HOWARD DEBUTS IN LAKERS? PRESEASON LOSS TO SACRAMENTO
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 23 Oct 2012
Dwight Howard scored 19 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked four shots in his Lakers debut on October 21 at the Staples Center. But Los Angeles was still 0-6 in the preseason when they lost to the Sacramento Kings, 99-92. It was the first time the formidable five ? Howard, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Steve Nash, and Metta World Peace ? played together.
Howard did not play in the first five preseason games while still playing careful with his back surgery to repair a herniated disk. He has not seen action in six months and committed five turnovers. The prized center shot 8 of 12 field goals. He would like to get some game experience before the Lakers' Oct. 30 regular season opening game against the Dallas Mavericks.
''I actually shed a couple of tears,'' Howard said. ''During the starting lineups, one of my teammates caught me, so I tried to hide it, but I was just excited. It is really emotional, because I hadn't been on the court in a while. I didn't know what to expect, but it's a very humbling experience.''
Bryant scored 21 points as the Lakers' starting five played together in the dying minutes of the game as the Kings closed the contest with 10 unanswered points. They are still on the period of adjustment as they committed 22 turnovers despite the magnificent talents of their unit.
Nash said that all five of the Lakers starters have been the dominant offensive player on NBA teams but the challenge is "trying to fit in with each other, while at the same time exploit your talent. At times we press, and at times we misread each other."
I'm going to have some tough falls, because I play hard, and I like to block all the shots," declared Howard.
After eight years in Orlando Magic, the six-time NBA All-Star gets all the attention from all NBA fans when he begins to play with the Lakers just like LeBron James when he transferred to the Miami Heat.
Bryant wanted more from their franchise center and confronted his teammates, "challenge him to do more than just screen-and-roll and dunk. We want opposing teams to see him as a dominant force."
Standing ovation greeted Howard in his first game. But fans later would crave more from him as he played a team with a winning tradition. Surrounded by a bunch of players with talent extraordinaire, the basketball world expects a lot from ?Superman.?
There will be a great order for Howard to win titles for the Lakers. Centers-of-attraction Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal and Andrew Bynum delivered several crowns. He felt nervous on his first game on a Lakers uniform. "I even forgot some of my pregame rituals," Howard said. "I'll get it back."
"I hope we can win, especially trying to play as close to a rotation as possible, but if we don't again, it's not the end of the world," Brown said as quoted by ESPN. "It's just more things that we may have to fix."
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