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Reader question: Please explain “game face” in the following: Dwight Howard will have a big impact if he and Kobe Bryant co-exist in Los Angeles... He needs to have his game face on every night. My comments: So the question is two-fold – whether Dwight and Kobe can co-exist and whether or not Dwight takes the game itself seriously. Second part of the question first. What does it mean when they say that Dwight needs to have his game face on every night? First of all, night rather than day because most NBA games are played during the evening rather than during the day. Now then, what does it mean to put one’s game face on? That means for a player to bring intensity, focus and determination to the game. In other words, they are criticizing Dwight, one of the two superstar centers (the other being Pau Gasol) on the Los Angeles Lakers team, for the casual, fun-loving look on his face, saying he does not look solemn and serious enough. In other words, they’re implying for instance that he does not always care to play hard. Game face, you see, is the facial expression of a player when they compete. You know, when they play, players look tense, grave and serious because they’re focused. Ideally, you’ll see a lot of determination on their face because it takes that to win a competition, especially when the going gets tough, when, say, they fall behind or experience a minor injury. In order to win, they’ve got to be careful, not to make careless mistakes, for example, such as turning the ball over without being put under pressure. | 
