Howard was born in Atlanta, to Dwight Sr. and Sheryl Howard, and into a family with strong athletic connections. His father is a Georgia State Trooper and serves as Athletic Director of Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, a private academy with one of the best high school basketball programs in the country, while his mother played on the inaugural women's basketball team at Morris Brown College. Howard's mother had seven miscarriages before he was born. A devout Christian since his youth, Howard became serious about basketball around the age of nine; when in the eighth grade, he resolved to be selected as the number one pick in the NBA Draft one day.

In early July, Howard met with the Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks, and on July 5, 2013, announced via Twitter that he intended to sign with the Rockets. He officially signed with Houston on July 13, 2013, joining James Harden to form a formidable duo. With the Rockets, he was initially moved from center to power forward to make room for Omer Asik at center. However, with Asik's under performing play and constant injuries, Howard returned to playing the center position as young forward Terrence Jones moved to power forward. In his first game for the Rockets in the season opener on October 30, Howard recorded 17 points and a career high-tying 26 rebounds in a 96-83 win over the Charlotte Bobcats. Howard finished the regular season with averages of 18.3 points and 12.2 rebounds per game. During the 2014 playoffs, Howard averaged 26 points and 13.7 rebounds per game, but the Rockets were eliminated by the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round, losing the series 4-2. Howard went on to earn All-NBA second team honors.  After playing in the Rockets' first 10 out of 11 games to start the 2014-15 season, Howard missed 11 straight due to a strained right knee before returning to action on December 13 against the Denver Nuggets. In just under 30 minutes of play, he recorded 26 points and 13 rebounds to help the Rockets defeat the Nuggets, 108-96. To add to his return, Howard recorded his 10,000th career rebound during the second quarter. However, on January 31, 2015, Howard was ruled out for a further month due to persistent trouble with his right knee. After setbacks forced him out for a further month and a total of 26 games, Howard returned to action on March 25 against the New Orleans Pelicans. He started the game but was held under 17 minutes by coach Kevin McHale and finished with just four points and seven rebounds in a 95-93 win.  On November 4, 2015, Howard had 23 points and 14 rebounds against the Orlando Magic. He shot 10-of-10 to become the first Rocket to make 10 or more field goals without a miss since Yao Ming went 12-of-12 in 2009. On December 26, he eclipsed 15,000 points for his career in a loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. On January 18, 2016, in an overtime loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, Howard had 36 points and tied a career-high with 26 rebounds en route to his 10th straight double-double, the league's longest active streak, and his longest since a 14-game run in 2012-13. On June 22, 2016, Howard declined his $23 million player option for the 2016-17 season and became an unrestricted free agent.

Using a quote from the above article, answer the following question: What else was important about 2014?
Howard missed 11 straight due to a strained right knee before returning to action on December 13 against the Denver Nuggets.