Dwight Discussion: Dwightmare on Figueroa St. Part Boo

Texas Lakers Fan wrote:Should've hit that piece of s*** Brewer. Little b**** ran up the score on us. Anyways I think Dwight should've been ejected, but that a** clown Dwayne Wade over there in Miami did something just as malicious if not more so by intentionally kicking Ramon Sessions in the balls. Wade didn't even get a technical foul which is f****** ridiculous. NBA has to be more consistent. If you eject Dwight for what he did than you have to eject Wade too.

Texas Lakers Fan wrote:Should've hit that piece of s*** Brewer. Little b**** ran up the score on us. Anyways I think Dwight should've been ejected, but that a** clown Dwayne Wade over there in Miami did something just as malicious if not more so by intentionally kicking Ramon Sessions in the balls. Wade didn't even get a technical foul which is f****** ridiculous. NBA has to be more consistent. If you eject Dwight for what he did than you have to eject Wade too.

John3:16 wrote:

dj vitus wrote:I guess Dwight will be suspendid for Portland's game? Gonna be another hard-fought game...

From CNNSI:
According to the NBA’s flagrant foul guidelines, Howard will accumulate two points points for the flagrant foul two. Entering the game, Howard had one point, giving him a new total of three points should the league office uphold the official’s ruling on the play. Accumulating five points over the course of the season results in an automatic one-game suspension. Howard is not yet subject to this punishment, so any further suspension would be coming at the discretion of the league office and not mandated by the flagrant foul rules.

borri wrote:

Rooscooter wrote:

CaCHooKa Man wrote:i think hes tired

I think it's that and he's not able to do what he could before the surgery. He seems frustrated a lot lately. He's also getting hung out to dry by our lack of chemistry on the defensive end. All of that has added up to what we saw tonight IMO...

He's tired. SEcond quarter, i noticed he was bent over grabbing his shorts on every inbounds play.

JGC wrote:

Texas Lakers Fan wrote:Should've hit that piece of s*** Brewer. Little b**** ran up the score on us. Anyways I think Dwight should've been ejected, but that a** clown Dwayne Wade over there in Miami did something just as malicious if not more so by intentionally kicking Ramon Sessions in the balls. Wade didn't even get a technical foul which is f****** ridiculous. NBA has to be more consistent. If you eject Dwight for what he did than you have to eject Wade too.

Ok, so if the punishment for Brewer for hitting that 3 is a "hit".... what punishment were you calling for when Dwight hit the 3, against this very same team, to run up the score? Let me guess. None.

I also don't get why people throw their arms in the air about running up the score. If you don't like it, then defend. Play to the end.

DENVER – People are starting to notice.

"Dwight Howard is basically Kosta Koufos" was the message I got from one NBA insider midway through the Lakers' loss Wednesday night in Denver, referring to the Nuggets' largely anonymous center.

Not long after, someone else who works in league personnel offered: "If you dropped in from another planet and had no idea who the players were, you would never know that Dwight Howard was one of the best players."

This is what Howard is allowing to happen: As more substandard games go by without noticeable rust dropping off, the image repair that was supposed to happen this season is twisting into reputation tarnishing.

If Howard is banking on disproving all that was said about him during his Orlando exit debacle by showing he is a winner as a Laker, he'd better be saving something super special for late in the season.

Howard's decisions to ramp up slowly and carefully this season, leaning on excuses from back surgery eight months ago and failing to get his conditioning back in gear, have brought him to this point – where those who really know the NBA know that he is not being great.

And if that's not condemnation enough, here's one that will surely sting him:

Dwight never wanted to follow in Shaq's footsteps, but he's already following in some of his missteps.

The whole idea of biding time now, not wanting to expend too much too early is classic Shaquille O'Neal philosophy. (O'Neal, however, would entertain himself by talking about building up toward playoff time in specific terminology, and to this day I can still picture Shaq's face as he would raise his eyebrows for the word "climax.")

