Dwight Howard goes Willie Mays Hayes, does in-game pushups after miss

Dwight Howard and free throws do not have a good relationship. He gets fouled a lot, what with his heavy reliance on power moves in the post, but shot 59.4 percent from the charity stripe last season. Which is right about his career average.

He went 9 for 19 from the line in the Magic season opener… and after his one miss was taken out, at which point he decided to do some punishment pushups on the sidelines.

Why? Is this the new Willie Mays Hayes “Everytime I see you hit one in the air, you owe me 20 push-ups” motivational technique? If so, it would explain Howard’s massive arms and upper body, as the guys at The Basketball Jones pointed out.

But that’s not what he told the Orlando Sentinel.

“Well, my teammates said I missed too many free throws tonight,” Howard said. “They were all talking about how my form was great on my jump shot, but on my free throws it wasn’t as great. So, they kind of clowned me with that.”

Maybe the real reason is he needed some extra pushups to work up a sweat against the Wizards.