Rankin and Dwight Howard talked about the influence of Orlando assistant coach and former NBA All-Star Patrick Ewing has had on his game, hearing the critics and what was his most difficult dunk in winning the Slam Dunk contest this year.

Q: For someone who has as much talent as you do, you often hear other folks say 'he's not doing this enough. He needs to get this many rebounds.' How do you internally all that or how do you handle it when it comes at you?

A: The good stuff, it stays in my head and the bad stuff goes through one ear and out the other. It's always going to be people who dislike you or hate the way you play. Haters basically and (comedian) Katt Williams said it the best. I got haters now, but I want have at least 20 more haters at the end of the day. That means you're doing something great or you're doing something good in your life that you've got people talking about you. I just keep my head up, keep my chin up and I just fight. That's what I've been doing my whole life. They said I wasn't going to be able to play basketball. Then they said I wasn't going to be able to make it in the NBA. I just try. That's the only I can do is try.

Q: Working with Patrick Ewing, he was a guy who had the turnaround jumper. He had the jump hook. He had like when he was a freshman in college (at Georgetown ). What has he shown you that's enabled you become better offensively?

A: He just wants me to play hard every night. I told him what my goal was when I first came in here and when he first got here is that I wanted to be one of the greatest players to ever play the game. He's done everything he could to get me to that level to what I want today. He's always pushing me. He's always in my head to get better and to work on everything. We've been working all year on a lot of things. The next thing he wants me to do is to play with confidence and lead my team.

Q: I'll never understand this, but what's that feeling like of when you're bigger, faster and stronger than your opponent and you get one of those monster dunks. I'm trying to comprehend what that feels like for a 22-year old.

A: I love doing. I love dunking. Blocking shots. Rebounding. A lot of people say he's big and tall. That stuff should be easy, but it's not easy. Every time I do it, I try to do it with a little style so people can see it's not easy what he's doing. I love doing it."

(Dwight Howard entered the game leading the league in dunks with 249 this season, 879 in his career)

Q: You showed that during All-Star weekend. You did dunks no one in the history of the game at any height had ever done. Which dunk was the most difficult one?

A: The most difficult one was the third dunk.

Q: The one you bounced the ball off the floor, caught it with your left hand, threw off the glass and dunked it with the right hand?

A: I worked on that dunk for 30 minutes. All the other dunks. It's something I've been doing all year. I've been doing the other ones since last summer. It's just some basic stuff to me.

Q: It wasn't basic to everybody else. Thanks Dwight. Good luck.

DH: Thanks. I appreciate it.

After the game, Rankin spoke with Dwight Howard about him scoring only four points on 1-of-8 shooting and how his team beat the Cavaliers 101-86 without him having a big game.

Q: How much was having four days in between games affect your play ( Orlando 's last game before facing Cleveland was April 1.)

A: That had nothing to do with it. I've just got to play hard when I come out. I'm upset with how I played. Everybody has nights like this. Just got to come back (today) and do better.

Q: You have to feel good that you had a game that like and you still beat a team like Cleveland by 15 points?

A: The thing is, we've got a team full of guys who can play defense and score the ball. I know I'm the catalyst and I have to bring that intensity every night, but we've got guys who can put the ball in the basket.

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