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The story behind my left hand

Heyyyyyy worrrrrrld!!! What’s going on with your guys today? We got the day off on Wednesday after beating Milwaukee Tuesday night at home. It was our third game in four nights and we won them all.

We’ve won seven of the last eight and it really feels like we’re starting to gel as a team. It took us awhile, but I feel like we’re on our way to getting back to being a dominant team again. This stretch before the all-star game is really important and hopefully we can close out the next week or so with a lot of wins.

When I’m out and about in Orlando or in other cities a lot of fans and kids who play basketball ask me about how I developed such a good left hand. I really think that one of my best weapons is the fact that I can score just as well with my left hand as I can my right hand.

A lot of people don’t know it, but when I was growing up I was totally left-handed. I wrote left-handed, held a fork left-handed and shot the ball left-handed.

But when I was in the eighth grade I tried to dunk on a guy and he undercut me and I landed on my left hand and broke my left wrist. After that, I taught myself to write with my right hand, eat right-handed and shoot the basketball with my right hand.

Little did I know back then that something like hurting my wrist as a kid would help me as a NBA player.

I made three straight left-handed hook shots on Tuesday against Milwaukee when the double-team came from the top side. Then, in the second half when they didn’t double team I could get to the middle of the lane and get to my right-handed hook shot.

Being able to score with either hand helps me against some of these other big guys and it helps me turn away from the double-teams and those little dudes digging down on me.

I’ve just got to keep working on my game and getting better every day. On Tuesday, I stayed after practice almost an hour, working on my free throws and my jump shots with Patrick Ewing. I’m working on shots from 15 to 17 feet to give me another option when teams start double-teaming me down low. I’ll always be a post-up player, but it’s good to have other options like a jump shot or a left-handed hook to make you a better player.

Well, that’s the story about my left hand. All you young kids out there, you’ve gotta work both hands to make yourself a more dangerous player. And you’ve got to live in the gym and put in the time. That’s how I’ve gotten to where I am now.

I’m outta here. Ya’ll be good.

—DWIGHT

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29 Responses to “The story behind my left hand”

  1. Izzat Sharma says:

    The best player in the nba by far
    2010 is yours Dwight
    Take care
    Ez

  2. ALICIA JACKSON says:

    Hi Dwight, that was a good game last night..You all are definitely coming back together as a team and improving..That hook shot is looking good..it just goes in smoothly, your really practicing and improving..Keep practicing
    that Jumpshot, if you master that then you will be fierce. You all are back in
    first in your division and second in the conference..So keep up the good work, just hate the injuries. You all seem so fragile and at any moment you can get injured so I just pray that you all stay healthy and everybody will be able to contribute to the
    playoffs…Enjoy your day off …We love u and will be rooting for you..

  3. misz. quala says:

    heyyy SuperMan that was such a cute and surprising childhood story i really enjoyed reading it, and thank you for sharing :-)

    im actually a fulltime lefty but sometime somethings come natural with my right hand but no matter how hard i try i don’t think i could ever be able to write right handed— that’s cool how you program yourself to do both and be so effective i think it’s kinda sexy how you decide how handle the rock :-) yuuuaaaaaaa

    that was a good game last night i caught bits and pieces then watch all the highlights you guys are really coming together as a team a not requiring as much input from coach as often and making good effective decisions when tight situations arise. it shows maturity within yalls rank and determination in the fight to successfully reach yall’s destination good luck to all of ya we love you guys and keep up the hard work God bless you D12 and don’t forget to look for ya girl on twitter iluvd12 thats me :-) Lets Go Magics!!!!!!

  4. H.B says:

    Yea dwight i agree with “you’ve gotta work both hands to make yourself a more dangerous player.” Imma pure right hander, my left hand is totally useless. I’m training it now. All i can do now with my left hand is just a lefty layup. omg it suck so much.

  5. Iniquia says:

    Isn’t it something when something that was once a harm to you can become something great for you. :)

    Keep up the great work…

    -Iniquia

  6. rachakaloislane says:

    So you use to be a south paw like me huh? There is a saying, left handed people are in their right minds, but since you’re not techically left-handed anymore, I don’t know about you…. lol Maybe you’re halfway in your right mind. ;)

  7. Lincoln says:

    Great job last night Man. Keep working on those jump shots. Can’t wait to see you draining them regularly on Kendrick Perkins and Shaq.

  8. fro says:

    Awesome! The Lord has blessed you with so much =] Keep dominating!!!!

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    This post was mentioned on Twitter by ickabahdsimp: RT @DwightHoward: Dwight Howard Blog: The story behind my left hand http://bit.ly/c3sxTW…

  10. Sophie says:

    This is a great story keep up the good work wit every thing that you do.

