by Charley Rosen

Comment

Forget everything that's been said to the contrary: After Dwight Howard manhandled both Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao in last season's Eastern Conference finals, Superman I was signed by Cleveland for one specific purpose — to control Superman II.

Here's how their initial super-duper confrontation on Wednesday night turned out.

Since the season began, Howard's play has lacked the high intensity that he demonstrated all of last year. In the game at hand, he became even more passive after picking up two early fouls while trying to defend Shaquille O'Neal in the low post.

The first foul was marginal, a quick, jabbing two-handed push as Shaq drove. But the second foul — at 9:42 — was simply a horrible call. As Shaq executed a power-spin to the baseline, his feet got tangled and he stumbled while putting up an awkward shot that clanged off the backboard. Yet even though Howard was essentially an innocent bystander, he was tagged with the foul and forced to the bench.

Late in the third quarter, though, after letting LeBron James get away with an obvious charge, the refs overlooked Howard's blatantly shoving Ilgauskas out of bounds and instead, called a phantom foul on Big Z. The righteous decision would have been to pin a fourth foul on Howard, but the refs chose to make a belated make-up call.

Despite finally getting a break from the three blind mice and except for setting several outstanding screens and making a pair of exquisite defensive plays — sealing the baseline against a driving J.J. Hickson and blocking a layup attempt by LeBron — Howard was mostly lethargic during his 32 minutes of daylight.

The reigning Defensive Player of the Year was also late on several defensive rotations, bit on a crude head-fake by Varejao 18 feet from the hoop and repeatedly had difficulty boxing Ilgauskas off the defensive glass.

Shaq saddled Dwight Howard with two early fouls. (John Raoux / Associated Press)

In his direct head-to-head confrontations with Shaq, Howard ...

Turned, faced and drove around Shaq and was fouled in the act by Hickson.

Dribbled hard into the middle with his right hand, then made a quick spin move and deftly dropped a lefty jump hook.

Turned, faced, and drove past Shaq, drawing a foul on Superman I.

Beat Shaq to a pair of offensive rebounds and was fouled on both put-backs.

Was double-teamed twice, and both times made quick-out passes that gained no advantage.

For the game, Howard shot 3-for-3 and tallied 10 (of his total of 11) points against Shaq.

While he was defended by either Illguaskas or Anderson, Howard was quickly doubled on every touch — throwing seven neutral out-passes, getting fouled twice and making two turnovers on passes. In other words, when he wasn't being guarded by Shaq, Howard was an absolute non-factor on offense.

After Howard picked up his second foul, he didn't defend Shaq until late in the game — but Superman I always guarded Superman II.

Operating in the pivot against Howard, here's how Shaq fared:

Got fouled twice by Howard while shooting.

Made a power move into the middle of the lane and tried to trick Howard with a head-fake. But Howard held his ground, and Shaq missed a 7-foot jump-hook.

Charley's NBA tour

For the first half of the season, Charley Rosen will closely watch all 30 teams and provide a comprehensive scouting report for each.

• San Antonio Spurs
• Phoenix Suns
• New Orleans Hornets
• Toronto Raptors
• Philadelphia 76ers
• Sacramento Kings
• Oklahoma City Thunder
• Atlanta Hawks
• Golden State Warriors
• Charlotte Bobcats
• Memphis Grizzlies

Tried again to overpower Howard from the right box, but the younger man thwarted the move by tipping the ball out-of-bounds.

Beat Howard for a layup on a screen-and-roll when the Cavs already had the game won late in the last quarter.

Completed a nifty behind-the-back assist pass to a cutting LeBron.

Overall, Shaq was 1-for-2 and scored four points in direct confrontations with Howard.

What else did Shaq do?

Scored three hard-working power hooks against Marcin Gortat.

Blocked two shots when the Magic's guards drove the ball right at him.

Was otherwise woefully statuesque on defense.

Neither man played particularly well, but in their mano-a-mano oppositions, Howard clearly had the upper hand. Yet if Howard won the personal battle, Shaq's team won the war.

However, instead of a rousing battle between two superheroes, both Howard and Shaq provided convincing impersonations of Clark Kent.

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