For one night, Dwight Howard was a master illusionist, with a beguiling boxscore Burt Wonderstone couldn't conjure^. Howard saved some of his magic for his old team during his first return to Orlando, scoring a season-high 39 points in a win. Historically, Howard can't hack it at the line, so the Magic opted to hack him^, employing a tactic most foul, but he exclaimed "presto change-o" to his free throw woes: sinking 25 of his league record-tying 39 tries and shooting 64% from the stripe, an increase of 15% above his average this year. After the first half Howard had, notching 19 and 10, over-matched Orlando should've switched to the saw him in half strategy.
Howard pulled a rabbit out of his hat, but this wasn't some humdrum hare, it was Bugs Bunny in Space Jam. Motivated, maybe by the masterpiece of a movie mentioned, he played as if the planet's safety was at stake. Like the cartoon character, Howard was animated, chatting with the cross crowd, who blame him for staging the longest vanishing act in all of sports.
Now, for Howard's next trick: solidifying the Lakers, winners of four straight and eight of ten, spot in the playoffs. To pull it off, he'll need to concede that he's actually Kobe Bryant's lovely assistant, the Teller to Kobe's Penn. For Howard to believed their roles are reversed would be magical thinking.
^which is a film we expect to disappear from theatres in no time.
*it's fitting that these largely unknown Magic players became hackers, since they amount to an Anonymous collective.
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