Dwight Howard Wants the Ball, Thinks Magic Must Take Better Shots

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Per Tim Povtak of NBA Fanhouse, Dwight Howard thinks the Magic need to take better shots and that likely means getting the ball to Howard more often.

“I have reminded them (his teammates),” Howard said with his usual politically-correct response Wednesday after practice. “We have to make better decisions with the ball, where we pass it, and where we take it.”

He was especially frustrated Monday night in Memphis. The Magic controlled much of the game, only to flame out in a barrage of missed 3-pointers. His teammates hit only one of 10 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter of a 99-94 loss. During that period, he took two shots, but none in the final six minutes.

“For us, as a team, you have to understand how to get good shots. And sometimes that means slowing it down instead of just putting up a quick shot,” Howard said. “As a team, we’re still searching, still learning that.”

This is exactly what the Magic have been looking for – their leader is stepping up.

Earlier in the week, Rashard Lewis also said that he was unhappy with the number of 3-pointers going up.

But in the lockeroom, PF Rashard Lewis said he not only thought his team shot too many from the arc, but took questionable shots from long-range.

“We just shoot too many 3-pointers. That killed us,” Lewis said. “We have to get good shots every time we come down the floor. Late in the game, we just shot threes instead of playing our game inside.”

Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy weighed in on the situation.

But Van Gundy doesn’t like contested shots from beyond the arc, especially if his guys could have driven the ball inside instead. On Wednesday, Van Gundy showed some film to his players to make that point. “I don’t think our decisions on when to shoot, when to drive, when to pass have been consistently very good,” Van Gundy said.

Dwight Howard acknowledges that he sometimes tells teammates that he wants the ball more often. “I think for us as a team, we’ve got to understand that when we have a lead — a comfortable lead — we have to come down, slow the ball down and get good shots,” Howard said. “Even if we miss a couple shots here and there, we’ve just got to get a good shot every time.”

The Orlando Sentinel broke down the Magic’s 3-point tendencies in wins versus losses. In victories, the Magic have attempted 28.3 treys per game; in losses, the Magic have attempted 29.6 per game. The big difference is in the 3-point percentage: Orlando has shot 38.2 percent from beyond the arc in wins and just 32.6 percent in losses.

It sounds like the Magic understand that they are making some poor decisions. Now they have to fix the problem and translate it into wins.

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