Dwight Howard Shown Favoritism By Officials?

Brian Schmitz is reporting that Memphis Coach Lionel Hollins is claiming that the officials show favoritism towards Magic Center Dwight Howard.

“Dwight Howard’s a great player and Thabeet didn’t get a fair share of the calls right from the start of the game,” Hollins said. “It’s not Dwight Howard against Thabeet — it’s us against the Orlando Magic.”

You can see the full story here.

That’s crazy. This is the second time a coach has openly complained about Dwight Howard. Phil Jackson and the Lakers complained about it during the Finals last season.

I think this is crazy talk. Howard lives inside the pain and is a dominate player, therefore he is going to draw a lot of contact. Opposing Centers usually latch on to Howard in an attempt to frustrate him into taking bad shots or picking up technical fouls. He doesn’t get half of the borderline and out-right bad calls that other superstars of the NBA receive.

Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy agrees.

“That’s absurd. I thought from the first play, all Thabeet did was try to grab him. It was obvious. Of course, I’m going to see it differently than Lionel,” Van Gundy said.

Maybe Hollins should be more concerned about the fact that team was blown out at home even though Orlando did not play Vince Carter, Jameer Nelson or Brandon Bass. Lionel Hollins should spend a little more time coaching and a little less time complaining, especially during the preseason.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger. Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)