The Los Angeles Lakers open the 2014-’15 NBA regular season Tuesday night at home in matchup with Dwight Howard’s Houston Rockets.
While Kobe Bryant steered away from the implications of the game against his former teammate and nemesis, Lakers head coach Byron Scott didn’t mind sharing his opinion on the Dwightmare in LA.
Like many other observers, Scott thinks Howard’s playful goofiness drove a permanent wedge between the big fella and Kobe during their lone, doomed season together.
Per the LA Daily News:
“I don’t know what Dwight’s motivation is,” Scott said. “But if I’m guessing, I’m sure he would love to play and beat the crap out of us and have a great game.”
“My outside perspective is Kobe is a real serious guy and wants to win championships,” Scott said. “I don’t know if Dwight is that serious about it. I know No. 24 is and that probably was the clash.”
Bryant acknowledged the “tension” he and Howard had. But Bryant hardly sounded interested in going down memory lane. So much that he dismissed any notion that this game meant something more because of Howard’s presence. […] “Why would it?” Bryant said, rhetorically.
