ORLANDO, Fla. — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar doesn't see much future for Dwight Howard in all those rim-rocking dunks and power moves from the Orlando Magic center.

The NBA's career scoring leader would like to see Howard not rely so much on his size and athleticism and make himself a player his team can turn to when it counts. Maybe even throw in a skyhook or two.

"He's still offensively kind of raw," Abdul-Jabbar said yesterday. "He doesn't have a go-to move yet. Right now, he's kind of predictable."

The NBA finals have shown that Howard has a long way to go to be the dominant offensive center the Lakers' Hall of Famer was. The Magic trail Los Angeles 2-1, with Game 4 tonight.

So far, Howard's Superman act has mostly been grounded.

"Kareem is right, and he understands that in order to be a good player you have to add different things to your game," Howard said. "I've tried to do the skyhook just like him, but he had more range and more touch. He was shooting skyhooks from the 3-point line, and I'm still working on it from the paint, so I've got a long way to go."

The Lakers have tested the 23-year-old Howard's skills perhaps more than any team in the playoffs and exposed Howard's still developing fundamentals. They've harassed him with double-teams, surrounded him with 7-footers and shrunk his passing lanes.

The constant different looks have eased the pressure on the Lakers' frontcourt.

"So far, it hasn't been all that bad," Lakers forward Pau Gasol said about guarding Howard.

The Magic big man has averaged 16.6 points per game in the series, made just 11 shots from the field and even fewer dunks. That's down from his 20.9 points in the regular season.

If not for Orlando's shooting a finals record 62.5 percent from the field in its Game 3 win, the pressure would have elevated even more on Howard, who jumped straight from his Atlanta high school to the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA.

"Dwight is kind of limited offensively," Jabbar said. "He does great right under the basket, you force him to do other things, he doesn't have an answer for it yet. But I think that's his challenge."

NBA FINALS

L.A. LAKERS VS. ORLANDO MAGIC

All Hawai'i Times

(Best-of-7)

L.A. leads series, 2-1

Today: L.A. Lakers at Orlando, 3 p.m.

x-Sunday: L.A. Lakers at Orlando 2 p.m.

x-June 16: Orlando at L.A. Lakers, 3 p.m.

x-June 18: Orlando at L.A. Lakers, 3 p.m.

x-if necessary