"Long before they became central figures in the 2010 NBA playoffs, Josh Smith and Dwight Howard were toddlers in the same College Park daycare center, trying to avoid Miss Lacey's discipline.

"Miss B. was pretty cool," said Smith, the Hawks forward. "It was the other one we had, Miss Lacey; she didn't play."

Smith and Howard, Orlando's All-NBA center, have outgrown daycare but not each other. They've been friends since they were young kids and were teammates, with Hawks backup center Randolph Morris, on the Atlanta Celtics AAU team in high school.

"Both of them were competitive," said Dwight Howard Sr., father of the Magic star. "They always had to fight about who was going to be at the end of the line because they were both about the same height."

In that sense, not much has changed. Howard and Smith have gone at each other in the series, now 3-0 in Orlando's favor, with Game 4 on Monday night at Philips Arena. Smith scores in transition, takes charges and swat shots; Howard controls the paint, throws down vicious dunks and drops in shots from the post."