Dwight Howard avoids all talk about the Lakers

HOUSTON — Time and time again, Dwight Howard rolled his eyes and hardly sounded thrilled answering questions about the Lakers.

But they never stopped.

With the Lakers (2-3) playing the Houston Rockets (4-1) here tonight at Toyota Center, most of the questions centered on Howard’s first meeting since leaving the purple and gold this summer.

How often do you think about your lone season with the Lakers?

“Every day,” Howard said sarcastically. “All the time. Every day.”

Is it true you and Kobe Bryant didn’t get along?

“There’s no need to talk about it,” Howard said.

How motivated does he feel to play against his former team?

“Just go out there and play,” Howard said. “That’s it. It’s another game. Go out there, have fun and get a win.”

What does he make of the general public and the media thinking otherwise?

“I don’t know what’s being said,” Howard said. “I don’t pay attention to it. We have a job to do as a team and we’re going to get it.”

What was the thought process behind his free agency?

“What happened happened,” Howard said. “It’s over with. I want to discuss our team now and what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Rarely did that happen, though. Instead, talk centered on Howard going up against his former team. Howard repeatedly told reporters he respected the line of questioning. But his annoyed expressions suggested otherwise.

Even if he didn’t like talking about the Lakers, Howard still visited with members of the team’s training staff following morning shootaround. The Lakers began their session after the Rockets. But Howard hardly showed interest in revisiting his time with the Lakers. Instead, he wanted to concentrate on the positive.

The Rockets are 4-1. Howard has averaged 17.6 points on 55.6 percent shooting and a league-leading 14.6 rebounds per game. More importantly, Howard remains in a stronger frame of mind.

“I’m just happy we’re winning and we’re continuing to get better every day,” Howard said. “I don’t think we’ve played our best brand of basketball. But so far, we’ve done some pretty good things. We’ve had some pretty good moments. We have to be able to sustain that for four quarters. We’ve been doing that for two or three quarters. For us to put a complete game together and do it on a consistent basis is something we’re trying to do right now.”

“Everybody has been great. I really appreciate my time here so far. The fans have been great. The organization has been amazing. My teamamtes have been unbelievable. I’m having a great time.”

Except answering questions about the Lakers of course.

Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter. E-mail him at mark.medina@dailynews.com