Kobe thinks the Rockets loss was because of Howard's FT problems. Howard disagrees. He thinks it is because of the defensive rotations (aka Kobe's assignment). https://twitter.com/Mark_T_Willard/status/276182418631819264 https://twitter.com/Mark_T_Willard/status/276181714760511489 https://twitter.com/Mark_T_Willard/status/276180524924542977 here we go! I have to say, if Howard was as dominant of an offensive weapon as Shaq was, nobody would have a problem with his Free Throws. He just disappears in the 4th quarter now and is a liability.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="zh-tw"><p>Dwight seems to feel this is about defensive rotations behind him.Kobe seems to think this is about Dwight's free throws.Uh oh.</p>— Mark Willard (@Mark_T_Willard) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mark_T_Willard/status/276182418631819264" data-datetime="2012-12-05T04:33:14+00:00">12月 5, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="zh-tw"><p>Dwight Howard: "The reason we lost is not my free throws.That didn't lose us the game.Our defense was not there in the 4th quarter."</p>— Mark Willard (@Mark_T_Willard) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mark_T_Willard/status/276181714760511489" data-datetime="2012-12-05T04:30:26+00:00">12月 5, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="zh-tw"><p>Just listened to Kobe media session.He twice pointed out the problems being caused by opponents fouling Dwight.</p>— Mark Willard (@Mark_T_Willard) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mark_T_Willard/status/276180524924542977" data-datetime="2012-12-05T04:25:42+00:00">12月 5, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Video of their feuding at the game: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Xr4qWAIz-BI#t=15" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> :grin: ... NSFW language
But Howard doesn't play mean. This dude plays too nice. Smiling all the freaking time. He needs to get serious.
Hack-A-Dwight is not going away. No way Kobe puts up with it. D'Antoni will be forced to pull Howard. This is becoming a total train wreck.
If Greg Smith can shoot FTs, why the hell can't Dwight? Greg Smith said he was working on his form a lot in the offseason. Dwight hired that coach and it looks like he may have actually got worse at it.
D'Antoni really needs to figure out a way to hide Dwight Howard in the 4th QTR. Teams will keep using this strategy to beat the Lakers until they can figure out what to do about it.
50% shooter is going to make 50% over the long haul. 1 point per possession isn't going to lose you games if you defend. The problem is that Kobe sucks defensively this year, and "suck" doesn't even start to describe Duhon and Jamison. Dwight can't defend everyone. Nor can any other big. Maybe D'Antoni should consider putting Jordan Hill instead of Jamison when someone's doing hack-a-Dwight, for defensive purposes. Kind of obvious, but.... D'Antoni is doing an terrible job right now with his rotations. The roster is flawed, Kobe looks like he's gunning for the scoring record right now. He should save some of that energy for defense.