Dwight Howard Breaks Free-Throw Record Against Golden State Warriors
In last night’s game against the Golden State Warriors, Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic set a new record for the most free throws attempted in a regular season game. The previous record was established by Wilt Chamberlain (34 free throws attempted) back in 1962.
Howard attempted 39 free throws Thursday night (via NBA.com), making 21 (53.85 percent) as the Warriors went to the Hack-a-Dwight method in order to try and slow down Orlando’s offense.
The Warriors were without Kwame Brown who suffered a torn pectoral muscle and could be lost for the season, according to SB Nation. They instead had to resort to using Andris Biedrins, David Lee and Ekpe Udoh to guard Howard one on one.
Since that was not going to happen, the Warriors decided to use the foul strategy even though it cost them at the end of the game.
This tactic of fouling a “bad” free-throw shooters is not new—it happened to Shaquille O’Neal when he was a member of the Phoenix Suns (most notably vs. San Antonio), and the Los Angeles Lakers (vs. the Indiana Pacers in the 2000 NBA Finals).
Howard, a career 59.5 percent free-throw shooter, did initially struggle to make his foul shots, but was able to knock them down with a little more consistency as the game went on and he became more comfortable at the line.
Not only did the Orlando Magic find a way to win the game—especially after playing the previous night against the Portland TrailBlazers—they were able to take advantage of the Warriors foul troubles. Both Biedrins and Lee fouled out of the game late in the fourth quarter.
Lee especially hurt the Warriors on the offensive side. He and Monta Ellis consisted of most of the offense down the stretch as the Warriors exchanged baskets for free throws.
Maybe other teams will also resort to this strategy to try and keep the Orlando Magic from getting into their offense and keep them off balance. But in doing so, that team had better hope they can do a better job of spreading around the fouls so their key offensive players do not foul out.
