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A great roadtrip!!!

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Heyyyyyyy world! Now that’s what I call a roadtrip!!!

Ya’ll know that we pride ourselves on winning on the road because that’s what you have to do to win a championship in the playoffs. You have to be able to go into somebody else’s house and get tough Ws.

We had a really tough stretch with four games in five nights, and we started it off on the wrong foot by losing to the Heat by one point in the last few seconds. But we really bounced back on the road and came together as a team.

We were down 14 on Turkey Day in the A-T-L and came back with better defense in the second half to win. Milwaukee had us down 17 on Saturday, but we got hot in the third quarter and got a really, really tough W that night, too.

And on Sunday, we didn’t get to New York until like 3 in the morning and didn’t get to our hotel rooms until 4. Then, we had to play a 6 o’clock game at The Garden. But it might have been our best game of the season because everybody on the roster pitched in.

Those last two games they tried fouling me intentionally, but it didn’t work too good. Some of the guys call it “Hack-A-Howard’’ and I gotta admit that’s pretty funny. But I made the free throws vs. Milwaukee and New York.

I told ya’ll that I’ve been working on my free throws. I basically shoot 100 of them every morning and my coaches count every one of them. And I’m normally pretty good shooting them and it builds my confidence.

I gotta say that I really love my team right now. We’ve been through a lot of junk so far this season with injuries, the flu and the suspension to Rashard, but I’m really proud how we got through it all. We’re 14-4 and that’s the best record in the East and that’s amazing after all we’ve been through.

But we’re nowhere near being satisfied. We want to keep on getting better every time we step on the floor. We’re not stopping until we win that championship this season. I’m just really happy to see us coming together and playing the way we know how.

We got a couple of days off before we play the Knicks again on Wednesday. Then, we’re back on the road again this weekend by heading out to the West Coast. Well, at least we know we can win on the road. We road warriors, ya’ll!!!

—DWIGHT

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Happy Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

Heyyyyy World!!! We had a really tough game last night against Miami and tonight we’re back in the A-T-L to face the Hawks. It’s kind of messed up because we’re on a back to back and the Hawks have had four days off before playing us.

But I don’t even care because I like playing on the holidays. When you think about it, they only pick the best teams to play on TV on the holidays. So the fact that we’re playing on Thanksgiving and again on Christmas in a few weeks is OK with me because that’s a sign of respect for our team.

It’s actually good because I’ll be back at the crib in Hot-lanta today with my family, eating some good Southern food for Thanksgiving. Ya’ll may not know it or not but my mama’s chit’lins are one of my favorites to eat for Thanksgiving. Chit’lins are what have made my muscles as big and sexy as they are now.

But I can’t eat too much with a game later in the night. This is a business trip and not a homecoming. We really need this one, especially after the way we lost to Miami. I can’t believe we let them get those two offensive rebounds down the stretch, especially one off an airball!!!

Playing Miami, I got to see my boy, D-Wade. If there’s anybody in the NBA not on my team that I’d like to play with it would be him. We’ve talked about it some at the Olympics a couple of years ago and over the summer when we were shooting our movie together.

We both really love our own teams and teammates, but it is something that we’ve dreamed about. He’ll be a free agent this summer, along with Bron and C-Bosh, so I’ll be right there with everybody trying to see where they all wind up. It’s going to be really interesting to see. Maybe they can all come to O-town and we can build a dynasty. Now that would shock the world, huh!!!!

We’ll, ya’ll have a good Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for, on and off the court, and I’m thankful that you guys are always here to support me. Peace out.

—D-12

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Laughing and giving back

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Heeeeeeeyyyyy world!!!! I had all of the fellas laughing today when I slapped on a long blonde wig and went to take my NBA Drug test with the hair on. They show up four times a year for our drug tests and I just had to go into a room and pee in a cup. I just thought I’d spice things up a little bit with my wig and get a few strange looks from everybody.

I didn’t know until this afternoon that I got a Community Assist award from the NBA for the work that we’re doing with Florida Hospital to create a room for teenagers who are sick and hospitalized. I was down there a few weeks ago and had some fun with the kids and their smiles just give me so much happiness. I handed out a few Superman capes and played some video games with those guys and it was so much fun. And by winning that award I guess it means that the NBA Cares folks will be donating $5,000 more to the foundation.

Thanksgiving is coming up in a couple of days, and I thought I’d talk to you guys today about giving back. I have so much to be thankful for from basketball, to family, to life in general, and I want to show my thanks for that by trying to help others. Plenty of people helped me coming up, so I want to try and touch as many lives as I can as well.

The media asked me a bunch of questions today after practice about why I spend so much of my free time doing charity work in the community and the answer is really pretty simple: It’s because I just enjoy giving back. I’ve been given everything in this life that I could ever imagine. So a big part of my life outside of the NBA is giving back to other people less fortunate than me. So I take pride in giving back.

