In the half-court game, he forced teams to keep an eye on the paint rather than flood the perimeter to stop Nowitzki, Finley and Steve Nash. The Mavs' scoring average jumped from 99.3 pre-Howard to 102.8 with him. And they can't double-team him because they know we can shoot from the outside. While he doesn't have much, it's more than any of the other starters. Bradley and Finley have the dubious distinction of leading active players in games played without a playoff appearance.
Every team steps up their play, especially experienced teams.
I remember when we played the Bulls. I don't know if they expected us to come out and play them as hard as we did and be successful, but unfortunately they were the Bulls. Dallas and Utah split four games this year, with the road team winning each time. Howard played in one loss and one win against the Jazz. We have to play hard from start to finish, be the aggressor.