Dwight Howard had a bit of an awkward moment following Thursday’s win against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and TripleThreat’s cameras were there to capture the comedic discussion that ensued.
Howard was asked to rate dunks performed by his Los Angeles Lakers teammate, Kobe Bryant. After making some funny faces, Howard refused to comment and seemed to be biting his tongue.
The relationship between Howard and Bryant has been analyzed ad nauseam, and the Lakers’ star center was doing his best not to respond in any way that would result in more fodder for the papers and blogs.
When the question received no response on the second go-around, another reporter stepped in to ask Howard’s thoughts on Bryant’s ability to attack the basket.
“That’s what he’s supposed to do,” Howard finally opened up. “He’s supposed to attack the basket and score. If he doesn’t attack, he’s not playing the way he normally plays.”
After saying Bryant’s dunks were “simple” one-hand or two-hand dunks that were not dunk contest caliber, Howard was directed to a slightly more light-hearted topic.
“If Chris Duhon dunked, I’d be impressed,” Howard offered.
A reporter stepped forward to ask who was more likely to dunk between Steve Nash and Duhon, and Howard responded that Duhon was the more likely of the two aging point guards. Then, the somewhat strange conversation that was bordering on awkward took a sharp turn to funny.
The reporter asked if Howard would be impressed if Nash dunked.
“I just don’t see Steve [Nash] getting close to the net,” Howard said. “I would laugh if he dunked. I don’t think he could. I think his [vertical leap] is probably like five or six inches.”
Howard kept a straight face throughout, but he was enjoying the mood and the conversation. The nature of the discussion matched Howard’s joking attitude.
That being said, Howard refused to comment on Bryant’s dunks, dismissed them as nothing special, and said Nash was not capable of dunking. If the video was not available above, some may rush to twist this into more than it was—Howard joking around after a Lakers win.
