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The Dwight Howard Double Standard
The cover of GQ's October "Big Fall Style Playbook" issue featuring the Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Paul. (Photo Credit: Nathaniel Goldberg/GQ, used with permission)
Chris Paul was ejected with 2:29 remaining in the Clippers elimination game, the game out of hand. Dwight Howard was ejected early in the third quarter of his elimination game with the Lakers, their game also out of hand.
So why hasn't there been the same amount of outrage against Paul as there was to Howard?
I get if you don't like Howard. He's a fake. He's a phony. He's not a leader. He's a poohead. Whatever.
But fair being fair, you've got to hound Paul on his ejection, right? A lot of people are blaming Joey Crawford with his quick trigger, but Paul being a veteran should know this, right? He should know that sometimes he should keep his yapper closed especially if he already has one technical on him.
A lot of people are saying it was much later in the game than when Howard got ejected. But an ejection is still an ejection, right? A leader has to be with this charges until the end. The captain does down with the sinking ship.
Neither did that, but only one got blasted in the papers, online and on Twitter.
Here's what Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times wrote about Howard:
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His exit from the Lakers' season was as regal as his entrance, Dwight Howard surrounded by screams and gasps as he swaggered through the Staples Center tunnel into the shadows of summer. Problem was, the season wasn't done. The game wasn't finished. There were still 9 minutes 51 seconds remaining in the third quarter. There were still thousands of fans in the stands and the last trudging steps of a difficult journey to be completed.
When his team needed his leadership most Sunday, Howard's mouth earned him a second technical foul and ejection from a loss that swept the Lakers out of the playoffs, a 103-82 defeat to the San Antonio Spurs.
Superman took a powder. A cornerstone crumbled. The dude just left early.
So where's the criticism of Chris Paul now?
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