Don't know what the stats are but Dwight has hit some free throws in the clutch when I have watched Orlando in close games.
SVG deserves alot of blame. He had Courtney Lee and Pietrus on the bench while playing Redick on Allen .....BAD MOVE.
Pietrus has always been known as a bone head and probably still is. Courtney Lee is coming off of an injury. I'd love to see Dwight Howard get the ball everytime in Game 6, so the Celtics can blow them out. Dwight Howard can't even score on Kendrick Perkins with single coverage. This guy is not the best center in the NBA YET. He's putting up almost the same stats against the Celtics that Yao put up so far with NO DOUBLE TEAMS AND NO FRONTS.
but Howard suck on the low post, his running hook shoot suck, his best offense is pick and roll and off reb
The best way he can score is out running his man and offensive rebounds. Barkley pretty much made it clear that no big man can run with Dwight, but in my opinion and a lot of other people's opinions Dwight is not suited for playoff basketball since it's halfcourt and slow paced.
When you're whole offensive repertoire consists of a jab-step hook shot and a jab-step spin move for a dunk, it gets really difficult to go to a player like that when the game is on the line.
If you are SVG, the trouble is the whole league is starting to "understand". Fair or not, I think it will be tough for him to work his way back to respectability in the league, and especially among the players. Guys like Shaq command a wide audience in the league, and now his own players have seemingly turned against him, in the heat of playoff battle. The guy is getting murdered in broad daylight, it almost feels dirty, whether the criticism he has taken is deserved is another question altogether.
He needs to worry about his defense and rebounding in the 4th quarter. Did you guys see Big Baby score on Dwight in a couple of 4th quarter possessions like he has been doing it all his life? Davis was not afraid of going at him.
Since when was Howard a vital cog in the Magic's offensive machine? His putbacks and dunks gives him 20+ a night but aside from the acrobatics, what else does he bring to the table? Howard's offensive game doesn't scare any coach or team in the league to the point where whole defensive sets are constructed to stop him (i.e. Portland v. Yao). I can see why Howard would be frustrated seeing how they squandered what would be their best opportunity to beat Boston and Dwight does make some good points (about the questionable substitutions) but to chime in and say he needs the ball for the team to be effective? Has he seen how many 3s the Magic has jacked up this year? Or maybe he's forgotten that it's those same 3s that gets him the rebounds for his points?
Well, today on PTI, they had a 5-minute segment with Kenny and this topic popped up. Kenny basically said many great players such as Hakeem and Magic pulled over their point guards mid-game and told them how they wanted the ball right then and there. Kenny then talked about how Hakeem talked to him during a timeout and told him to give him the ball because he has an advantage in the post. Even though Rudy T called 4 plays they should run in their next possessions, Kenny said he brushed those aside and made sure the ball got into Hakeem. Basically, the point of it was that Dwight handled this the wrong way and should not have "called his coach out." Instead, he should have went over to his point guard and told him that he wanted the ball. Demanding the ball is something many of the great centers did and what Yao and Dwight need to learn to do.
he went about it the wrong way, its not like the series is over, this creates unnecessary distraction in a very winnable series. furthermore- he doesn't have the offensive skills to be a 'dominant post player.' Also, its not like he was screaming for the ball during the game, something he should have done rather than whine at the podium.
agree completely -- this was bush league. call for the ball during the game or call your team out in the locker room. After his bush league elbow issues and this whining to the media, I'm starting to think we can see the event horizon of his career... and it's not that impressive.
