Magic center Dwight Howard claims that he is ready to go for the U.S. Olympic team after being held out of practice last month with a stress fracture to his sternum, according NBA.com.

He suffered the injury during Orlando's second round series with Detroit.

"I tried to play as much as I could through the pain in the playoffs," he said. "I really didn't know anything about it until after the playoffs, that I injured it."

He appears very focused on the Olympic games.

"Winning the world championship for the USA team is for everybody in America," Howard said. "It's not just you taking it back home and saying, 'I got a gold medal.' It's 'We got a gold medal.' We all did it together."