Atlanta Hawks new signing Dwight Howard had no love from home team fans during the 109-92 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday at Staples Center.
It didn't take long for the boos to come yet again, despite having been three years since he played there. Fans ruthleslly booed at his introduction, at every rebound he grabbed and clapped and cheered for every turnover or field goal he missed.
When asked if he heard the boos, the big man played it nonchalant.
“No I didn’t,” Howard told Jesse Dougherty of the Los Angeles Times shaking his head.
Really? “No,” he said as his teammates came out of the visitors’ locker room. “I closed my ears.”
The big man infamously spent the 2012-13 season in L.A. in what was largely considered as the start of the decline of his career as a dominant presence on the block. Howard's numbers of 17.1 points, 12.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks were helping the team, but his complete frustration with the way the team was ran and his rocky relationship with adored franchise player Kobe Bryant made his stay in the City of Angels a short one.
Howard's current head coach said a little bit more than his All-Star center cared to share.
“Sure, you hear the crowd, you hear when they are going well, when things are going well,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. “So it’s not like I don’t have the ability to hear, but I don’t think a whole lot about it.”
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