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For the second time in his seven-year NBA career, Magic center Dwight Howard is averaging 37.7 MPG, which means that he’s on the floor for roughly 80% of every game in which he plays.

That other 20% may not sound like much now, but the playoffs are rapidly approaching and Orlando no longer has Marcin Gortat to come off the bench. So how can the Magic get some positive minutes while their best player sits?

“It’s a joint effort,” reserve swingman Quentin Richardson told HOOPSWORLD. “We all have to go in there and try and get rebounds and protect the paint and do things like that so it’s definitely a joint effort from everybody.

“For the most part, it’s crazy, he’s playing a lot of minutes,” Richardson continued. “There’s not a whole lot of time he’s not out there dominating the inside and keeping himself out of foul trouble and staying on the court. It’s fortunate we don’t have to worry about that a great deal.”

But Orlando may have to worry about it in the near future. Coach Stan Van Gundy cut Howard’s minutes down to around 32 or 33 a game in the month prior to the playoffs last year and will likely do so again this season. And even when Howard is logging major minutes in the playoffs, the time he spends off the court may very well determine the outcome of the game. Superman has to sit sometime.

The two most integral replacements are sharpshooting power forward Ryan Anderson and starting power forward Brandon Bass, who, despite standing 6-8 in sneakers, slides to the block in Howard’s absence.

“We need to go a little harder and focus on the rebounding because when Dwight’s in the game, he’s a rebounding machine, and obviously on the defensive end, we need to focus more on the rotation,” Anderson told HOOPSWORLD. “Me and Brandon Bass playing the 5, we’re not so used to that. We’re used to playing the four.

“So we’re just focusing in and trying to come to shootaround ready, come to the game prepared,” Anderson continued. “Personnel is big. We need to just know every big man on the court. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of just focusing on the things that Dwight does when he’s on the court—the rebounding, the defense, the rotation—things like that.”

Typically when Howard exits, Bass slides down to the block on offense while Anderson sets up shot in the corner. Orlando may be playing without a true center in those circumstances, but they’ve been able to steal a decent amount of minutes with this lineup. In fact, in the 53.7 minutes that Anderson and Bass have teamed with Gilbert Arenas, J.J. Redick and Jason Richardson, the Magic have rebounded 53.5% of missed shots while scoring 1.13 points per possession and yielding .93 points per defensive possession (+21 on the season), according to 82games.com’s latest tabulations. It’s not easy, but the Magic are finding creative ways to play without Howard for few minutes per night.

“I try to,” Bass told HOOPSWORLD when asked if he can replace Howard. “It’s tough. When Dwight’s not out there, it’s tough for us. We try to set a lot of pick and rolls, hit me for the rolls and hopefully the defense will collapse and we can get open shots.

“Every day we’ve been trying to get better at improving offensively and defensively, mainly on the defense,” he continued. “Like I said, when Dwight’s out of the game, we run a lot of pick and rolls we all have to make small plays. I basically roll. I post up when I get opportunities.”

Both Anderson and Bass have given Van Gundy plenty to smile about. The former has hit 38.7% f his 3-point attempts this season and is grabbing 5.4 RPG in only 21.7 minutes of action per night while the latter is making 50.6% of his field goals and scoring 11.1 PPG. Most importantly, Bass has been so good at imitating Howard for short stretches that Anderson hasn’t had to alter his approach when he checks in.

“I think it’s pretty similar because Brandon’s a low-post guy on the offensive end, so my role doesn’t really change,” Anderson said. “Either way, our offense stays the same. I think with Brandon, he can spread out on the perimeter too. He can pick and pop. I think it’s pretty tough to guard us either way—when Dwight’s in the game or when he’s not because [Bass] is a versatile big guy.”

Of course, the onus of replacing Howard doesn’t just fall on Bass. Over the season’s final few weeks several players—possibly forward Earl Clark—will have to step in to give the big man some rest. And the better the Magic are at doing that in March and April, the easier it will be in May and June.

Don’t forget, Howard has already been suspended one game for accumulating 16 technical fouls (Orlando lost to Portland that night) and he could face more suspensions for his 18th and 20th violations. The Magic have a firm hold on the fourth seed in the playoffs, but seven such infractions in the postseason could put Howard in street clothes at a most inopportune time.  That’s why it’s imperative that Orlando hammer out a firm Howardless strategy now, before the stakes get too high.

“I’m sure that’s something will have to safeguard and work on,” Richardson concluded. “But that’s why this is a joint effort. Everyone needs to put in the work to do this.”

{AUTHOR_BOX} Beware of ‘Fragile’ Flying Objects

Hawks coach Larry Drew said his team is “a little fragile right now” before Wednesday’s loss to the 76ers, the Associated Press reported. Atlanta is 7-14 in their last 21 games, largely because they’ve been playing teams like Miami, Denver, Chicago and Philadelphia.

But tomorrow they play the lowly Nets, which is going to be a pretty depressing test for Hawks fans. Either Atlanta pulls it together and creams an inferior opponent that could be without it’s best player (Deron Williams), or the season will continue to erode in front of Drew’s eyes.

The Hawks hold a two and a half game lead over the 76ers for the fifth seed, but that is of little consequence. Whether Atlanta plays Boston, Miami or Orlando in the first round, they’re going to lose unless they make some major changes.

One ominous sign for Hawks fans is be point differential. Of the top eight teams in the East, all but two have a positive point differential. Those two are the eighth-seeded Pacers, and, surprisingly the Atlanta Hawks who have been outscored this season by 0.4 points per game. For a team that started the year 6-0, they’re suddenly surrendering without much of a fight.

Drew believes the problem may have to do with heart, because the Hawks haven’t been showing much of them when the other team starts scoring.

"It’s something I’ve been preaching it seems like every day this month, about how to respond to runs,” Drew told reporters. “This game is a game of runs. Teams make runs. You make runs. You respond to it and we just don’t respond to it well at all. It looks like we lose interest, lose confidence. We just don’t handle it well.”

All-Star guard Joe Johnson doesn’t have a much better assessment either.

“We’re a team that sits here in this locker room and talk all the time about what we want to do and what we need to do,” he told the AP. “Then we go out on the floor and do things that are out of our character or that’s not within ourselves. It makes us all look bad. Until we get that part of the game down, then we’re going to continue to look bad.”

The Hawks play the Nets Saturday night at 7 p.m. on NBA TV.

Check Out: Kentucky vs. Ohio State from Newark, NJ

The top-seeded Buckeyes have always had the inferior basketball program in their Ohio River rivalry with Kentucky Wildcats, but things are different in the postseason.

Oddly enough, UK has never beaten OSU in the NCAA Tournament (0-5). Do the Wildcats have enough to do that this year?

Check out this budding regional rivalry at 9:45 P.M. on CBS.

FYI—My Twitter handle has changed to @alexraskinNBA.





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