Excluding three and-1 opportunities, Dwight Howard was sent to the line for a pair on 18 possessions during the Golden State Warriors' loss to the Orlando Magic on Thursday. On those trips, Dwight converted 20 free throws, giving him 1.11 points per possession.
Mark Jackson’s Dwight Howard Failure: By The Numbers
Dwight shot 11-21 from the floor and converted one and-1 for 23 points. On those attempts, then, he scored 1.09 points per possession.
The rest of the Magic scored 72 points on 57 possessions, or 1.26 points per possession.
There are three reasons to hack Dwight to the tune of a new free throw attempt record: to force Stan Van Gundy to pull him (Howard played 44 minutes, fail), to lead him to be less effective on the court (Howard scored more efficiently from the line than the floor, fail) and to force the Magic to play keep-away from Dwight and rely on the less talented supporting cast (which was much more effective than Dwight in any way in this game, fail).
Kudos for trying something different; boo for trying something that in no way, shape or form worked.
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