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Posts Tagged ‘Atlanta Hawks’

Wishing my mom a Happy Mother’s Day!!!

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

Heyyyyy wooorrrrrllllllddd!!!
Just got back from our practice today so I thought I’d drop you guys a few lines. My first playoff game back in my hometown of the A-T-L went really well. Our guys came out solid yesterday and we hit the Hawks before they could hit us. We’re playing for something big this season, and we’re trying not to have a game where we overlook any team or situation.
Another great thing about yesterday’s game was that my 90-year-old grandma was in attendance. It was only her second time seeing me play in person so I’m glad I did well and we got the W. To be honest, I think she was more excited about meeting Patrick Ewing than she was seeing me play. She loves her some Patrick!!!

Since today is Mother’s Day I wanted to give all the moms out there a special shout out. Thank you for having us and putting up with all of our junk when we were kids.
I want to tell you guys about my mom, Sheryl. She’s the best mom a kid could ever have. I wasn’t a bad kid or somebody that she always had to stay on but she was always big on making sure that I respected other people. She pushed me to do the best I could in everything and in life.

My mom did a great job in those 18 years that I was at home. She helped me become the person that I am today. No matter the situation on the court, back at home or in my personal life, my mom and her lessons are always in my heart. Her influence helps me make decisions, enjoy life and treat people the way I would want to be treated.
Occasionally, during games I’ll look over and catch her eye and she’ll give me that little wink because she knows what I’m going through out there. She’s pretty quiet now, but ya’ll didn’t know her back in the day when she would do all kinds of yelling and screaming at games.

After my first couple of years I told her that I had been playing basketball for a long time and learned how to tune her out during games. But out of all those voice you hear during a game you can always hear your mom and dad over everybody else. I would tell her to let me play basketball, don’t worry so much and enjoy the games. She’s gotten A LOT better at that.

I can’t wait to take my mom out to dinner later tonight in Atlanta. I’m really craving some Mrs. Winter’s chicken, but she’s probably going to want something fancier than that. I got her a gift, but I can’t spoil the secret in case she reads this. I know Vince Carter got his mom an I-Pad, but my mom doesn’t really do computers. She’s still got a CD player, ya’ll!!!
I love you mom!!! I hope all you moms out there had a great day.

We just need one more against the Hawks on Monday and we can move on to the next round. Getting that one win is all that matters to us now. Peace out and go Magic!!!
DWIGHT

Tags: 2009 NBA Playoffs, Atlanta Hawks, Dwight, Dwight Howard, Happy Mother's Day, Orla, Orlando Magic
Posted in Uncategorized | 20 Comments »

Going back to the A-T-L, staying focused!!!

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

Heyyyyyyy worrrrrrrrrldddddddddddd!!!

Well, we’re up 2-0 in the series, but now it gets tough going back to the A-T-L. We know these Hawks are going to give us their best shot. We have to be mentally ready for that wave they are going to hit us with. We’ve won on the road a lot these last two seasons and I’m confident that we can do it again.

They popped me pretty good several times the other night. They had my nose bleeding pretty good after Al hit me in the face early in the second half. I couldn’t help but to giggle when I was shooting the free throws with those cotton balls stuffed in my nose. That had to look craaaaaaaa-zzzzzzzzzzzy!!!

I think some people were surprised to see that I actually do bleed. It’s not like I’m made of metal like Wolverine or something. I am from the plan Krypton, but Superman bleeds and breaks bones just like other Earthlings. LOL

I’ve been able to stay on the floor and out of foul trouble in the first two games and that’s because we’re playing inside-out ball; we just have so many weapons. ‘Meer Meer had a big game, Vince was aggressive dunking like the 2000 Vince and ‘Shard was out there doing his thing raining in those threes.

We have to play better defense in Atlanta. I’m starting to realize that I can’t try to block every single shot, and some of them I just have to let go when they are driving right at me. It’s not my mentality to give up dunks and lay-ups and I just have to make it tougher on those dudes when they drive down the lane.

On a different subject, I was blown away the other day when I found out I was a consensus All-NBA pick. Just being All-NBA is cool, but consensus just makes it even better. Some of my guys told me that only guys like MJ, Magic, Bird, Karl Malone, Chuck Barkley … A.K.A. the Black Stan Van Gundy, have been consensus All-NBA. I’m so honored to be in the company of such great, great players. All the glory goes to God because He has blessed me with this ability to play basketball and I am so grateful.

Being back in the A-T-L is always fun, but tough too. I used to do too much
and see too many people, but I know now I cannot spread myself too thin. I want to see my fam, but my primary focus at the moment is on beating the Hawks.

Our sole mission right now is to bring that ‘chip back to Orlando and we’re not going to let any distractions stand in our way. We know we have the team to keep this thing rolling and do something special and we’re not going to let anything stop us.

We’ll I’m going to get out of here. Peace out and Go Magic!!!
DWIGHT

Tags: 2009 NBA Playoffs, Atlanta Hawks, Dwight Howard, Family, Home, NBA, Orlando Magic
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Getting back to work!!!

Friday, April 30th, 2010

Heyyyyyyy wooorrrrrrlllddd!!!

Well, we got back at it on Thursday, going hard in practice after having a couple of days off. I thought we really had a good practice and got up and down

for three quarters of game-like work. It was good for us to help us keep our rhythm and conditioning.

It’s kind of weird right now not knowing who we’re going to play next or what day we’re going to start the second round. I can’t wait to watch the Atlanta-Milwaukee Game 6 to see what is going to happen in that series. Will it be over after 6 or will Atlanta force a Game 7? What ya’ll think??? For us, we just have to be ready for whatever comes next. Stan has been in our ear about what kind of game we have to be ready for against Milwaukee and the same for Atlanta. We’ll be prepared for either team.

