James Harden and Dwight Howard blossomed in their NBA career during their absolute prime season with the Houston Rockets. However, the duo could never win a championship together during their time at the Rockets. Patrick Beverley and Spencer Dinwiddie collaborated on Pat Bev’s podcast to discuss how the pecking order worked in the NBA. This pecking order refers to the hierarchy and the rankings of how contemporary legends compare to their previous generation’s counterparts and their other league colleagues.
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Pat Beverley has himself been a part of the Rockets during the same time when Harden and Howard were in their prime. Beverley discussed how Dwight Howard’s rebounding skills complimented Harden’s ‘video game’ like numbers against opponents during games.
This very much drew likeness to Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal during their three-peat seasons with the Lakers. However, unlike the Lakers legends, the Beard and Dwight Howard failed to win a chip with the Rockets during their tenure of stay. A lack of cohesion between the duo hindered them from being as successful as Kobe and Shaq in the league.
Patrick Beverley speaks about how unstoppable Dwight Howard and James Harden could have been
Patrick Beverley had personally witnessed the peak of Dwight Howard and James Harden’s careers during his time with the Rockets. However, Bev also quickly noticed the lack of cohesion between these two All-Stars, which he blamed as the main reason hindering their dominance.
While coming up to the topic of Dwight Howard and James Harden, the panel on Pat Bev’s podcast talked about the ‘pecking order’ in the NBA. This order refers to the ranking of the All-Stars within the hierarchy of the players.
Often when players of the same ranking order interact, there are bound to be some ego clashes. Explaining the same, here is an excerpt of the conversation between Beverley and Spencer Dinwiddie.
Pat Bev: I’ve played with Dwight Howard, James Harden. This James Harden, pre-MVP James Harden. He give mother f***ers 40,20, and 20, like some wild sh*t, like video game sh*t. Dwight get mad, get that b**ch off rebound. I’m on the outlet, James on the outlet, he look at both our a**. Push that b**ch up the court. We watch on the film. ‘Dwight: James open. Man, next play. But he open. Next play!’ Like I’m on the post I don’t get it. But if we were just a little bit more together, who the f**k gonna stop Dwight Howard in his prime, James Harden in his prime?
Spencer Dinwiddie: That’s Kobe and Shaq
Surely, the Beard and Howard duo failed to achieve the dream cohesion that was expected of them. The duo could have been unstoppable like Shaq and Kobe during their three-peat seasons. However, similar to Shaq and Kobe’s relationship, this duo could not last long enough either.
Shaquille O’Neal gave his flowers to the comparison of Harden-Howard with himself and Kobe Bryant
Shaquille O’Neal still believes his and Kobe Bryant’s duo to be one of the greatest in the league. It is quite an honor for contemporary players to get a comparison to the legends of the game. When Shaq had heard the comparison between his and Kobe’s partnership with Dwight Howard and James Harden, Big Diesel seemed to approve of the proposition.
The Big Diesel was sure that the Dwight Howard and James Harden combination could have been the next Shaq and Kobe duo. Harden always reminded Shaq of a younger Kobe, which very well complimented Howard’s prowess as a center. Unfortunately, the Howard-Harden duo could not last long, as the center exited the Rockets as an unrestricted free agent in 2016-17.
