The 96-94 loss to the Houston Rockets on Friday night was just the most glaring example.
For the fifth consecutive game at Amway Arena, Howard failed to reach his team-high scoring average of 22.6 points. For the second consecutive home game, he failed to reach his league-leading average of 15.4 rebounds.
In the Magic's last four road games, Howard has averaged 22.5 points and 17 rebounds. In the Magic's last four home games before Friday night, he had averaged 16 points and 14.5 rebounds.
I love Dwight, but these stats reflect my own impression of his play at home this year. I keep wanting to see the Dwight I watched on TV, but he doesn't seem to get up his usual energy -- particularly for defense -- and hampers his play by getting totally distracted by bad calls and no-calls. On one play on Friday Dwight was still at the other end of the court whining when the ball was at the basket with Hedo defending Yao (he fouled him and Yao made both FTs). It's hard to get a chant of "MVP" going in the Amway when your MVP keeps turning in below average performances there.
Our game is so totally dependent on Dwight that when he isn't playing well, the whole team struggles. It's not "all his fault," but it can be a trigger. At the beginning of the season, SVG said he didn't want players complaining about bad calls or allowing themselves to be distracted by them. I'll bet one game of giving Dwight a "time out" on the bench every time he reacted to a call would do wonders for his focus.