Patrick Ewing « The Official Dwight Howard Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Patrick Ewing’

The story behind my left hand

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

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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Tags: 2010 NBA Season, Dwight Howard Blog, Patrick Ewing
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Still working on my jumper

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

Heeyyyyyyy worrrrrrrrld…What are ya’ll up to these days? We’re on the road again. We were in Sac yesterday and are in Denver today. This trip is a long one because after that we still go to Portland for a Friday game and then we play the Lakers in La-La land next week.

Not sure if you guys saw our game last Saturday against the Hawks or last night against the Kings, but I actually tried a few jump shot. And let me say that I was robbed against Atlanta. The ball circled the rim a couple of time and thought about going in before it rimmed out. I missed both of my tries against Sac, but hey, I’m going to keep taking those shots.

Against Atlanta, it was at the end of the shot clock, so I had no choice but to jack it up. J-Will told me after the game he passed it back to me because he wanted to see me shoot a jumper. I shoot it all the time in practice and I guess my teammates just wanted me to fire one up in the game and see what happens.

Last night, I took two of them in the first quarter. And even though I didn’t make them, I think it drew the defense up for later in the game and gave me some driving chances.

Everybody on our teams wants to see me shooting more jump shots, from Otis Smith to all of my teammates and coaches. It just another way for me to score when teams are trapping me inside and sending double-teams at me.

I worked really hard on my shot this summer. I shot hundreds and hundreds of jumpers off pick and pops this summer and got really comfortable with the shot. I’m sure some of you guys have seen some of the YouTube videos of my shooting, and you could see that I was making most of them.

Otis, especially wants me to shoot a lot more. I shoot every day in practice. It’s just going to be on me. I just have to get confidence in that shot. I know I can shoot it. I can shoot it by myself, I can shoot it in practice but we’re going to have to get that same shot in the game.

My biggest obstacle, you see, is that I really hate to miss shots. I take pride in the fact that I have a high shooting percentage. You do that and it means that you are an efficient player.

So I just have to get over that concern that I might miss a few shots along the way. I really think adding that shot, like my coach Patrick Ewing, will make me better and make us better as a team. Like they say, the more weapons that you have, the more dangerous you are in a battle.

Well, I’m gonna blow outta here. Wish us luck on this roadtrip. It’s a really tough trip, and we want to get back on track. We started a long winning streak last season with a 4-0 run on the West Coast and I’m hoping we can do it again. We got a good win against the Kings last night, so we’re off to a good start so far.

Hit me on twitter, facebook, superfan and the comments section. Yuuuuuuaaaaaa!!!!

—D12

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Tags: 2010 NBA Season, Dwight Howard Blog, Jason Williams, Otis Smith, Patrick Ewing
Posted in Uncategorized | 48 Comments »

NOW THAT’S MY MAGIC!!!!!

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

Now, that’s the Magic team that we expected to look like at the start of the NBA Finals. We were patient, we were confident and we played with a swagger again. Maybe it was just being back at home or maybe it just took us a while to get used to being in The Finals, but we played like we were supposed to play.

I told ya’ll from the start that this is a seven-game series and we’re not done until the Lakers beat us four times. We still aren’t being given much of a chance to win, but maybe this win will open some eyes of the folks out there around the country. Maybe this will let them know the Magic are for real and we ain’t no pushovers.

As for my play personally, I thought I was more patient in the post and let the defense dictate what I did with the ball. When the double came I accepted it and made the right pass. When it didn’t come, I tried to be really aggressive and go right at Gasol and Bynum.

Me, Stan and Pat Ewing watched a lot of film on Monday on our day off and it really helped me see what was going on with the defense. I give the Lakers credit because they have done a good job sitting in my lap and taking away some of my moves. They are cutting me off to the middle and sending a second man when I come back baseline. So I tried to learn from that and make myself more efficient.

That’s the word – efficient – that I’m always hearing from Stan. I think I was pretty efficient in Game 3. I cut my turnovers down to one, I missed just one shot and I made most of my free throws.

And when guys like Skip, ‘Shard and MP make shots like they did, that just opens up even more things inside for me. We shot the ball like this and play this hard in Game 4 on Thursday and I think we’ll have us another win.

