ALL BALL NERVE CENTER — Whenever Dwight Howard is involved with anything, the subject often becomes what he can’t do rather than what he can. Last season, for instance, even with all the criticism Howard and the Lakers endured, he still led the NBA with 12.4 rebounds per game. He also averaged 17.1 ppg while shooting more than 57 percent from the floor. But Dwight’s free throw shooting has long bedeviled even his most ardent admirers. Last season he shot 49.2 percent from the line, below his already low career average of 57.7 percent.

At some point last season, Howard agreed to a free throw shooting contest against Kelly Nielsen, the daughter of Los Angeles Times columnist TJ Simers. So Nielsen, a housewife and mother of three who lives in Arizona, recently flew into Los Angeles for the shooting spectacle. Simers took the opportunity to grill Howard on his shooting and his future, then turned Howard loose on the line. Howard volunteered to shoot lefty, and with $5,000 going to charity, everyone seemed to have a good time.

Dwight, however, probably wishes this had turned out a little differently …
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(video via B/R)