Horford had grabbed Howard’s arm as the latter was going for a third-quarter layup under the basket, and Howard took exception, giving the Celtics center a shove after he got up. Horford reacted angrily but was restrained by teammates as well as Atlanta guard Dennis Schröder, while Howard got a technical foul for his role in the minor skirmish.

https://twitter.com/NBA_Skits/status/836402392035901440

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A few minutes later, Howard had a chance to dunk the ball, but he made too much of his opportunity. The 13-year veteran hung on the rim and got a second unsportsmanlike technical for his efforts, resulting in a mandatory ejection.

2nd: Dwight vs. The Rim

Within a couple of hours of the game ending, the NBA issued a rule clarification, saying, “The second technical foul called tonight on Atlanta’s Dwight Howard for hanging on the rim (4:03 remaining in the third quarter at Boston) should have been deemed non-sportsmanlike and should not have resulted in his ejection.” The league is likely to rescind that foul but leave the first technical in place, bringing Howard’s total to 10, six shy of the threshold for an automatic one-game suspension.

On his way off the court, Howard threw quite the pump-fake at an excited Celtics fan. He made the woman think he was stripping off his jersey to give to her, but at the last moment, he handed it to another fan nearby.

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https://twitter.com/MySportsRumor/status/836414672731525120

All in all, not bad for a night’s work, especially given that Howard’s Hawks went on to beat the Celtics, 114-98. After the game, he said he apologized to his teammates for not “doing a better job of keeping [his] composure.”

Despite getting booed heavily by the Boston fans, particularly after his shove of Horford, Howard said that TD Garden was “a fun place to play,” citing his long history of memorable hoops battles there. Meanwhile, some observers were happy to see a strong reaction from the normally placid Horford, who encouraged the crowd to make noise following his encounter with Howard.