http://espn.go.com/l...ws-keep-pushing
OKLAHOMA CITY -- As difficult as this season has been for the Lakers with Dwight Howard in the lineup, imagine where Los Angeles would be without him for the first 60 games.
"Looking back on it, I could have sat out the whole season until now and started playing now," Howard said after Tuesday's shootaround in advance of the Lakers' game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. "But I just felt like we had such a great opportunity, and some of these guys' window for winning is very small.
"I just wanted to get back and try to do whatever I can do to help this team, knowing that I was not in great shape. My body wasn't all the way there yet, but I just wanted to do whatever I can to help this team win."
Howard has been hampered due to his surgically repaired back and a torn labrum in his right shoulder, an injury that has forced him to miss six games. The All-Star center is averaging 16.1 points [his lowest scoring output since his second year in the NBA] and 12.0 rebounds [his lowest since his rookie campaign] this season.
Howard recently admitted that his poor conditioning stemming from his back issues "cost [the Lakers] a lot of games" this season, but said he has come to grips with whatever criticism he's received for his play this season.
"Sometimes I have gotten beat up for it, but that's fine," Howard said. "I'll take all those hits and keep moving. I've been doing whatever I can to get back into the shape that I've always been.
"It takes awhile. People watch games and they see me playing, so they think it's all good. But it's just a time thing. I just got to keep going, keep pushing myself and it will get better."
Howard said he's thought about what would have happened if he sat out to start the season "plenty of times," but has pushed those thoughts out of his head as the Lakers find themselves in the thick of the playoff hunt, just two games behind the Utah Jazz for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference.
"I don't want to be thinking so much about what I should have done or what if I would have waited until this time or that time," Howard said. "I just know that the harder I push myself every day to get better every day, to get in better shape, my body will respond. Then, this summer after the season, I'll get an opportunity to really train and get my body right."
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