Philadelphia 76ers: Dwight Howard threw a dunk party like it’s 2009

For all of the love Doc Rivers has rightfully received for his impressive coaching of the Philadelphia 76ers in 2020-21, one aspect of the game that he’s still grappling with is how to get serviceable production out of his bench.

Now granted, this isn’t all on Rivers. Even after doing an exemplary job reworking their lineup on the fly with a more copacetic starting five, the Sixers are still incredibly top-heavy and lack the bench depth typically associated with a number one contender.

Still, it’s rather alarming to see just how ineffective Rivers’ various bench rotations have been over the first half of the season, having only two all-bench units with a positive +/- rating (min 10 minutes). Whether via trade or revolutionary rotation reconstruction to better spread starter minutes out across the bench, the Sixers would be wise to commit serious minutes to finding some bench rotations that don’t completely fall apart under even average pressure.

With that being said, in games like the Sixers’ 111-97 win over the Dallas Mavericks, where they get 46 points from their bench, the Philadelphia 76ers look darn near unbeatable.

Why can’t Dwight Howard play like this every night for the Philadelphia 76ers?

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When news broke that the Dallas Mavericks would be without Kristaps Porzingis, it should have been a sign that the Philadelphia 76ers would have a good game.

Sure, the Mavericks have some good frontcourt players like Willie Cauley-Stein, who are legitimate two-way NBA centers. But did anyone expect a team starting Boban Marjanovic to have a legit plan to stop the best center in the game, Joel Embiid?

Yeah, that should be a resounding no.

In 28 minutes of action, Embiid raked in 23 points and nine rebounds en route to an easy 14-point win. While this particular performance was nothing to write home about, which is really a testament to just how well Embiid has been playing as of late, the real takeaway from the contest was just how incredibly Dwight Howard played for no real reason in particular.

Again, chalk it up to playing against a team without a dominant presence in the post, but Howard was throwing down dunks like it was 2009 and looked like he was having a ball dominating in a front-running contest where all 15 players saw action.

Come on, that was fun as heck.

In just 16 minutes of action, Howard logged a season-high 14 points and eight rebounds while hitting eight of his shots from the free-throw line. The 35-year-old played a loose, sprightly style of basketball that was aggressively watchable and truly exemplified the style of play the Sixers should rely on when Embiid isn’t on the court and Simmons isn’t moonlighting at the five.

Was Howard perfect? Well, according to his +/-, he was about as close to it as anyone could expect, but no. He still fell victim to the same defensive faux pas that has haunted the player formerly known as Superman all season, but these mental gaffes came far less frequently than in games past and were largely overshadowed by his two-way theatrics.

Is that enough to keep Howard in the Sixers’ rotation come playoff time? Probably not, as the Sixers will likely opt to address their backup four/five minutes with a stretch four who can knock down shots from beyond the arc, but if Howard can start putting up double-doubles in sub-20 minutes of action a night, that may change Rivers’ plans.

No, practically speaking, this was just one of those weird games where a bench player goes off, and the fans at home get to revel in a fun Philadelphia 76ers game. Whether it develops into something bigger or ultimately proves an aberration on Dwight Howard’s stat sheet remains to be seen, but tonight, it darn sure was fun to see.