Hawks Center Dwight Howard Not Apologizing To Cody Zeller Is Gold
Dwight Howard was assigned a flagrant foul 2 and ejected for elbowing Charlotte Hornets big man Cody Zeller in the face on Friday night. Howard stated the elbow wasn’t on purpose, however, he didn’t apologize because his job is to “protect his house”.
“It wasn’t like I tried to hit him in the face,” Howard told reporters after the game, via ESPN. “but my job is to protect my house at all costs. I am making no apologies for it. I can’t do nothing but live with it.”
Via Yahoo! Sports
Dwight Howard, I must say, thank you. Thank you for that warrior mentality you’re bringing back to the paint. As we’ve all seen over the years, the traditional big man has started to become defunct. We are watching coaches drag centers to the perimeter and watching other big men guard them out there. It’s not a bad thing, but it would be great to see the old school, this-is-my-block mentality return. And Howard, thank you for stating to Zeller, no apologies. You essentially told him to get his weight up.
The NBA of course, is a grown man league. We’ve seen the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Ben Wallace and Kevin Garnett roam the paint while mentally and physically washing down opponents. Their opposition wanted the ball? Had to come through them. Wanted to score? They had to score through them. Garnett, O’Neal and Wallace set a precedent, a tone, rather, that they weren’t going to allow anyone to come in and completely dominate their house. It was mind before matter and that’s all Dwight Howard is saying.
We here at Soaring Down South aren’t encouraging violence. We are just appreciative that Howard is bringing that old-school mentality to Atlanta. As stated previously, the game has become so spread out and quicker, traditional big men and defenses had to monitor and adjust. The Wallace’s and Garnett’s are slowly fading; protecting the house isn’t the priority. protecting the perimeter is now first and foremost. But when teams do want to come inside, they have to knock on the door to ask Howard for permission. To close, all Howard is saying is his house, his rules. And if you don’t like it? You can get an elbow to the face. Sorry, not really, but sorry.
More from Soaring Down South
This article originally appeared on 
