DWIGHT DOMINATES IN MILWAUKEE

In Dwight Howard’s one-man demolition of the undersized Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night it was difficult to tell what was the most jaw-dropping highlight.

Was it the back-to-back sequence where Dwight deftly passed out of a double team for a J.J. Redick 3-pointer and then swatted a Ramon Sessions shot out of bounds?

Or was it the spinning alley-oop dunk that Dwight hammered home between the flailing arms of Milwaukee’s Dan Gadzuric and Joe Alexander?

Or could it have been that time when Dwight came across the lane and planted Charlie Bell’s floating jump shot in someone’s popcorn in the fifth row?

Add it all up and what you had from Dwight was a 28-point, 12-rebound, seven-assist, two-block performance that made the Magic 106-80 winners and Milwaukee all bloodied and battered from Howard’s domination.

It was a dramatic difference than what happened a night earlier in Cleveland when the Magic inexplicably went away from Dwight with the game on the line. In the loss to Cleveland and LeBron James, Dwight got just eight shots and just one field goal attempt after halftime. Predictably, the Magic struggled to finish that game.

But on Wednesday he had eight field goals attempts and nine free throws by the end of the first quarter. The result was Dwight scoring 18 of the Magic’s first 36 points, including a stretch of 14 of their 16 points.

A true sign of Dwight’s growth as a player has been his willingness and effectiveness passing out of double teams. For the second time in four games, Dwight had seven assists, a career-high=2 0total for him. On Wednesday, he hit Courtney Lee for a dunk, Rafer Alston for a layup and shooters for wide-open 3-pointers.

``It’s easy to go to Dwight when he’s being so effective,’’ said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, who was critical of himself for not calling Dwight’s number more in the loss in Cleveland. ``It’s easy to play through him when he’s playing with that kind of patience and throwing the ball out, too.’’

Milwaukee used Francisco Elson, Gadzuric and Malik Allen on Howard and none of them were able to slow him down. Elson tangled with Dwight early, and that only seemed to motivate the three-time all-star even more to deliver a dominating performance.

Elton was pulled early in the game after Dwight caught a lob dunk over him and Gadzuric didn’t fare much better. On back-to-back possessions, Dwight sealed Gadzurcic under the rim for a three-point play and then on the next possession outran him down the floor on a fatbreak for another dunk and a free throw.

Dwight started the second half with that over-the-shoulder assist to Lee for a dunk and by the end of the third period he sent Bell’s shot deep into the crowd with an awe-inspiring swat.

Dwight could hide his delight with the play, flashing a smile that stretched from ear to ear.

Former Magic player Keith Bogans, who was traded to Milwaukee last month for Tyronn Lue, recognized Dwight’s joy and knew the Bucks were in for a long night with the game’s best center at his dominating best.

Noted Bogans, who playfully locked arms with Dwight late in the game on a rebound: ``If Dwight’s getting easy baskets, catching lob dunks, making three-point plays, it’s pretty much over with him. He’s already hard to stop.’’