Seven times in the last seven minutes the Magic sent Howard to the free-throw line and watched him flail away. Howard posted a respectable 21 points and 15 rebounds in the game, but he went 9 for 21 from the free-throw line and 7 of 14 in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the Magic could not miss, scoring 40 in the fourth, many of them on the kind of layups and dunks Howard was acquired to eliminate. When the Lakers called timeout, following a 3-pointer by J.J. Redick, Howard gazed at the Magic bench.
“It wasn’t emotional,” said Howard, who did spend more time hanging out with David Beckham in the courtside seats than any of the Magic players. His main interaction was a brief shoving match under the basket with Josh McRoberts. “He didn’t talk to me and I didn’t talk to him,” said forward Glen Davis.
After the game, Lakers head coach Mike D’Antoni found Howard by his locker, and spoke quietly with him for several minutes. This supposed juggernaut is 8-9, and even though Howard was never expected to fully recover from back surgery until January, that doesn’t totally explain his woeful free-throw shooting. The Lakers didn’t expect him to morph into Ray Allen, but he is shooting 47 percent from the line, 11 points off his career average.