Rose should ignore Howard's advice
Looking at Dwight Howard’s second injury-inducing foul in 29 days against Derrick Rose, I don’t think there is any chance the Orlando big man will be fined or suspended.
But both of those fouls are essentially the same. Howard never tried to block Rose’s shot on either play, though in the Feb. 10 game, Howard did take a swipe in a failed effort to keep Rose from getting a shot off after the collision.
The two plays in question were definitely, “I’m going to knock you on your butt to show I’m a bad man” fouls. Both times, Howard claimed he had no intention of injuring Rose, which may be true. But he had every intention of drilling Rose in mid-air.
Following both games, Howard bragged about his success as a road block.
“I think if you hit something that doesn't move, you usually end up falling,” he chuckled after Thursday’s game.
Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy joined the chorus.
“He (Rose) is going full speed, and he's hitting basically an immovable object,” Van Gundy said.
What bugs me about Howard is he’s always whining about those slap-on-the-wrist fouls he gets, which would have ended long ago if he’d learned to make a free throw.
So a hack on the wrist to send a bad free-throw shooter to the line is an egregious offense. But if Rose gets knocked to the floor on a drive to the basket, that’s just weak flesh hitting powerful steel. Yeah, whatever.
Hard fouls are part of the NBA game, but violent mid-air collisions, whether it’s Derrick Rose or Othyus Jeffers on the receiving end, need to stop.
Howard claimed he even offered Rose some advice on how not to get injured by guys like Howard in the future. It’s known as the “two-foot rule.”
“I always tell him, ‘If you come down the lane, always come off two feet,’” he said. “That way you'll be on balance. You come off one (foot), all it takes is for somebody's body to hit you and you're going to fall.”
If you’re 7-feet tall, standing under the basket and plan to go up for a two-hand dunk, then jumping off two feet makes terrific sense. But most athletic drives to the basket don’t call for a two-foot takeoff.
So basically Howard is telling Rose never drive to the basket again and he’ll stay injury-free. Great advice, Dwight.
Unfortunately, we don't play Orlando again unless somehow in the playoffs. Somebody on the Bulls need to step up and foul Howard hard and ask questions later. I was watching both games and both fouls Howard extended his arms to foul, a lazy foul, and dangerous. Have Richard or Miller drive right at him and see how he likes it. No excuses.
Rose was trying to Hack Howard accross the face. His balance was WAY-OFF as a result and he hurt himself. That is why your coach and players aren't saying much about this, did you guys even watch the game??? Even Lebron doesn't run up against Howard like that. This is why your coach and other players are not saying anything about this. I have tickets to see them next week against our Hawks and I promise you, as tuff as Josh, Horford and ZaZa are not one of them are going to try and do what Rose did.
I'm a big Rose fan, but neither of the two plays were dirty or hard for that matter. Both times Rose went into Howard and Howard tried to block the shots.
One of the down sides to having a 40+ inch vertical is you are 3 plus feet off the ground and what goes up, must come down.
They need to figure a way to get Howard away from the basket.
The next time D. Rose drives the lane, I don't care how many feet he jumps off from, but I do have an idea where his knee should be aimed. I don't care how "immovable" you are, a knee to the groin, is Superman's cryptonite..........PROBLEM SOLVED......The next time Rose comes to the lane Superman will have to determine how tough he really is.
