"The spotlight in Monday night's first dress rehearsal was on the Orlando Magic's new faces such as Mickael Pietrus. Dwight Howard, however, just can't help overshadowing his teammates.

Howard reminded everyone why he's an all-star, even in the Magic's 118-101 preseason loss to the Atlanta Hawks at Amway Arena.

He looked in postseason form, recording eight blocks and taking seriously his training-camp vow to lead the NBA in rejections.

While fans expect such feats from Howard (17 points and five rebounds), they likely were curious at what Pietrus would bring -- and it didn't take him long to impress in his debut.

Try 57 seconds.

Pietrus, acquired as a free agent to fill the starting shooting-guard spot, converted on a strong drive on his first attempt.

He then drew a charge and drilled a long jumper, and finish with nine points and just two rebounds.

"Everything is brand new to me here," Pietrus said. "Even in the game, I was trying to figure it out."

Brought in to defend, Pietrus looked "confused" at times, according to Coach Stan Van Gundy.

But then Van Gundy thought his whole defense looked lost in the Hawks' 45-point third quarter and added that many of Howard's blocks came after teammates allowed their men to reach the basket.

It was the guard whom Pietrus replaced in Orlando -- Maurice Evans (17 points) of the Hawks -- who had the statistically better evening."