LOS ANGELES - Dwight Howard is known as a happy-go-lucky guy around the Orlando Magic locker room but the NBA's defensive player of the year showed he has a sensitive side as well.

Asked about negative comments directed at him over the years by Shaquille O'Neal, Howard admitted that it causes some emotional pain.

"I can't tell you why he's said a lot of discouraging things," Howard said of O'Neal. "I wish he wouldn't say it because he's one of the few guys we all look up to.

"But you can't control what he says. I'm playing in the finals right now so my focus is not on what Shaq says or anybody else. It is getting my team a trophy."

The last thing Howard wanted in the NBA finals was to give his critics more fuel after having an off night in game one.

Howard came into the opening game of the best-of-seven series averaging 21.7 points per game in the post-season but finished with just 12 points in the Magic's 100-75 blowout loss to the Lakers.

Howard says he will be more focused and driven for Sunday's game two at Staples Center.

"In game one I wasn't patient enough in the post," Howard said during Friday's practice at the Lakers training facility in El Segundo.

"I have to slow down. When I have the ball in the post I have to do a better job of reading where help is coming from."

Howard made just one of six shots in his first finals game after scoring 40 in the semi-final series clinching win over Cleveland.

Howard missed two layups and had no dunks and the search for reasons why he came up flat event prompted a question about the white sleeve he wore on his left arm in game one.

"Man I just wear the sleeve because I like how it looks," Howard said. "I started wearing it in practice it felt good one day and I though 'Man, I should wear this in the game.' It might make my shot look better."

Howard believes he has a lot more to learn and has just scratched the surface of his potential as a professional basketball player.

"There are a lot of things I can improve on," he said. "Mentally I need to stay focused for 48 minutes. At times I might miss a box out or two.

"When I say I am at 20 percent of (my potential) I am saying I have a long way to go. I can't think I have reached my prime or even begun to be myself on the floor.

"Once I get my confidence my game will get better."

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said they will make changes to their game plan Sunday but he expects everyone to play better and not just Howard.

"I am not pointing fingers," Van Gundy said. "We didn't play at a high enough intensity level.

"We have got to be careful not to make wholesale changes. We just have got to compete at a much higher level."

Van Gundy said he was mystified as to why his players showed a lack of intensity in the first game of the NBA finals.

"All I can tell you is that it happens," Van Gundy said. "I thought we came ready to play for the first 18-20 minutes.

And we played pretty well."

Orlando is going to have to find a way to stop Lakers star Kobe Bryant who scored 40 points, the most he has ever scored in a finals game.

Ask after the Lakers practice on Saturday how much longer he expects to play, Bryant said, "I don't know. I love the game so much still and my body feels great.

"I feel like I am a much better player than I was last year."