Lock if already posted. http://tinyurl.com/myyqtmv This might sound familiar to Lakers fans, but Dwight Howard was criticized for being too passive with the Houston Rockets. The critique came from Rockets legend and part-time Howard mentor Hakeem Olajuwon. "I wish he was doing a better job," Olajuwon told NBA.com. "Dwight has always been athletic and aggressive and he still is. But when I watch him, what I see are opportunities that he is missing. When he gets the ball, he seems to be taking his time to decide what move to make, where he should go." Olajuwon worked with Howard during the off-season but returned to his home in Jordan last month. He plans to go back to Houston in January or February. "I thought we were doing a good job with this when we were working together over the summer and at the start of training camp. But what I see now is that when Dwight gets in competition, he has a tendency to go back to all of his old habits," Olajuwon said. "Maybe if I am there with him all of the time we can reinforce new habits and make it all feel natural." Olajuwon did not like Howard's free-throw shooting, which continued to dog him in Houston (54%). "I think this is where a confident routine comes in," said Olajuwon, a career 71% shooter from the line. "Sometimes you just have to let it go. Don't think. Don't hesitate. "I won't say that you can't ever win a championship as a big man if you don't shoot free throws well, because Shaq did it four times. But it can be a deciding factor, so you want to fix it." Olajuwon made his comments before Howard had 33 points and made nine of 13 free throws Wednesday against Dallas. The Rockets lost, though, and fell to 8-5. Howard had a bizarre encounter with a Mavericks fan in a courtside seat, tossing the ball at a heckler after being fouled down low in the fourth quarter. The fan batted the ball back toward Howard, who had already turned to go to the free-throw line. Howard was called for a technical foul at the time and was fined $25,000 by the NBA on Thursday.