Ejected for fouling Denver's Kenneth Faried in the face, Howard whined afterward about being penalized by referees for being big and strong – one of O'Neal's favorite statements. Looking so slow on the second night of a back-to-back set before the ejection – to the point that Mike D'Antoni said the Lakers didn't lose "a whole lot" in Howard's ejection – certainly was Shaq-like, too.

Howard blames weakened nerves in his left leg for his inconsistency, saying last week: "There are still days I feel really good, and there are days when I'm not so good. But it's all a process. I'm pretty sure at the end of the year I'll feel a lot better than I do now."

Steve Nash didn't name names the way D'Antoni did, but Nash had a point to make after the loss to Denver about that kind of mindset.

Everyone has days when they don't have their legs, Nash said, and those are the days when you'd really better "fight."

"And find other ways to get it done," Nash said.

As his dominance started to wear off, O'Neal actually went to Kobe Bryant before some games to say it was one of those nights he didn't feel good, so Bryant had better step it up.

Howard wasn't supposed to be that kind of guy.

Howard hardly ever missed games previously in his career – he played 624 of his first 631 before last season – so it was a reasonable assumption that he was the sort who prided himself on performing at a certain elite level he defines for himself. Whether he's just that rattled by his first major injury now, Howard's standards have lowered.

Is it going to take all season for Howard to feel like his old self again – and if so, will his new self never bring consistent effort in making the little plays that help teams win?

Or does it run deeper than that ... and is the limited activity his response to teammates' defensive failures next to him and not having an offense featuring him in the post, where he most wants the ball?

Or is Howard simply content with being a Laker and having the majority of the pressure falling on Bryant and Nash to save the season? And will Howard wait until he is "the man" and Bryant is retired before truly accepting the responsibility of playing like a superstar every night?

Dangerous conclusions are there to be jumped to when you let the people make Koufos comparisons and see you getting killed by Faried. What we know for certain is that there was plenty of symbolism on that flagrant-foul play and how hard Faried drove toward Howard, who was simply unready to respond in the right way.

"He was just mad," Faried said. "I was getting in his head, and he couldn't get the rebound. He wanted to, but I kept getting every rebound. It's not like I said anything or talked to him."

Faried said the Nuggets were also motivated by the Lakers' victory a month ago at Staples Center: "They were laughing and giggling, so we came out to prove a point."

No one laughs and giggles more than the guy who inherited Shaq's old stall in the locker room at Staples and jokes around even more than O'Neal did there.

He's the guy who had 28 points, 20 rebounds and three blocks in that Nov. 30 victory over Denver.

Or is he?

Is he Koufos? Is he Superman?

Here's who he is:

Healthy enough to get 33 points, 14 rebounds and five assists back in the season's second game ... and two months later, he's the guy who still doesn't have the energy and effort.

therealdeal wrote:It was a flagrant two and he deserves a suspension.

puffyusaf#2 wrote:

therealdeal wrote:It was a flagrant two and he deserves a suspension.

I disagree. It was a FLagrant for sure and I can see why the refs ejected him because of the contact to the head. However, Dwight didn't follow through once contact was made he just kept his hands out. I think the face was incidental not intentional. In my opinion the reaction is based off the outcome of the foul not the actual foul. Hell JR Smiths foul on Kobe on Christmas had more intent than that with a hit to the head and JR only got a basic foul call.

therealdeal wrote:It was a flagrant two and he deserves a suspension.

Is it going to take all season for Howard to feel like his old self again – and if so, will his new self never bring consistent effort in making the little plays that help teams win?

Or does it run deeper than that ... and is the limited activity his response to teammates' defensive failures next to him and not having an offense featuring him in the post, where he most wants the ball?

Or is Howard simply content with being a Laker and having the majority of the pressure falling on Bryant and Nash to save the season? And will Howard wait until he is "the man" and Bryant is retired before truly accepting the responsibility of playing like a superstar every night?