ORLANDO, Fla. -- At face value, Dwight Howard and Rasheed Wallace would seem to have very little in common.

Each predominantly plays center and has anchored a team in the NBA Finals. If you want to dig deep, both were honored by national publications as the best players in their high school class -- 11 years apart.

With Wallace joining the Boston Celtics in the offseason, it's likely that the two will become intimately acquainted again come May and June, but by then, the two could be so synonymous with one another that it might be difficult to mention one without the other coming to mind.

No, Otis Smith and Danny Ainge have no plans of coming together on some blockbuster trade. Instead, the tie that binds is a far different unifying force.

Think technical fouls. Lots and lots of them. So many, in fact, that the sheer number seems hard to fathom.

Although it's far-fetched to think Howard won't rein in his emotions soon, continuing to pick up technical fouls at his current pace would cause Howard to sacrifice 18 games this season due to suspensions. Wallace holds the NBA single-season record for technical fouls, acquiring 41 in 2000-01 while with Portland, a rate of at least one every two games.

While that seems like an unbreakable mark, one that can only be reached if Ron Artest and Wallace somehow got together to create one disgruntled headband-wearing love child, the fact Howard is on pace to surpass it should send up red flags. For one, you certainly wouldn't expect the gentle giant, considered one of the NBA's top ambassadors, to be associated with such a dubious distinction.

It's also hard to believe that Howard would be so taken aback by what he believes to be unfair treatment from the officials that he took time to blog about it on his web site. This is on the heels of seeing his head coach, Stan Van Gundy, rack up a $35,000 fine during the preseason for criticizing the replacement refs over their ineptitude officiating Howard.

On Wednesday, for the second time in less than 24 hours, Howard felt he was being picked on by the refs. So, after being whistled for the third time in just over 12 minutes of action in Orlando's eventual 122-100 win over previously unbeaten Phoenix, Howard turned around, voiced his displeasure, and was promptly T'd up.

"For me, I just get frustrated, and I think when I'm frustrated that the refs feed off that and they know that I can lose my cool and other teams know that also," Howard said late Wednesday night. "The thing (GM) Otis (Smith) told me at halftime was 'don't let them frustrate you.' They're going to foul you and do whatever they can to get you frustrated. You have to just play through it."

Howard has now picked up three technicals through just five games this season. At the rate he's picking them up, Howard is on pace for a league record of 49 and would reach the point where the NBA begins penalizing offenders with one-game suspensions a full week before Christmas.

The NBA issues a $1,000 fine for each of the first five technical fouls a player is whistled for, ups the ante to $1,500 for fouls Nos. 6-10, and penalizes $2,000 for the 11-15 level. Upon your 16th techinical foul, affectionately referred to as 'Sheed territory, a one-game suspension and $2,500 fine follows, with every subsequent technical receiving the same monetary penalty and every second T drawing another one-game suspension.

“It’s not a concern," Howard said when asked about the mounting tech total. "I mean, I get a tech, I can’t do nothing about it. It’s going for a good cause."

The league reportedly donates collected fines to charity, so Howard might be able to sleep better at night that some good is coming out of him repeatedly catching wrist-slap. Unfortunately, at this rate, he'll rack up over $100,000 in fines, enough to build him a wing next to Wallace, Mark Cuban and Dennis Rodman in the bad boy/good samaritan Hall of Fame. 

"Dwight knows how the game is called," said Van Gundy, who is seemingly always going to bat for his star center over the lack of calls he gets. "He's got to handle it better. When they tie him up, you can't throw the guy off. We cannot afford to have those kind of fouls. He's a great player and we need him on the floor. It's a concern in a lot of ways. Obviously, down the road, it can lead to a suspension. He's got to handle it better."

Howard is very similar to San Antonio's Tim Duncan in how he interacts with the refs, always asking for calls, often incredulous at how he's officiated. When you see him shaking his head while wearing a big grin, Howard is likely trying to mask the level of frustration he says he feels when opponents are allowed to get away with roughing him up simply because he's bigger and stronger than everyone else.

There's no subject that gets Howard more riled up than the discrepancies between how bigs are officiated as opposed to wings and guards, but he does a good job of holding his tongue and avoiding the fines that would be associated with bad-mouthing officials to the media.

If he can exercise similar self-control when dealing with officials in the heat of the moment, he'll have won half the battle. There are steps Howard could be taking to avoid persistent foul trouble, starting with deciphering how to keep his elbow from rising up above neck level when backing down oppoents, as he seems to draw at least one of those offensive fouls per game.

"You can probably avoid half of the fouls he's getting without doing any less or taking away from what he does. He's a smart guy so I know he's capable of making adjustments and we'll just have to work on some things," Van Gundy said. "My thing has always been, and I've said it to the league and the referees and everybody else. I just think there are two different standards. There's a standard for big guys and a standard for perimeter guys. I had a referee very recently, very candidly tell me that because of the strength of the bigger guys, they let them play more, so they can push and grab and everything else. I think there's a double standard with the way they call it."

There's no question that NBA referees have always had issues with officiating larger players. You can probably go back to the George Mikan era for that beef. Everyone from Manute Bol to Shaquille O'Neal has felt like a victim, with the mechanical Greg Oden being the latest who seems to be too big for his own good.

Contact is a given down in the paint, and calls are usually so fickle that you don't know what to expect from a game-to-game basis to even begin to get comfortable. Everyone deals with it.

In 2007, Amar'e Stoudemire was going through much of what Howard has experienced of late, but you didn't see him blogging about it or sending out tweets criticizing the refs, as Cuban did recently. Stoudemire was second to Wallace in technical fouls that season, but has made it a point to have a cooler head about it. Stoudemire witnessed Howard's frustration first-hand and can relate, but at the same time, understands there's a better way.

"I tell you what, man, me personally, I'm a passionate player, So a lot of times, something don't go right and my reaction is passionate without thinking. That may be what Dwight is going through now," said Stoudemire. "I think just over time, learning the game and being more patient out there, understanding the game and taking your time on the court, you have a tendency to tone your passion down a tad bit. I think, just a few more times, a few more warnings from the (NBA) front office will calm him down there.

"I just made an effort myself to really cut back on it because I didn't want to get a reputation of this of control player. That's not me. I'm a passionate player, but I'm very under control and I love to play the game the right way as opposed to being known as an aggressive, out of control guy.

"That, and the fines. The fine money definitely piles up. You don't want to be giving anything back."

Howard apparently hasn't reached that breaking point yet, but Orlando is going to be better off when he does. His outbursts have the potential to become a distraction, potentially costing the Magic wins due to unnecessary absences.

During the 2009 playoffs, Howard racked up six technicals, one short of a mandatory one-game suspension that he avoided because one of the T's was rightfully rescinded. All of the fouls were whistled because he lost his cool over being hit much harder than he was allowed to reciprocate.

Double standard? Sure.

Tough break? Absolutely.

But there's little that can be done except to play through it. Allowing refs and opponents to see you all hot and bothered is no way for an All-NBA First Team center to behave. It's a shame that he doesn't get the respect and proper officiating he deserves, but he's not the first dominant player in league history that this has happened to.

It's time for Howard to heed Stoudemire's advice and concentrate on the parts of the game he can control. All the complaining is weighing him down, wearing on his focus and earning him no favors from the league's zebras. Unless he wants to ruin his near-perfect image by coming off as spoiled and whiny, he'll drop the victim act and concentrate on simply playing basketball.

Not only is it the smarter alternative, it's far cheaper, too.

Tony Mejia is publisher and senior writer of Pro Basketball News. He can be reached at mejia@probasketballnews.com.