There is little doubt Howard needs to do more when we play the Thunder. His game tonight was embarrassing for a guy of his talents.
Agreed, when you have that guy and Thabeet guarding you, you should be dominating. Unfortunately a terrible showing instead from DH tonight.
Indeed.. this loss is mainly on Dwight. He couldn't make a FG or FT 10 rebounds and 1 block is subpar as well. OKC and LAC hold major problems for us. They defend our 3's well and Dwight doesn't get off. If SA remains at #1 and us #4 we can avoid either until the 2nd round, but 1) still eventually face one of them and 2) gotta beat SA 1st
Some nights I feel like every time Dwight posts up will equal an automatic turnover. Either the ball gets stripped, he misses, or he gets fouled and misses free throws. Just like tonight.
OKC swarmed Dwight who was not quick enough to pass out. They were using their guards who are quick enough since they can play one step off Bev who is no threat to make a play. On too many occasions with the starters the ball did not move. If Howard can set some nice picks he should have been able to take advantage as the defense would be on the move, but for whatever reason he does not like to set hard picks.
Easily the worst performance by Dwight this year. I could understand if this was Thursday against the Bulls' Noah, Gibson and co. That was embarrasing.
I feel like Dwight let this matchup get to his head - once he got blocked a couple times by scrubs he started pressing and trying way to hard to force post play to work.
Dwight made effective moves, then missed the shot (or the FT). He got blocked more than he blocked.. pathetic.
Peter come on man, 1 game. LOL We are still the hottest teams in the NBA. Every Superstar who played this game has had a few off nights.
Would be nice if the big fella could hit a mid range shot. That would help him and the Rockets out tremendously.
Dwight actually made some impressive post moves in the 1st quarter but just had no touch on his shot. He was throwing it up there like Asik for some reason.
Hakeem was about counters. Dwight can counter the quick spin baseline with a reverse pivot.... should be an open hook. Doing this on the right block, the reverse will be a lefty. Gives the defense another look and keeps them more honest. Not that I trust his hook ability in the first place. His touch is mostly awful even on made FGs. On a bad offensive night like this, Dwight should've had 15+ rebounds with 4 blocks. He was routinely beaten down the court giving up shots at the rim. His fouls under the basket due to his blatant pushes were horrible, then acted like he did nothing.
Dwight wasn't recognizing the defense. When he went baseline, Ibaka was waiting for him. He needed to go to the middle, although when he went to the middle he threw up a very poor shot. He is a spectacular player, but if he wants the true superstar label, these are the games he needs to do more. He had plenty of good looks against a single defender and he couldn't make anything happen. I don't expect dominance from him, but he has to be able to get some points and defensive attention. And against OKC we need to go small, Ibaka is not a post threat, and we need a floor stretcher to get him out of the paint.
You gotta believe that the line from Dwight and Hakeem is that the post game isn't there yet, but it's a growth process. You invest in it now, it will repay handsomely in the form of unblockable offense come playoff time. So far though you have to believe that Morey's camp is scoffing. Howard's post game has not been efficient running on 4 years now, since the 2009 playoffs/2010 regular season really. Who knows what will happen in the playoffs; I mean we've seen flashes of the game here and there. It's just so inconsistent. Against LAC and OKC they've just been exploiting it to a ridiculous amount. You have to think when push comes to shove we'll abandon it. It does NOT help when Dwight has his free throw fart and goes 1-for-6 from the stripe. You can see Scott Brooks smiling on the sideline knowing he has Hack-a-Dwight in his back pocket for whenever we make our late game push.
Dwight, needs to start about another foot or 2 from baseline, so when he spins instead of being under the backboard..he will be between the backboard and rim and have much easier shots
