Dwight Howard hits 18 / 20 free throws in pre-game [video]

Calvin Murphy said the same thing BMD said and he does have a little basketball knowledge

 

How is it possible that Dwight himself, and nobody on the staff just tells him, shoot it like you do during warm ups, practice? It's clearly two different shots.

 

I noticed that CP talked to him several times before DH was shooting freethrows during Dallas's game. Good strategy! Teammates speaking to him might help him concerned more on the routine and blocking out other noises.

 

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

 

It's like when you practice piano, it's so easy because you're so relaxed and let muscle memory do all the work.

Then you're performing in front of someone else, and you suddenly start thinking about which key to hit next and you start stumbling over your own fingers.

 

I love this table! It shows that on average, for the people who attempted more than 50 free throws in a game, that shooting percentage goes down about 15% from their practice percentage. Interesting stat! I would love to have more data from other teams like the rockets on this.

 

As anyone who's played basketball knows, it's a lot easier to make free throws when you're not tired.

 

Dang. Look at the practice FT. He got a good repetitive FT shooting routine. Rotate the ball, bounce once, shoot from the waist in one smooth motion including a good follow-through. Nothing like what he does in game. Where is the coaching staff to point out these easy correctable fundamental stuff to him. Almost every good FT shooter have a routine. Help keep you from being distracted.

 

Pretty sure the coaching staff in Hou and everywhere else Dwight's been has told him this; it's simply too obvious that it would go unnoticed by the NBA's meticulous coaching staffs. At this point in his career, it's on Dwight and whether he has the ability to change (I personally don't think so, but I'm skeptical by nature). Shooting form differences between practice and in game, mental fortitude, allowing fatigue to alter your FTs, etc. are only controlled by one person: Dwight.

 

What's even better about the table is you can see "clutch" or more mentally strong players (Kobe, Nash) have low variability in FTs vs. practice. Then you have Howard, who's at 30% less! Mental midget, that one.

 

Everyone on this board's percentage goes down from pratice to Real Games..
Mental probelms. pressure gets to them.. I think Dwight has been improving lately. Hopefully it keeps going

 

Kobe and Nash (clutch players) have 5-6% less than their practice percentages. Even average shooters like MWP and Gasol only went down 12-15%. Mental midget Howard's went down 30%! Dude is not a winner.

 

In fairness to Dwight... EVERYONE has a better FT% in practice. Often times MUCH better. When I was in college I managed a facility where our D-1 basketball team practiced, and the Coach used to keep a whiteboard in the gym with tally marks showing each player's practice free throws and what their overall percentage was.

We had several near-7ft. big men on the team who shot around 50-60% in the games, and ALL of those guys would always make at least 80% in practice.

It's a much more common problem than some of you are making it out to be.

 

Also Dwight seems to be shooting his free throws really well in the last two games. Looking good lately! *fingers crossed*

 

Could be what we said earlier about him shifting his weight forward. If you shift your weight forward and try to go straight up, you're going to start tipping forward and feel like you're falling. By pausing at the top, you stop the tipping motion and allow the body to settle back down, literally. Then he proceeds with his shot, once he regains balance.

Not sure why he's leaning forward though. Could be because he tenses up. Squeezing his pecs together, like he often does in games prior to shooting, certainly doesn't help, as it may keep his shoulders from being back and relaxed.

 

notsureifsrs given he split a pair to tie LOL

 

Another thing is it's different when you shoot FT when you are relaxed comparing to when you just took and hard hit, being breathy and in pain, and then shoot.

 

Of course shooting FTs in games is different from shooting FTs in practice. It's understandable that a player's FT percentage goes down a little in games compared to practice. However, that doesn't explain why Dwight changes his form. I play basketball myself and I always shoot the same way, whether it's games or practice.

 

What song was he playing in his head when he made 18/20?