Let's set aside the fact that the Boston Garden might be the only arena in the league where a shot is ruled to have hit the rim when it hit the net, thus giving Boston the ball in a key possession late in a playoff game. That call probably doesn't happen in say, Sacramento.
We'll let that go. Because John Hollinger of ESPN provides some pretty good perspective on Dwight Howard's complaint about not getting the ball. "Howard normally doesn't get many shots because he's not a good one-on-one scorer, and the Magic win all the time when he takes a dozen shots or so. If he can prove he deserves more by converting some post-up chances, more power to him," Hollinger writes.
Hollinger has a lot more numbers and credible stats to back up his claim that Howard is not a dominant low-post player, and his inability to get the ball has not affected Orlando's ability to win.
The point isn't so much that Howard is Hakeem Olajuwon on the low post. He's not. The point is that Orlando too often at key points in games relies on the same play – a high pick-and-roll with Howard. The hope is to get an open shot, or to find Howard breaking to the basket.
But good defensive teams like the Celtics can take take that away, and they did. And that left Orlando throwing up ridiculous junk in the final minutes of Game 5.
Occasionally you'd think the Magic would set a low pick for Howard and give him the ball once, twice, three times on the low post. Great or not, he's Orlando's bellcow, and you don't ignore the bellcow in crunch time every time down the floor.