We really, really believe we’re still going to do this. I liked coming home for three games in a row and we felt like we could get all three of them. It’s one game at a time of course, but we haven’t lost any confidence that we can beat the Lakers.

Thank ya’ll for being so loud last night, but we need it even more hype come Thursday. We can do this – believe that!!!!

I’m out. Holler back at ya. — DWIGHT

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Tags: 2009 NBA Finals, 2009 NBA Playoffs, Add new tag, Andrew Bynum, Dwight Howard Blog, Los Angeles Lakers, Mickael Pietrus, Patrick Ewing, Pau Gasol, Rafer Alston, Rashard Lewis, Stan Van Gundy, Video
Posted in Uncategorized | 155 Comments »

GAME 2 IS FINALLY HERE

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Finally, Game 2 is here. We’ve had to wait forever since Sunday’s loss and I think we’re ready to play. I really believe that we will play a lot better tonight and bring more focus and energy.

With Philly, it’s all about us getting back on defense because they get so many of their points by running the break. Andre Miller is a great points guard and Andre Iguodala is a super athlete.

I think our team is ready to show what we’re really made of. Losing that big lead the other night hurt us bad, but we’ve looked at what we did wrong and I think we’ll correct those errors tonight.

As for winning the Defensive Player of the Year, that was a great, great honor for me. Tony Battie got off a good line at practice yesterday, saying I should thank all the guards for letting their men drive past them so I could get so many blocked shots. That was a good one and we were all laughing pretty hard.

I know now, especially after listening to Fatrick Chewing, uhhh I mean Patrick Ewing, that defense is how I can make my mark as a great player in this league. Defense wins championships and getting rebounds and blocking shots is what’s going to help us most to win games and get that championship to Orlando. I’ve got to be an enforcer in the paint and dominate on both ends of the floor.

I got a new Kia for winning the defensive award, but I donated it to the Orlando Day Nursery. It’s a seven-passenger ride and they didn’t really have a vehicle for class trips, so it should come in real handy for them.

During the ceremony, I actually gave the truck keys to this adorable little girl who had pigtails and she was rocking some pink, old-school Chuck Taylors. There were tight shoes. It was a blast for me. I had as much fun as the kids did.

We need everybody to stick with us tonight. We gotta get this win.

CHILL. – D-12

Tags: 2009 NBA Playoffs, Awards, Charity, Defensive Player of the Year, Dwight Howard Blog, Orlando Day Nursery, Patrick Ewing, Philadelphia 76ers, Video
Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments »

EMOTIONAL NIGHT FOR ‘ZO

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

My coach, Patrick Ewing, has told me a lot of stories about Alonzo Mourning, and ‘Zo was one of the big men who helped when I was first coming into the league. He gave me advice on how to approach the game of basketball and life, and I’ve always admired the way he played the game.

Me and all of my teammates were talking before the game and I had to get out there at halftime to see if ‘Zo was going to cry. We all figured that ‘Zo was going to shed a few tears because he was always such an emotional player. He did cry, but it’s all good. He’s really led the way for a lot of young big men who have come after him. I appreciate everything he’s done for me and for the game of basketball.

Watching the event at halftime, I was even getting a little bit teary-eyed, just seeing how emotional it was. It was a special night for him and I was happy that we were there to witness it.

Seeing that No. 33 go up in the rafters, made me think about my own career. Hopefully, one day after a long Magic career I’ll have my jersey retired, too. It’s a long way off and it’s just a dream, but that has to be the coolest feeling ever. I can see it now, No. 12 going up as the fans cheer. How cool would that be?

I got my 5,000th rebound Monday night, and I give credit for that to God for keeping me healthy throughout my five-year NBA career. It’s an honor that I’ve been able to accomplish what I have.

The most important thing of the night was that we beat Miami again and stayed ahead of the Celtics. We feel lie we’re going to have to win the rest of our games if we want to get that No. 2 seed and also get our goal of 60 win s. I think we can do it, but we’ve got a tough grind ahead of us.

OK, I’m out. Take care everybody. — DWIGHT

Tags: 2009 NBA Season, Alonzo Mourning, Dwight Howard Blog, Miami Heat, Patrick Ewing
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