or me saying things so I gotta make sure I keep my eyes on the prize and my mouth shut unless I’m talking to my teammates and we should win some games.”
Howard had nine points and 12 rebounds off the bench in Monday’s win and the team will move on to face one of Howard’s former teams in the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f1jxkahtwnvzepyp image=https://sixerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[lawrence-related id=45204,45200,45192]