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Dwight Howard was tightly defended by Jason Maxiell.
Gregory Shamus (NBAE/Getty)
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“I’m sure they looked at that match up and said, ‘We’re going to that. We’re going to get everything we can get out of that,’” Billups said.
It turns out that wasn’t very much. Howard, Orlando’s leading scorer at 20 points per game, scored 12 on 5-of-11 shooting – all ’08 playoff lows.
Maxiell, who entered the Pistons’ starting lineup only after Antonio McDyess broke his nose three games earlier, matched Howard and then some. He had 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 9 rebounds. The Pistons won by 19.
“Dwight is one of the great players in the game today so he probably was a little surprised too,” Billups continued, “to see how hard Maxy was playing him, how tenacious Maxy is, even with his size advantage over Max.”
The defining matchup of Game 1 – as it will be for this entire Eastern Conference semifinal series – was how the Pistons defended Howard, the starting 2008 All-Star center. Round 1 went to the Pistons in a knockout, as Maxiell and a trio of veteran defenders – McDyess, Theo Ratliff and Rasheed Wallace – kept “Superman” grounded.
Maxiell, as the starter, took the first run at Howard. As the youngest of the quartet and the one with the lightest defensive resume, his work to prevent Howard from a fast start was impressive. Howard had one field goal and two made free throws in the first six minutes with Maxiell on the floor. Pistons coach Flip Saunders liked that matchup from the outset, citing Maxiell’s success against Howard in the regular season. He called him, “one of our better post defenders.”
Ratliff, a 6-foot-10 center signed to combat post scorers like Howard, said Maxiell gives the Magic center another defensive style to account for. “Max is a very strong guy and he’s banging him around and different things of that nature. And then Sheed and Dice and myself get in and our elbows are a little higher than Max’s,” Ratliff said. “We’re hitting him in different positions and just trying to keep him away from the basket.”
The plan was working even before Howard banged his left thumb late in the third quarter. (X-rays were negative. Sunday he said the swelling has gone down and “it feels pretty good.”) With the Pistons able to defend Howard straight up, Orlando’s 3-point shooters were not open for kick-outs.
”Well I’ve just got to be patient, see how they’re playing defense,” Howard said when asked how the Magic will adjust. “I think I made good moves yesterday, I’ve just got to finish. That’s one of the things I was working on today, just finishing with a hand in my face.”
As Orlando’s frustration mounted, so too did the amount of bumping and banging. Maxiell, for one, believes that plays further into the Pistons’ hands. “I’m a physical guy,” he said. “Theo, Sheed, Dice, all going to be physical and we’ve got a lot of bodies to throw at Howard so we’ll make it as physical as we can.”
Though the Magic center has almost unparalleled athleticism for a player at his height – which he exhibited at All-Star Weekend wearing Superman’s red cape – Maxiell has gained leverage against the top-heavy Howard. “He has a really strong upper body,” said Maxiell, who, listed at 260 pounds, is essentially in the same weight class as Howard. “But get down low and take his legs out from under him and he’s not very powerful down low.”
Ratliff shares Maxiell’s irreverence for the 22-year-old center. He said he’s played against the game’s greats, including Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson. Howard – despite three 20-point, 20-rebound performances in the first round – does not yet qualify in his book.
“Dwight, he’s an imposing player out there and what he can do as far as dominating the game, but we’ve played against some of the Hall of Famers,” the 13-year vet said. “It’s not really something that we really worry about.”
Quote of the day came courtesy of Ratliff, explaining the fourth-quarter altercation between Maxiell and Rashard Lewis. Maxiell had come to Ratliff’s defense after what he deemed a hard foul on Ratliff. “I just told him to calm down. He’s about to get a tech for that,” Ratliff said. “I knew he was going to get a tech. And no sense in guys coming to my rescue. I mean, that was Rashard Lewis. He fouled me hard but he’s a 3-man. It wasn’t no big deal.”
