Dwight Howard Finally Plays for the Lakers, They Still Lose and Drop to 0-6

The Los Angeles Lakers are expected to compete for the NBA Title, and a lot of people expect them to win it. Dwight Howard coming to L.A., along with Steve Nash, gives the Lakers one of the most dominating starting fives in the NBA, with Pau Gasol, Metta W. Peace and Kobe Bryant. Howard finally got to play his first preseason game as a Laker last night, and he helped L.A. drop to 0-6 so far in exhibition.

I'm sure there are some Laker fans out there wondering what the hell is going on, but the NBA preseason isn't about winning games. No professional exhibition season is. And if you do win, it doesn't mean anything. The year the Detroit Lions went 0-16 a few seasons ago, they were 4-0 in the preseason. It doesn't mean jack.

The Laker players don't seem too worried about their winless start. According to ESPN.com, Kobe just wants the team and Howard to get used to each other.

"I just wanted to make sure he gets his feet wet," Bryant said. "There's been a lot of expectations placed upon him and upon us to live up to the hype and I didn't want him to feel nervous."

Howard's back seemed just fine according to reports (unless you have Time Warner cable in L.A., you can't see Laker games yet, that's another story) and he even hit the floor and bounced right back up. Howard said he had no issues.

"I didn't really feel anything," Howard said. "I'm going to have some tough falls because I play hard and like to try to block all those shots. But, it was cool. I don't feel anything."

Now L.A. fans just want Dwight and the Lakers to feel what it's like to get a win, but if that doesn't happen until the regular season starts, nobody will really mind.