Atlanta Hawks: Dwight Howard's Struggles Proving Costly

Dwight Howard was the primary offseason acquisition for the Atlanta Hawks this summer, but his struggles in the opening round of the playoffs have pushed the team two games away from elimination.

For the final 15 minutes of Game 2, the Atlanta Hawks opted to battle the Washington Wizards without center Dwight Howard.

The same center the team signed to a three-year, $70.5 million contract on the first day of free agency last summer was limited to just 20 minutes, his least amount of time spent on the court in his past 18 contests.

The benching of Howard becomes much more understandable when factoring in the lack of productivity with him on the court. During his 49 minutes of playing time, the Hawks have been outscored by 16 points during the 2017 NBA Playoffs.

Yet, they've outscored Washington by one point during his 47 minutes on the bench.

Howard playfully dunked on Gortat during warmups, essentially marking the last time he had anything to smile about in the series.

In an attempt to reverse the trend Wednesday night, Atlanta began the game attempting to feature Howard, as he scored four of the team's first six points.

As Howard battled for post position with Wizards center Marcin Gortat, his former backup in Orlando, the Hawks kept feeding him the ball. Only Gortat responded with a pair of rejections on consecutive possessions during a 30-second span midway through the opening quarter.

Following the stellar defensive effort by Gortat, Howard attempted just one more shot during the remainder of the game.

In 91 career playoff appearances, Howard has averaged 11.5 shot attempts per game, but in the first two games of this series, he has been held to just 11 shot attempts—total.

By effectively taking Howard, the NBA's fifth-leading rebounder during the regular season, out of the game, Washington managed to win the rebounding battle and take control of the paint.

Paul Millsap spent extensive time playing center, a move that yielded 27 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a block. Those are figures the Hawks expected Howard to replicate when signing him to his massive contract nearly 10 months ago.

Only the defense for Atlanta suffered with Millsap in the middle, as the team surrendered 16 points in the paint during the fourth quarter, while scoring just eight.

Without a legitimate post threat, open looks on the perimeter became scarce for the Hawks. The team missed each of its eight attempts from beyond the arc in the first half, marking the first time in 84 games this season the team failed to connect from beyond the arc in any half.

Atlanta has made 11 of its 45 attempts from 3-point range in the series. The 24.4 percent shooting is nearly 10 percentage points lower than their regular season average.

The Wizards have thoroughly won the center matchup during the first two games of the series, as Gortat has posted averages of 14.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game—the last of which is the second highest average in the post season.

Howard has been limited to 6.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 1.0 block per game. In his nine previous playoff series appearances, Howard had yet to shoot below 50 percent, but has been held to 45.5 percent shooting from the field on his limited shot attempts.

The disparity between the two was significantly magnified in Game 1, as Washington posted an offensive rating of 125.2 and a defensive rating of 95.1 with Gortat on the court, while the offensive rating for the Hawks was 83.6 and the defensive rating 119.3 when Howard played.

Atlanta has played at a faster pace, scored more efficiently, shot more accurately, and turned the ball over less when Howard was benched.

All Howard could do was watch as the Wizards erased a four-point deficit with a dominant fourth quarter. Washington outscored its opponents by 12 points over the final 12 minutes to take a commanding series lead.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, the victory for Washington increased its odds of capturing the series to 86 percent, with an 18 percent chance of completing a sweep.

The Hawks have fallen behind 0-2 in a playoff series on 18 occasions prior to the 2017 NBA playoffs, but have yet to complete a series comeback.

In order to avoid a 19th straight series defeat, the Atlanta Hawks will need a major turnaround, starting with increased productivity from Dwight Howard.