I don't know what you Orlando fans are thinking or if you've never played basketball in your life, but jumping sideways into somebody is not the way you're supposed to protect the basket. You jump straight up and try to block the shot. On Feb. 10th, Howard jumped into Rose AND swiped down at his arms, totally throwing him off balance and essentially flinging him to the ground...DIRTY play. Yesterday wasn't as bad, but Howard still jumped moving sideways into Rose. Howard's momentum was enough to slam Derrick to the floor...dirty play. Play defense with pride but if it means giving up an easy basket here and there and not injuring people and slamming them to the ground, then do it. Not to mention, Dwight Howard is a totally moron for the advice he gave to Rose. Anybody who knows anything about basketball knows that when a guard attacks the basket the situation totally depends on whether you go off one or two feet. Stopping, collecting, and going off two feet slows you down and severely curtails your jumping ability; the two main strengths of Derricks game. And Howard also needs to stop being such an arrogant oaf with his "man of steel" and "immovable object" comments. Lets face it, you're a huge, coordinated guy with a mediocre offensive skill set and awful free throw shooting. His arrogance disgusts me as well as his dirty play.
Look, Howard fouled Rose. But his arms were straight up in the air, and howard jumped straight up. Rose completely ran into him. Not only that, but Rose elbowed Howard in the neck during the process. Really, if it wasnt for the fact that Howard was standing in the restricted zone then it would no doubt have been an offensive foul on Rose. Take the blinders off and see it for what it is. Rose didnt exactly play it smart. Maybe when he matures more he will learn that when you are as small as he is you cant just run into such a giant and not expect it to hurt. And watch the elbows kid, you dont want to give a guy that big and strong a reason to want to hurt you-since you are clearly easily hurt.
I really don't follow the NBA that closely, are these 2 incidents with Rose and Howard a Coincidence, or does Howard have a history of doing this with other players too? As an example, Rose and Wade are very similar players, has Howard knocked Wade to the floor in the same fashion?
If so then the league should definitely do something about it, the league has shown it has no problems suspending and fining players for doing very little anymore.
Did you actually watch the game to see how Rose took a swipe at Howard's face/neck with his other hand as he was going up for the shot. He actually fouled Howard and intiated the contact himself. I like Rose, but if he was not trying to swipe at Howard then he would have been able to catch himself with more support when he fell instead of putting some much pressure on the his other hand. To your regards about Howard whinning about foul calls, please watch more Orlando Magic games, he is not complaining about the ticjy tac calls if you actually watched more games you would see guys grabbing him around the neck when he goes up for dunks, guys trying to rip arms out of sockets and people taking hard swipes at all parts of the body because they can get away with it as long as it is on a center. Guards in the NBA have it easy little or no contact (when a guard drives and someone is around or if he just runs into a another player like Lebron James does they will get the call) can easily draw a foul. It just kill me when people like you write these type of posts, almost seems as if you got your information secondhand, not actually viewing these things yourself.
First off, I have to ask what an Orlando magic fan is lurking Chicago Newspaper blogs for?
If Howard is as big a tough guy as he likes to run his mouth about all the time, then he shouldn't complain about ANY fouls as far as I'm concerned.
You come on here trying to make a case for 'poor' Dwight Howard, he's getting grabbed around the neck, players are pulling on his arm...So What!! For a guy like Howard that obviously has no problems joking about another player getting injured with his crack about "immovable objects", and a guy that likes to call himself "Superman" all the time and obviously thinks hes the biggest baddest thing around, none of these should be any problem for him.
Orlando players making comments in the press giving Rose "advice", sorry if that comes off somewhat ingenuous considering the source, if you ask me this basically comes off as "smack talk" or threats by some Magic players telling Rose he better not to drive on them again.
"Please watch more Orlando Magic games"??? buddy, you've got to be kidding, seriously! Take a look at where you are! This is not the Orlando Sentinel!
This is the second time this idiot has thrown Rose to the floor. 10 years ago, someone gets in his face, or puts him on the floor. Is Noah the only one with heart on this team? I'm a little disappointed Brad Miller hasn't done something about this.
I always thought the rule of thumb was this: If you think you are going to dunk over a guy, then go one foot. If you think there is going to be contact, go two feet. This would also help Rose gain his balance and be able to 'jump into' guys, make contact, get fouled and still be able to score the basket. Baron Davis used to be really good at that move but I haven't seen him play lately.
I agree with you, keep getting to the rim.