Am I the only one who noticed how much Dwight Struggled?

Dwight Howards career stats vs. Roy Hibbert.

http://bkref.com/tiny/Xe8Jj

Lets not get too nervous.

Also, the last time Howard played against Yao, Howard was 23.

 

dwight has been just fine on D which is the most important thing...he has a ways to go offensively, but that is just gravy from here on out...his D is the most important thing and why rockets got him

 

He is. Hibbert is 2nd best. Results are that Dwight got 10 and 6 in 24 minutes and Hibbert got 11 and 2 in 27 minutes. Also dwight was doubled or triple teamed all night. Rockets win.

 

I think Dwight's timing is still off. More games against different teams will get that back quickly

 

Agreed. Hakeem needs to start teaching him how to bring the play away from the double team. Dwight keeps trying to move across the key where it's easier to get surrounded.

 

How are my stats wrong!!! Howard is like a house that is depreciating and we are the third owners ....

 

Rockets will win in spite of Dwight...but will lose because of Dwight!!!

 

I didn't think Dwight was doing terrible. He struggled because of a combination of the 2nd best post defender in Hibbert and the Pacers packing the paint after giving up 60+ points in the paint primarily due to dribble penetration in the Manila game. It meant that Hibbert was getting help defense on Dwight. Add to that a few non-calls and you get a frustrated Dwight. Sure, there were a few terrible turnovers and miscommunications but they should improve with time and chemistry.

Paul George talked about Pacers loading the paint and picking a poison when playing against Rockets in the post game interview. Starts around the 1:56 mark.
<iframe width="480" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/BomQTuGwcxE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

"This team is really challenging, they challenge you to really guard. First game in Manila, 62 points in the paint… you know… that’s unheard of. You can’t be a team that allow a team like them to get 62 points in a game. And our emphasis going in our second game against them was to load the paint and stop dribble penetration which turned into them shooting 50% almost from the 3-point line so I guess you just gotta pick your poison when you’re playing them."

Another reason I'm super excited about the upcoming season. They might be able to stop/slow Dwight, but they can't stop the Rockets.

 

I think he said 'you know' at least 100 times in the video

 

Paul George confirmed exactly what I felt like I saw with my eyes. Having a presence in the paint really opened up other things for the perimeter players. Last year they locked up James Harden and beat us because we were one dimensional. This year the Rockets are a tougher team to guard because now you have to "pick your poison". End thread!

People expecting Howard to be the second coming of Dream or even Yao on the offensive end are just unfamiliar with his game and what he brings to the table. He was good enough to carry a mediocre Orlando team to the finals being a defensive beast and a power player on offense. Counter move? Pssh! He doesn't have any freaking counter moves man! Stop looking for them. And when he tries out a few such things during preseason because he is trying to work on it, why don't you give the guy a break? You say you want to see him expand his game and when he tries things and misses the shot you get all bent out of shape. Can't have it both ways.

 

I thought it's the defense who decides who they guard, not the other way around.

 

I think it's hilarious we just rolled an Eastern Conference Finals team twice in games they and we clearly took seriously, and people are looking to knock a center that every other team in the league would take in a heart beat.

 

Not too worried about Dwight Howard's shooting %. Small sample size while the team is still working through its offense. Besides, the team generally played well with Dwight on the court even with his missed shots. He was active on the defensive end and the Rockets generally held Indy to contested Js and denied them offensive rebounds even with guys running out for fast breaks.

The exception was the 3rd quarter in Taiwan when I think the team got stagnant and produced some empty possessions posting up Dwight (and also missed some shots when Dwight didn't touch the ball). In a game that counts I think the team would probably try different tactics (like hand the ball to Harden more often when Dwight isn't working) but I got the impression they wanted to practice working with the Howard post up at the time without worrying too much about the results.

 

Dwight struggled because there is no room in the paint for him to work. David West is just roaming without guarding anyone. I've been critical of Jones, but he has actually played under control these last few games. Still, he can't play next to Howard if no one is going to respect his outside shot, which currently is the case.

Historically, Dwight has been a highly effective post player when he is paired with a stretch 4. I think everyone knows that by now. Last year, his post efficiency fell off the map. Some of that was due to coming off injury, but also because Gasol wasn't able to effectively stretch the floor. In the last two games we are seeing similar issues.

I'd like to see more Dmo next to Dwight the next few games, which I am sure we will. But I have my doubts to whether he can space the floor either. Neither of these two are likely to be our starting PF come April. I'm pretty sure we will pick up someone at the trade deadline. But in the meantime, if all else fails, we can always try this guy:

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=242943

 

Yeah. And also if you watch the replay, you'd see the help guys rotate on Dwight just as he is about to make a.spin move to the basket? Their timing is preciously precise. So what does that tell us? Dwight has been scouted and they know what's he gonna do. The only thing that we could counter it with is for dwight to develop other post moves insteadof a predictable 3 move pattern he is using now. This is where Dream enters, and dwight has the whole season to learn.

 

Now, let's don't start being fair to the guy...

 

And guys, I think some of the blame.of Howards struggles are to be put on our coaching staff. Esterday was an example. Howard has been triple teamed as he was doing his post work while our other players were waiting on the 3 point areas. I saw few cuts from the ball side, and even few cuts from the weak side. The coaching staff could have simply pointed that out and Howard could have gotten around2-3 more assists and it could have opened up the post more for him as the help defenders would not just collapse on him weary that his defensive assignment may make a move to the basket.

I do hope they have film sessions on the plane home. The should see those opportunities as gold.

 

Dwight's defense is great when he doesn't get into foul trouble. His offense is struggling a little because his post game is not very good yet. Dwight is a great PnR guy but for some reason he hates PnR. If he wants immediate success, he can PnR with James and/or Jeremy. The preseason is a good time for him to try out his post game, but during the regular season when we try to win as many games as possible, I hope Dwight will be more open to playing more PnR while trying to improve his post game.

For those who said you don't care as long as he plays defense as we have other scorers, remember Dwight has indicated that he wants to be more involved in offense. We need to keep him happy as we all know what a pouty Dwight is like.

It's a balancing act of winning games and keeping everyone happy.

 

Clutchfans... Where if the player doesn't score 30, shoot 50%, have 15 reb, and 5 blks EVERY game, "he sucks", "he's struggling", "he needs to do this or that post move" blah blah blah

It never ends on this site. So much criticism after a pre-season game.

 

I'm not worried about his stats. I'm worried that he's not happy. That's all.