Dwight Howard played much better in the post in Game 2, scoring 30 points on 9 for 13 shooting.  The main reason was that he was much more effective in the post, and he was much more effective in the post because he limited the number of times he “gathered” after making his move.  What do I mean by gather?

Dwight Howard has one of the quickest big man spin moves I have ever seen.  However, when he comes out of that spin move notice that he hesitates and allows the defense to get back to him, negating the effect the spin move has.  He was still able to convert on this play because of his size advantage over Rasheed Wallace.  This was the only time that Dwight did it in game 2.  Let’s go back to game 1 and look at some of his moves against Kendrick Perkins (A game where he really struggled).

Here is another spin move by Dwight Howard. He gets himself some pretty good position, but he hesitates slightly and that allows Kendrick Perkins to reposition himself and alter the shot.

Instead of spinning here, Dwight Howard does a half turn and wants to take a hook over his right shoulder. A good quick move gets him an easy look, however Dwight pump fakes twice and that allows Perkins to get in there an alter the shot once again.

It wasn’t just on post moves either. Here Howard grabs the offensive board and instead of keeping it up and going right up with it, he brings it down and that is why the shot gets blocked.

Now, let’s look at some of his moves from Game 2:

That’s a pretty big difference huh?  I am not one of those guys who believes that Dwight Howard doesn’t have a post game.  He has really solid footwork and great speed/athleticism that makes up for the fact he doesn’t really get the best position at times.  His moves have been effective in this series, it is just that in game 1 he didn’t explode out of his moves.  The coaching staff must have caught this and relayed it to him because he was really coming out of his moves quick in game 2.

A big thing to look for in game 3 is on Dwight’s first post up.  Does he come out of his spin/hook move quick and get a clean look or does he hesitate and miss.  If he goes quick, look for him to have a good game, if not, he may struggle like in game 1.