Dwight Howard Must Gain Late-Game Confidence to Fix Free Throw Shooting

Dwight Howard's poor free-throw shooting in the fourth quarter will continue to be a real problem for the Los Angeles Lakers unless the star center gains some late-game confidence from the line.

According to ESPN, Howard has had more trouble making free throws in the fourth quarter than any other NBA player this season:

Look out for Hack-A-Howard in last 3 minutes. Dwight Howard has missed 47 fourth-quarter FT, No one else in NBA has missed more than 18

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 25, 2012  

J.A. Adande of ESPN points out the real problem with Howard's free throw troubles:

Dwight Howard's the last 1 on court after Laker practice, making free throw after free throw. Purely a mental block during games.

— J.A. Adande (@jadande) December 24, 2012  

Free throws are almost all mental. Being able to forget about previous failures, the crowd noise and the pressure of the situation all have a bigger impact on making free throws consistently than physical aspects such as the shooting form used.

Howard cannot let his critics bother him. He will likely never be a good free-throw shooter, and that's fine, because centers aren't expected to shoot a high percentage from the line. However, shooting 51.3 percent from the line is unacceptable for anyone as talented as Howard who plays a lot of minutes per game.



Unless he gains some late-game confidence from the line, Howard could become a very small part of the team's offense in the fourth quarter.

Teams will foul Howard whenever he attempts a shot in the final minutes of a game if he continues to struggle with his free throws.

If he fails to improve in the late stages of games, the Lakers will not be able to go to him in the low post in the fourth quarter or use pick-n-roll plays with point guard Steve Nash, and that would make the offense so much weaker th...

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