I just love watching these playoff games to see what’s going to happen. A lot of the playoff series have been crazy. One team can be up by 20 and still lose to the other team late in the game. It’s fun; it’s playoff basketball.

I’m moving on from everything that happened in the Charlotte series and looking forward to the next round. I can’t allow the fouls or anything to make me be less aggressive. I’m determined to learn how to work around it. I had a long chat with Otis Smith on Thursday and it was good to talk through some things with him. He pretty much told me to let go of my frustrations and go play like I know how.

I’ve been getting advice from a lot of people. I heard what Charles Barkley said on TNT and he had a point, a great point. Charles and I are good friends and I understand exactly what he was saying.

Everything that happened in that first series happened for a reason. We have faith that no matter what is thrown at us, our team will overcome it. I know I too will overcome any and all situations. I’m not worried at all.

Well, I’m outta here. We’ll be back at practice on Friday and then we’ll play on Sunday or Tuesday. I can’t wait to get started on the next round of the playoffs.

Peace out!!!

DWIGHT

Tags: 2009 NBA Playoffs, Atlanta Hawks, Dwight Howard, Hard Work, Milwaukee Bucks, Orlando Magic
Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments »

Back at home in the A-T-L!!!

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Heyyyyyy worrrrrlllddd!!! Back in Hot-lanta, my hometown of course. Got to see my folks last night and spend some time with the people who mean the most to me in this world. It’s always good to be back home, and it sort of breaks up life on the road in the NBA.

I’m lucky because the Hawks are in our division, so that means I get to go home two times a year during the regular season and most years we are up here in the preseason too. We haven’t been here to play since Thanksgiving Day so it’s good to go back to the crib and seem the fam!!!

Now, comes the trouble of trying to find enough tickets for all of my family, friends and homeboys who want to come and watch us play. I actually have to get more ticket now that I used when I first came into the league. That’s kind of a challenge, but it’s all good because I know those people are coming to the game to show their support for me and the Magic. And it’s always good to have your own cheering section on the road when the crowd is mostly for the home team.

Early in my career, I couldn’t wait to play at home. But back then I’d try to see everybody and do too much. I would spread myself way too thin and try to do way too much while I was in town. Now, I just go see my mom and dad and the crew and relax and get my mind right to go play the Hawks.

You always want to play well in front of your hometown, but I try not to put that extra pressure. Ya’ll know it’s all about having fun with me, so I just clear my mind and go out on the court to have fun.

We’ve played really well against the Hawks the last two years. Before that they used to beat us all the time and we could never figure out how to beat the Hawks. But now we play more inside-out basketball and we go right at their bigs and try to get them into foul trouble. It’s really been working for us because I think we’ve beaten them six times in a row.

We need this one tonight. A win against the Hawks would give us a pretty good lead and just about lock up another division title for us. It was so cool the other night in Philly, locking up our 50th win. That’s the third year in a row that we’ve done that, and to me that shows a great sign of progress as a franchise. We were kind of a laughing stock as a franchise and I think people really see us now as team that’s been good and is going to stay good for a long time.

So wish us luck in da A-T-L tonight. This will be a tough one because those dudes will be out to get us because of the way we’ve played against them the last couple of years. But we’ll be ready for the challenge!!! Yuuuuaaaaa!!!

—DWIGHT

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Tags: 2010 NBA Season, Atlanta, Atlanta Hawks, Dwight Howard Blog
Posted in Uncategorized | 35 Comments »

A great roadtrip!!!

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Heyyyyyyy world! Now that’s what I call a roadtrip!!!

Ya’ll know that we pride ourselves on winning on the road because that’s what you have to do to win a championship in the playoffs. You have to be able to go into somebody else’s house and get tough Ws.

We had a really tough stretch with four games in five nights, and we started it off on the wrong foot by losing to the Heat by one point in the last few seconds. But we really bounced back on the road and came together as a team.

We were down 14 on Turkey Day in the A-T-L and came back with better defense in the second half to win. Milwaukee had us down 17 on Saturday, but we got hot in the third quarter and got a really, really tough W that night, too.

And on Sunday, we didn’t get to New York until like 3 in the morning and didn’t get to our hotel rooms until 4. Then, we had to play a 6 o’clock game at The Garden. But it might have been our best game of the season because everybody on the roster pitched in.

Those last two games they tried fouling me intentionally, but it didn’t work too good. Some of the guys call it “Hack-A-Howard’’ and I gotta admit that’s pretty funny. But I made the free throws vs. Milwaukee and New York.

I told ya’ll that I’ve been working on my free throws. I basically shoot 100 of them every morning and my coaches count every one of them. And I’m normally pretty good shooting them and it builds my confidence.

I gotta say that I really love my team right now. We’ve been through a lot of junk so far this season with injuries, the flu and the suspension to Rashard, but I’m really proud how we got through it all. We’re 14-4 and that’s the best record in the East and that’s amazing after all we’ve been through.

But we’re nowhere near being satisfied. We want to keep on getting better every time we step on the floor. We’re not stopping until we win that championship this season. I’m just really happy to see us coming together and playing the way we know how.

We got a couple of days off before we play the Knicks again on Wednesday. Then, we’re back on the road again this weekend by heading out to the West Coast. Well, at least we know we can win on the road. We road warriors, ya’ll!!!

—DWIGHT

Fans: Be sure to check out Dwight on Twitter, Facebook and Superfan

Tags: 2010 NBA Season, Atlanta Hawks, Dwight Howard Blog, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Rashard Lewis, Thanksgiving
Posted in Uncategorized | 28 Comments »