"Dwight Howard dedicated several days of his summer vacation to working with Hakeem Olajuwon. More than anything else, Olajuwon stressed that Howard needs to be fearless and try new things on the court. Howard apparently learned that lesson well. On Tuesday night, the superstar center confidently unveiled a more diversified offensive attack and, in the process, he tormented the team Olajuwon once carried to greatness. Hardly anyone will care months from now that the Orlando Magic defeated the Houston Rockets 97-88 in the preseason opener for both teams. But maybe, just maybe, the exhibition in this southern Texas border city will be remembered as the night Howard's repertoire showed true growth. "I'm just playing and working on my game," Howard said afterward. "If I hit shots, I hit a shot. But I'm not really focused on that. My job is help my teammates get better and help us get better. We've got a long season." Howard finished with 19 points and made nine of his 14 shot attempts. In the first quarter, he sank a pair of midrange jumpers, banking the ball softly off the glass. He also dribbled past immobile and rusty Yao Ming, deking right and driving left to complete an acrobatic reverse layup that brought Magic bench players to their feet. "I thought Dwight was terrific all night," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "He hit those two face-up bank shots. He put the ball on the floor. He was real good. I thought our post game in general was very good." But the Magic took other positives — and a few negatives — back to Central Florida. Small forward Quentin Richardson, making his Magic debut, contributed little offensively, scoring just four points, but he grabbed seven rebounds." Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-magic-rockets-1006-20101005,0,7174296.story
