Dwight Howard is a brute in the low post with no moves, he just gets by on his sheer force and athleticism, right? He can’t adjust because of that, which is why the Celtics can stop him, right?
Wrong.
Nobody is suggesting Howard has all the post moves of Pau Gasol, but he does have a few. And he can make adjustments -- he did for Game 2 against the Celtics and ended up with 30 points on 9 of 13 shooting, and he got to the line. Orlando’s problem was that guys not named Dwight Howard shot just 32.8 percent on the night.
Zach Harper over at Hardwood Paroxysm broke down the adjustments Howard made with video and words. How he made better, more decisive decisions and that let him get off shots before Kendrick Perkins could get that big body into him.
Dwight Howard definitely has a post game and it’s still growing. Ever since some time in January, Dwight has been showing real improvement in the way he scores with his back to the basket and when he faces up and drives on his defenders. Like I said in the video, he doesn’t have a huge repertoire of moves. He’s definitely not going to be doing any Kevin McHale impersonations any time soon. But he has a couple of go-to moves in the paint....
Give him room to operate by spreading the floor and a confident, relaxed and poised Dwight will unleash his small set of post moves and do it effectively. Hopefully for Orlando, it will turn into some wins in this series.
The problem for Orlando is not Howard not scoring -- he did that -- it’s that the Celtics are not giving anybody else room to score efficiently. The ball movement that Atlanta did little more than watch doesn’t work against a team that can recover like the Celtics. Boston is contesting everything. And they will continue to single-cover Howard.
And if you’re watching, you’ll see a couple post moves.
