Magic Off Center in Game 1

Howard Not His Dominant Self in Low-Energy Performance

LOS ANGELES, June 5 -- Dwight Howard's unofficial welcome to the NBA came in the second month of his rookie season, in the rudest fashion, as the fresh-faced teenager with braces lifted both arms and slid in front of Kobe Bryant to contest the drive. Bryant, not amused by the youngster's audacity, soared above him, hammered down a one-handed dunk, then hung on the rim, saddled upon Howard's ribs, to stare him down.

Reminded of that play on Friday, Howard slapped his forehead, rubbed his face, then smiled. "I don't remember what happened," Howard said, about making his first poster.

Finally, after realizing that the video could easily be found on the Internet, Howard fessed up. "He baptized me," Howard said, chuckling, about Bryant, "brought me into the NBA and back to reality with one play. Every time he gets ready to drive down the lane, ever since then, I've had the flash of him dunking and hearing the crowd. It was like 'Boom!' That's all I heard."

With similar swiftness and ferocity, Bryant also helped dunk Howard and the Orlando Magic under the waters of the NBA Finals on Thursday, with a 40-point, 8-rebound, 8-assist performance in the Los Angeles Lakers' 100-75 victory in Game 1. While Bryant's game was encapsulated by that menacing, bloodthirsty, teeth-clinching scowl, Howard's performance was summed up by him rolling his eyes and helplessly flailing his arms.

Howard's first Finals game was far from memorable, as he was limited to just one field goal in six attempts. He made 10 of 16 free throws to finish with 12 points and 15 rebounds, his 18th double-double in 19 games this postseason.

"Personally, it felt like a normal game. I know the stakes are higher or whatever, but it felt normal," Howard said of his debut. "The only thing that was different is you're seeing the big trophy everywhere you look. I just think as a team, we came out flat and our energy wasn't there."

Howard destroyed the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, scoring 40 points with 14 rebounds. But the Magic has won games this postseason without Howard being dominant offensively. The Magic is just 2-2 this postseason when he scores 30 or more points. Howard had just 12 points when Orlando closed out Boston in Game 7 of the second round and the Magic is 2-3 when he scores 12 or fewer.

For the defensive player of the year, offense remains a facet of his game that needs more polishing. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a Hall of Fame center and special assistant coach for the Lakers who has worked with center Andrew Bynum, acknowledged that Howard has developed a jump hook after working with Magic assistant Patrick Ewing but emphasized that the rest of his repertoire remains undeveloped.

"He'd be an even better asset to his team if he had a go-to shot. He doesn't have a lot of smooth offensive skills," Abdul-Jabbar said. "Having a good offensive game to complement his incredible defensive skills and ability to rebound and block shots, that would make him all the more better."

Howard's game is built on being a presence, on crushing the rim with energizing dunks. But after he made a left-handed hook shot that gave Orlando an early 7-4 lead, the Lakers' long-armed, 7-foot tandem of Bynum and Pau Gasol wouldn't allow him to establish deep position or forced Howard to shoot over them. "It was big, I knew I had to play pretty good defense on him, make it hard for him with all the dunks and all that," Bynum said. "If he's getting easy dunks and smiling down the court, that gets him rolling."

Howard also lost some of his aggression after picking up his second foul, charging into Gasol in the first period. The Lakers then decided to double-team Howard, and when he passed the ball out to open shooters, they were unable to connect.

"Well, I think they're going to make it tough to get Dwight rolling," Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy said of the Lakers. "He has to bring a higher energy and intensity level. I think the thing that people can never match with Dwight when he's really going after it is they can't match his combination of athleticism and strength. I don't think there's ever been a time where I've thought somebody had him overmatched in those areas, and I think if you look at the game [Thursday] night, he did not play with great energy, he did not run the court."

Rashard Lewis, one of the Magic shooters who was unable to knock down shots, said he expects to see a different Howard in Game 2.

"Dwight is a dominant player. Just like Kobe Bryant had a great game, Dwight is capable of doing that any night," said Lewis, who missed eight of 10 shots in Game 1. "We've all been in positions where we have bad games, but we're the type of team that responds, and I'm sure he'll respond come Sunday and have a great game. I'm sure you'll see a different Dwight Howard, just as well as you'll see a different Rashard Lewis or Hedo Turkoglu. You'll see a whole different Magic team just because of the fact we know we was off our game."

Howard added that the Magic's poor play, not necessarily Bryant's 40-point game, was the reason the team lost in blowout fashion.

"The first time we played Kobe [this season] in Orlando, he had [41], so that's nothing new. LeBron [James] averaged [38.5 in the conference finals], and we were still able to come out on top in the series," Howard said. "It was only one game. I think just as a team, our effort just wasn't there on both ends. We can't control Kobe getting 40 points, but what we can control is boxing out, getting loose balls, stuff like that, and we didn't do it last night.

"We have to want it. I don't think as a team, we played like we wanted to win," Howard said.