    MUAH!!Sophie#1Fan

  11. willie macc says:

    Cool story…its very interesting now we need you to do a kazam movie like shaq…yall both got cool personalities

  12. Dwight I keep telling my son that left handed people are special.In the bible there is a tribe of 700 chosen men all left handed that were sling shot experts.I started with my left hand but back then people taught you to become right handed.Guess that’s why I write bad.See you are special.People been watching me type at work.They ask how I can type and ten key so fast and dance to music at the same time.I guess that’s part of my specialty .I’m like Dwight on the keyboard instead of the basketball court.Have a good day dear.Thanks for the blogs.Keep it coming.

  13. TK says:

    Thats crazy! Been trying to figure out why your lefthand shots were so accurate. Good win last night. You guys turned it up defensively big time. Aight D-12!! Have a good one. STAY DOMINANT!! HOLLA!!

  14. shoubash says:

    :) ))))))0

  15. Roli says:

    That’s an inspiring piece and very encouraging. My younger brother is left-handed and I’ve always noticed that there is something special about left-handed people…..they seem to be exceptionally gifted in one or more areas. They are very intelligent and hardworking in whatever they set their minds to. So keep up the good work that you are doing (on and off the court) and always remember that the Lord God Almighty is your strength.
    Oh yeah, I agree with one of the comments above…..it’s about time you do a Kazaam movie like Shaq or a Space Jam movie like Jordan…..you do have a lot in common with these guys and I think you’ll be cool in a feature length movie. God Bless!!!

  16. kritunja says:

    i didn’t hurt my wrist but i do every thing with my left hand but write, neatly…lol. sometimes in order to hvw the best skills we have to try new things. i’ll be cheering for you guys. stay up n at ‘em big guy

  17. Erica Howard says:

    I like that your very humble Dwight and you have a great spirit and I know why because God is dwelling in you.

  18. 笑傲·江湖 says:

    hahaha,you should and you will

  19. chris says:

    nice play

  20. Gil Viernes I. Marcelo says:

    We have quite same Story dwight but the difference is i dislocated my right elbow then i practice too to write left , eat left and shoot left. Well it happen 10 years from now. I am thinking if i switch again with right so i can be like Ganon Baker ( can shot 3’s with left and right)

  21. SugarMama says:

    I love you!!!!!Dwight!!!fighting! Hope you win again!!!!

  22. Inez Bottoson says:

    Dwight, keep being strong. I’m always cheering for u.

  23. djh says:

    Great story! I never knew that about you. Glad to see you guys pulling it together. Now is the time for the championship-bound Orlando Magic to be revealed!

    As for your free throws, I think you’ve been hanging around Charles Barkley too long because your missed free throws are starting to look like his golf swing! HA! :P I joke but it’s all love. No seriously though, I noticed that when you get nervous, sometimes you “hitch” the ball at the basket. You basically stop and start again at the end of your free throw routine. When you stop in the process of shooting, you eliminate all the power generated by your legs, forcing you to shoot only with your arms, thereby giving you the “hitch”. When you shoot a continuous shot, your stroke is as smooth as butter. Try focusing on shooting a continuous shot from start to finish. Or….. you could try shooting your free throws left-handed. :)

  24. Song: Safe in his arms
    Artist: Darius Brooks
    C.D. title: The Reunion

  25. P D says:

    As I’m pushing 40 years old, my game may only be of passing value to any team playing full-court for more than, say ten minutes. But in the half-court, allow me just say I’m more dangerous than I look.

    In the last ten years I’ve surprised many young heads, who pre-game may have assumed they’d be able to mix me, rip me and swat my sh- to the bleechers.

    Post-game (when I’m often puffing with pride) I share a little secret with the shorties — the best thing that ever happened to me in basketball is probably that I broke my right hand when I was 14. It happened at the end of a school year, and I spent the entire summer determined that when I returned to my church league team the following fall, I’d impress the heck out of my lefty coach.

    In fact, were it not from the ambidexterity inherited from that injurious year (inspired as well by Larry Legend’s off-hand experiments, plus our coach’s preferential treatments for the lefties on our team), I’m not sure if I would ever have developed the balance and offensive options to keep up w the better players today. Cannot overestimate the power of multi-directional thought, sight and motion in the game of hoops.

  26. Ryan says:

    Hey Dwight, I’m big fan and a fellow lefty. I’ve noticing your becoming a better player by the day . I saw your Barkley impression and it was about as funny as the Van Gundy voice.You need to do stand up comedy or something your probably the funniest professional athlete

  27. J the Drafter says:

    I’m glad you guys are playing well again. Um, one question. Can Brandon Bass see some playing time?? He shouldn’t need to hit the three to be an effective player on our team. Obviously, the three helps, but the amount of times where his inability to threeball has caused Stan to ignored his strong interior play and good mid-range game and rebounding is a little ridiculous. Brandon Bass has too much skill to be getting 20+ DNP’s. He should at least be out on the court with Gortat.

  28. christen says:

    OMG!!!! tht is super amazing ur ambidextrous!!!! crazy man crazy u inspire me im going 2 work on my left hand yeah i will def. do tht lol awesome u r the best player dude gosh ur amazing!!! awesome story!

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