Kobe Bryant calls Dwight Howard a ‘teddy bear’
An elbow from Dwight Howard to Kobe Bryant brought back old memories, but the Rockets and Lakers are going very different directions.
Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
It wouldn't be a meeting between the Lakers and Rockets without recounting the past. The night cap of the NBA's opening night went handily in Houston's favor, and while the sting of Julius Randle's broken leg marred the 108-90 Rockets victory, it was a Dwight Howard elbow to Kobe Bryant that expectedly brought old feelings to the surface.
This isn't pure hatred between the two, just another reminder that Kobe has his own set of values that Howard doesn't fit into those. After the game, Bryant was all for speaking about the encounter with his formal teammate, according to the Houston Chronicle's Jenny Dial Creech.
“You can’t help but like him, he’s a teddy bear,” Bryant said. “I really mean that. He is a really nice kid. But you know me. When you’re competing and you have a goal in mind, I know one way to get there and there’s certain times you don’t see eye to eye. That wasn’t one of those situations. He elbowed me in the face, you know I am going to let him know I don’t like that. It’s that simple.”
Bryant, probably the NBA’s most uncensored player these days, said he thought the exchange was “fantastic.”
“Elbows are part of the game,” he added. “Trash talk is part of the game. I don’t know where the NBA became so sensitive. It’s all part of it.”
It’s been a full season since Howard decided to leave Los Angeles as a free agent, but the old feelings between the former Laker and Bryant look like they remain. While Bryant took on questions about Howard’s elbows, the Houston big man remained silent on the brief back-and-forth. Even after prodding from the media, he wouldn’t open up.
“What do you want me to say because I’m not going to give you nothing,” Howard said. “That’s stupid. We won the game. It’s over with.”
The two very different reactions came from two very different personalities. They also likely represent where these two teams are headed. The underdog Lakers stumbled as expected, and dust-ups like the one Bryant induced on opening night might be part of a desperate act to keep them -- and him -- fighting to overcome all the challenges of an underdog.
There was little reason for the Rockets or Howard to say much about the play at all. The Rockets have bigger goals. There’s no point for Howard to dwell on the past.
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