The Houston Rockets lost to the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night by a score of 109-97. The Rockets did not shoot the ball particularly well in the game and are now just 1.5 games ahead of the Utah Jazz for one of the final spots in the Western Conference playoffs. The story coming out of the game was not the fact that the Rockets lost but it had to do with Dwight Howard.
Howard shot poorly in the game (2-7 from the field) but he did grab 17 rebounds in his 35 minutes on the floor. The talk after the game though, had nothing to do with Howard's play, it instead had to do with what he sprayed on his hands during the game. That happened to be Stickum which, to Howard's surprise, is illegal in the NBA.
At one point during the game Hawks forward Paul Millsap went to go shoot a free throw but the ball didn't feel right. There was clearly some sort of foreign substance on it after Howard touched the ball and Millsap asked for the ball to be taken out of play which it was.
"I've never felt the ball like that ever," Millsap said. "It was sticky. It was like super glue or something was on there. I couldn't get it off my hands. It was the weirdest thing ever."
After the incident the officials warned both benches about the foreign substance. When they went over to the Rockets bench interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff was seen blocking a can that had the label covered all in white. That can was seemingly what Howard was using and it was then removed from the scorers table. After the game the officials requested the can but the Rockets reportedly failed to produce it. The game ball in question however, was submitted to the NBA for review.
Neither Howard nor the Rockets were penalized during the game for the Stickum but the NBA is reviewing the incident. It is a reasonable possibility that he faces either a fine or a suspension but Howard is not worried about it as he says using Stickum is a common occurence for him.
"I don't know why people are making a big deal out of it," Howard said. "I do it every game. It's not a big deal. I ain't tripping."
Howard has been the topic of a lot of conversation this season but that has mostly centered around him possibly being traded. This will likely be Howard's last season in Houston as he will be a free agent this summer but this is just another thing to add to the list of incidents involving him in his NBA career.
