Los Angeles Lakers: Charlotte Hornets push Lakers to limit, 4 lessons

(Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)
(Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)
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Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

Dwight Howard must have had the Charlotte Hornets circled on the schedule.

In the NBA, there are six degrees of separation that is connected to some players. Dwight Howard definitely fits that bill.

When Dwight Howard spurned the Lakers to sign with the Rockets, he was the first superstar to be swallowed up in James Harden‘s talent tractor beam. Then Howard spent a year in Atlanta before traveling up north a few hours to Charlotte.

Former Lakers GM, Mitch Kupchak was hired and his first call of duty was to trade Howard to Brooklyn for Timofey Mozgov, a former Lakers center.

Howard must have held a grudge. Or at least he played like it.

Dwight Howard is making his claim for comeback player of the year, rebuilding the bridges he burned out collecting a double-double scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. What’s more impressive is that he didn’t miss any of his eight shots from the field. He was one of the supporting cast of Anthony Davis while LeBron James wasn’t scoring the basketball.

With each passing game, it is evident that the rust is starting to come off Howard. This alley-oop finish of a Danny Green pass shows that.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1188640094699192320

Dwight Howard helped raised the level of defense for the Lakers in the second half that obviously bothered the Hornets. His activity on the defensive end, along with Alex Caruso (More on him later) being inserted into the game wreaked havoc on the Hornets offensive flow.

Speaking of this Alex Caruso thing.