Poor Dwight Howard. He has one of the most incredible first halves in NBA Playoff history (31 points!) against the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1, but the rest of the Orlando Magic do nothing and they end up trailing at halftime. He goes to the free throw line 22 times and hits 14 of them, but the rest of the team makes only 8 traditional trips and Orlando's free throw advantage was minimal. Other than Howard and a great third quarter from Jameer Nelson, the Hawks held the rest of the Magic down and were well-balanced on offense.
Superman's performance of 46 points/19 boards puts him on an incredible list for playoff performances. It includes Dwight Howard's performance from yesterday, and that's that. That's the entire list. No, Howard didn't have the perfect game (8 turnovers and an iffy technical foul), but it's hard to ask him to do much more and get so little from the rest of his teammates. If you just want 45+ point losing performances in recent memory, enter the Bonzi Wells zone.
Oh well. At least he'll inspire the poetic Etan Thomas to write a few sonnets after he obliterated him with a monster block.
(via FunkyAxl11)
For more on the Hawks, head over to Peachtree Hoops. For more on the Magic, check out Orlando Pinstriped Post.
(HT Matt Moore for the background on NBA historical performances.)