This is just something that I’ve been doing my whole, entire life. You can ask my parents, my homeboys back in Atlanta, or the people at my church – that’s just the way I’ve always been since I was a kid. If I had $5 I’d give my last $5 to somebody else who needs it more. If I saw you with no shirt on and you were cold, I’d give you my shirt.

I’ve tried to never change who I am as far as giving back and wanting to do for others. It’s just me, wanting to give my last so that others have enough.

We got a couple of tough games coming up with Miami and Atlanta, so if I don’t holla at ya’ll before Thanksgiving, ya’ll eat some turkey and dressing for me. Have a good holiday!!! Peace out to ya’ll all around the world!!!

—D-12

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Keeping it real and honest!!!

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

Heyyyyy world!!! Ya’ll watch us get a big win in Boston against the Celtics on ESPN? Hope you did because we played like champions, really working on defense and making clutch plays when we had to. It was kind of an ugly game, but all that really matter is getting that W.

A lot was made the last couple of days about the talk me and Coach Van Gundy had. He came to me and asked why I thought we were struggling with our energy and lacking some enthusiasm. I tried to keep it real and be as honest as I could. I just told him it was tough dealing with the expectations and all the injuries that we’ve had with him being so negative to us all the time.

He asked me what my opinion was and it wasn’t like I went in there complaining to him. I know that coach wants the nothing but the best for us, but he does kind of bash us at times and it hurts the team, I think.

Stan is a great guy and he’s going to continue to stay on us and I don’t want him to stop that. I just told him that as a team we have a lot of new guys who aren’t used to the way that he coaches and sometimes it’s just a matter of how you deal with them. I can take somebody talking bad to me and him yelling at me or whatever, but you have to deal with certain people different ways. Some of the new guys just aren’t used to having a coach as active as Stan.

I think us talking like that was the best way to handle it. Me being the leader of the team and being able to talk to coach and talk to the team, it was really good. We’re like a family and we’re going to have problems but if we continue to grow we should be great going to the end of the season.

Me and coach have always had a great relationship. No matter if we were fighting with one another we could always come back and talk to one another. That’s what it’s supposed to be like. We’ve grown over the years and it’s only continued to get better. Like I told Stan the first time he got here: I’ll always be his soldier and whatever he needs me to do or wants me to do I’ll do it.

Glad I could explain to ya’ll my side of things. Hit me back with some feedback and let me know whatcha think. Cause I think it was a good step in the right direction for us as a team. And we did play better against Boston, so maybe it did help.

—D-12

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Mentoring the young guys

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

Heyyyyy world!!!! What up, what????

We got a little revenge on those young Thunder cats last night. We had a really good game defending and moving the ball and we wanted to play well for Jameer Nelson, who was out after having knee surgery. It’s crazy with all the stuff we’ve been through already with the injuries and the flu, but I keep telling myself that it’s early in the year and it’s better that it happen now than later before the playoffs.

Playing OKC last night, I got to see my guy, Kevin Durant, some last night. We have the same agent (Goodwin Sports Managment) and we’ve become pretty good friends through the years at all-star games and when we were training for the Olympic team.

Me and Kevin used to talk a lot, but it’s been tough so far this season because we’ve been so busy with our schedules. We still talk a little bit on Twitter (check KD out on Twitter) and see how each other is doing. He’s a really good dude and has such a good head on his shoulders.

He’s pretty much better now than he was last season and so much better than he was his rookie year so I don’t have to say a lot to him. That kid is on his way to being great and he’s gonna lead the league in scoring real soon.

I try to help out as many of the young guys in the NBA as I can the same way the veterans helped me out back when I was a skinny 18-year-old kid straight out of high school. Guys like Tony Battie and Grant Hill and even Rasheed Wallace back when he was on the Pistons took time out to give me advice about being a pro, and that’s something I’ll never forget.

I was kind of a mentor last season to Courtney Lee – even though he’s older than me!!! How crazy is that??? I kind of took him under my wing and he blew up and had a great rookie season for us. We became really good friends and I miss that dude now that he’s playing up in Jersey.

Even though I’m just in my sixth year and still pretty much a young guy, I feel like I’ve been through a lot already in the NBA. It’s on me to share that stuff with the other young guys in the NBA and be a mentor when I can. I gotta help them the way the vets helped me a few years ago.

Well, we got a big one Friday vs. Boston, so we’ll need to play our best ball to win that game. With Boston, I really think it’s all about defense and not giving up easy shots. We’ve got a lot of weapons and they do too, so the team that gets the most stops is probably going to win it.

I’m out of here for now. Ya’ll be good!!!

—DWIGHT

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