I saw a post on another board that the Magic are a "paper tiger" because they can't win if Dwight gets in foul trouble. Since Dwight is our main superstar player, I was curious to see how his stats compared in wins versus losses. Obviously, there's going to be an issue with small sample size, but we should at least be able to see if there's a radical difference.

In wins, Dwight averages 34.95 minutes. In losses, his average is "only" 33.86, but that's dragged down by the 17 minute performance against Detroit. If you take out that one game, he averages 36.67 minutes per loss.

Raw numbers:

In wins: 34.95 minutes, 0.95 steals, 2.75 blocks, 3.20 turnovers, 3.40 fouls, 4.15 offensive rebounds, 9.60 defensive rebounds, 13.75 total rebounds, 1.75 assists, 19.35 points

In losses: 33.86 minutes, 1.14 steals, 1.14 blocks, 3.43 turnovers, 4.43 fouls, 2.86 offensive rebounds, 8.14 defensive rebounds, 11.00 total rebounds, 0.57 assists, 13.71 points

Since the minutes aren't the same, the numbers need to be adjusted. I chose a per-36-minutes basis, since it's close to what Dwight actually plays.

In wins / losses (per 36 minutes):

18.79 / 12.90 points

4.03 / 2.69 offensive rebounds

9.32 / 7.66 defensive rebounds

1.70 / 0.54 assists

3.11 / 3.22 turnovers

3.30 / 4.16 fouls

2.67 / 1.07 blocks

0.92 / 1.07 steals

This is interesting, because there's not a massive change in a lot of stats. His playing time doesn't change that much. His points and offensive rebounds both drop by about 1/3. His defensive rebounds decline by 20%, his assist rate drops by 2/3(!), and his block rate goes down about 60%. Keeping Dwight off the offensive boards would seem to be the biggest factor in limiting Howard.