Dwight Howard sang Beyonce songs to help with free throws

"I been sippin, that's the only thing that's keeping me on fire, me on fire ..."

Now drinking alcohol at the charity stripe wouldn't be an appropriate means towards improving one's shooting, but for Atlanta Hawks center Dwight Howard, singing Beyonce songs at the free-throw line was enough to keep the eight-time All-Star on fire.

"I used to sing Beyonce songs, that was my thing," Howard told ESPN's Tom Haberstroh. "I told her about it when I saw her. I said, 'When I sing your song, I make my free throws.' She seemed to like that."

During his run with the Orlando Magic early in his career, Howard worked with a sports psychologist - who at one time worked with professional golfer Tiger Woods - to help him deal with his anxiety at the line. Singing songs was one of the strategies he utilized to improve on one of the weaker facets of his game.

Because of his glaring deficiency, the "Hack-a-Shaq" blueprint has been implemented several times when Howard is on the floor to force him to connect on his freebies, which is easier said than done for a career 56.8 percent shooter.

"Because of all the attention to it, our flaw has been magnified to the whole world," Howard said. "I've got little kids at basketball camps telling me, 'My dad says you suck at free throws.' Other players have flaws, but they aren't getting magnified the way the free throws are."

The 30-year-old big man has only finished with a free-throw percentage over 60 percent once in 12 years, and that was during his rookie campaign. Last season with the Houston Rockets, he bottomed out at a career-low 48.9 percent.