Dwight Howard hasn’t been on the Atlanta Hawks long, but it appears he’s already become one with the team.
The Hawks center, Atlanta's native son, said his team is definitely gunning for the Cleveland Cavaliers after it came up with a clutch 110-106 win over the two-time defending Eastern Conference champions — ending an 11-game losing streak head to head.
"That was something we discussed all summer, is what Cleveland has done to the Hawks in the past couple of years," he told reporters. "We're tired of getting pushed around and we want to beat these guys every opportunity we get. We're going to respect them as a team but we've got to go out there and try to demolish them every night."
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It took a total team effort to pull out the win, and the Hawks got it from several sources. Paul Millsap (21 points), Kent Bazemore (25 points) and Dennis Schroder (28 points) carried the load offensively. Howard scored just seven points, but came up with 17 rebounds and three blocks while holding Tristan Thompson to just two rebounds.
The loss was the first of the season for the Cavs (6-1), who got a solid effort from Kyrie Irving (29 points) Kevin Love (24 points, 13 rebounds) and LeBron James (23 points).
Stud of the night
The Minnesota Timberwolves came out on the wrong side of a 119-110 score against the Brooklyn Nets, but Andrew Wiggins was big-time. Wiggins scored 36 points, hitting 6 of 7 attempts from the 3-point line.
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Dud of the night
The Cleveland Cavaliers offense sputtered, shooting just 37.4 percent from the field and 26.2 percent from the 3-point line as they tasted defeat for the first time this season.
Tweet of the night
Old man Vince Carter had himself a throwback night. Sorta. Well, not really, but he did have a nice game, scoring 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
Vince Carter (39 years, 287 days) became the oldest player since Michael Jordan (40 years, 53 days) to score 20... https://t.co/kDhSs8Dodd
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) November 9, 2016
Looking ahead
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Toronto Raptors (4-2) at Oklahoma City Thunder (6-1), 8 p.m. ET — This game will feature two of the top scorers in the NBA with Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan and Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook. Should be a fun game to watch.