Carmelo Anthony Explains Why He Hated Playing Against Dwight Howard

Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard entered the Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025 on Saturday. The two spoke about each other in the lead-up to the enshrinement ceremony, and Anthony revealed he hated playing against Howard.

"I used to hate playing against Dwight 'cause he throw a lot of elbows," Anthony said. "He was just a physical specimen." 

Howard later admitted he fouled Anthony a lot and that the forward used to complain about the elbows he was throwing at him.

"I did elbow Melo a lot and I love him to death," Howard said. "But when we were playing on the court, it's just my competitive nature."

Howard did throw a lot of elbows during his career. He elbowed Kobe Bryant back in 2014, and that got an interesting reaction out of the Los Angeles Lakers icon. These two had been teammates on the Lakers in the past, and you could sense that bit of tension during that incident.

Howard and Anthony would also end up being teammates on the Lakers years later, in 2021-22, the final season of their NBA careers. They had quite a few special battles on the court prior to that.

Howard and Anthony faced off against each other 30 times in total in the regular season, winning 15 games apiece. 

Anthony played better in those meetings, averaging 26.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game. Howard, meanwhile, put up 15.9 points, 11.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.9 steals, and 2.0 blocks per game.

As for the postseason, Howard and Anthony only ever faced off in a playoff series once, in the first round of the 2020 playoffs. Howard's Lakers beat Anthony's Portland Trail Blazers in five games, and they'd go on to win the NBA title.

That was Howard's first and only NBA title, and he managed to silence the naysayers with it. Anthony, however, never managed to break through and win it all. It's led to him being referred to as someone who wasn't a winning player, but the first-ballot Hall of Famer isn't paying much attention to that.