The Boston Celtics have gone through quite a few basketball legends in their lengthy playoff history. They didn't always come out victorious, but they always put up a good fight. Celtics fans know about the days of going up against Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James, among many others.
But another former Celtics rival decided to call it quits recently who doesn't get as much attention as the others do: Dwight Howard.
To be fair, Howard last played in the NBA four years ago, and even made the Basketball Hall of Fame before he even officially announced it. Still, though, anyone who remembers the Big 3 era knows how annoying those Orlando Magic teams led by Dwight Howard were.
Dwight & the Magic handed the Big 3 Celtics their very first loss
When the Big 3 made their debut in 2007, it took them no time to live up to the hype. Combining their success with the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series and the New England Patriots running the table to go undefeated, and many wondered when a Boston sports team would lose again.
Well, the Magic gave it to them on November 18, barely edging them out, 104-102.
That season, the Magic weren't on the same level as the Celtics, but weren't too far away from them either. By that time, Howard himself had started to assert himself as not just the league's best young center, but the best center period.
Dwight & the Magic dethroned the Celtics in 2009
By 2009, the Magic were considered in the same tier as the Celtics, as Dwight had fully ascended to NBA superstar. The two teams met in the second round, where the Celtics fought pretty valiantly despite Kevin Garnett's absence, but lost in seven.
It was even more impressive how good a fight Boston gave Orlando because the Magic were a LeBron buzzer-beater away from making easy work out of Cleveland in the next round, but the fact remained that only five years into his NBA career, Dwight Howard not only dethroned the reigning NBA Champions but also took his team to the NBA Finals.
Luckily, the Celtics got him back in due time.
Despite Dwight's best efforts, Celtics got revenge in 2010
The Celtics-Magic rivalry continued the next season, but with Garnett back, Boston quickly showed they were the better team in their rematch in the 2010 Eastern Conference Finals. Don't let the six games fool you; Boston won the first three games of the series, and by sheer luck, the Magic took the next two before it was over.
The funny thing is, people look back on those days and talk about how Boston had two of the best Dwight stoppers: Kendrick Perkins and Rasheed Wallace. As true as that was, Howard still had a pretty solid series, averaging 21.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, and three blocks while shooting 56.8% from the field.
That was effectively the Magic's last chance to win a title with Howard, as they fell hard over the next two years before he decided enough was enough. The irony is that the Big 3 window lasted longer than Dwight's did in Orlando, but still, the Celtics fans remember those days, and they definitely remember Dwight himself.
Technically speaking, those Magic teams never beat the Big 3 and Rajon Rondo when they were fully healthy, but even so, they always made Boston earn it. At the center of that was Dwight's presence, as he was so single-handedly good on his own that he was considered in the same tier as LeBron when he was at the peak of his powers.
It may have been brief, but Dwight made his mark among Celtics playoff rivals, and for that, he shouldn't be forgotten.