Hostility between Kobe Bryant, Rockets’ Dwight Howard on display

Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard finally exchanged words for all to see during a nationally televised game on TNT, earning a double-technical foul in the process.

If there was any question about how Bryant and Howard felt about each other, it was answered late in Houston’s 108-90 victory over the Lakers on Tuesday night in the teams’ season opener at Staples Center.

It seemed clear from their fourth-quarter trash-talking that Bryant and Howard have a disdain for one another, that the two former Lakers teammates haven’t forgotten about their past differences.

Howard leaped to grab a rebound with 7 minutes 7 seconds left, came down and had Bryant in his face.

Howard swung his elbows, connecting with his left on Bryant’s jaw.

The players stood face to face and talked trash to each other.

Both were called for a technical foul. Howard also was called for a flagrant one foul and Bryant was called for a foul.

After Howard made two free throws and Bryant made one of two, each took a seat on the bench.

Howard had been booed unmercifully all night and it only increased during his altercation with Bryant.

“What do y’all want me to say?” Howard said afterward to reporters asking him about the incident. “I’m going to give y’all nothing. That’s stupid.

“We won the game. It’s over with. There’s no need to go into it. It’s about basketball.”

Howard finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and one blocked shot in 20 minutes, his time limited because of foul trouble.

Bryant finished with 19 points on six-for-17 shooting.

Though Howard was the third Rockets player introduced in the starting lineup, he was booed the loudest. He smirked as he strolled out to greet his teammates, looking as if he couldn’t care less about the fans.

When Howard went out for the jump ball, he and Bryant ignored each other, never touching hands, never looking in the other’s direction.

Bryant did touch hands with Trevor Ariza and James Harden.

The former Lakers teammates parted ways abruptly, and never seemed to be on the same page during the season Bryant and Howard played together.

Howard was booed the first time he touched the basketball, but he still scored on his first attempt.

The fans chanted unpleasantries at him throughout the game, but he didn’t seem to care.

It was the fourth time Howard has played against the Lakers since he bolted from Los Angeles after the 2012-13 season and joined the Rockets during the summer of 2013 as a free agent.

But it was Howard’s first time playing against Bryant since then, because the Lakers guard missed the first three games recovering from a left Achilles’ tendon injury and a fractured left knee.

Follow Broderick Turner on Twitter @BA_Turner