This week stunk, so here’s Josh Howard getting dinged in the nuts

Back in the dark days of the NBA lockout about six years ago, there was absolutely nothing to do.

We were all still hungover (or more accurately, still drunk) off the Mavericks’ title win earlier that summer, and no stupid lockout would kill our buzz. But things did start to get boring eventually.

So that’s when I unearthed a very special clip of former Maverick Josh Howard. A clip during one of the greatest games in Mavericks history, their Game 7 win over the Spurs in the second round of the playoffs in 2006. After the Nerlens Noel fiasco last week and the troubling this-actually-matters-who-cares-about-sports news out of Houston, I figured we could all use a laugh.

This is not a clip of Howard’s crucial performance in that Game 7, where he scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds before fouling out. No this is right at the end of the game, when the Mavs had sealed the deal overtime.

This is when then coach Avery Johnson absolutely blasted Howard in the nuts.

Terrific. There are so many great things in this video. Let’s go over them.

• That face. Oh dear lord, that face. Any dude that’s been hit in the nuts has made that exact face Howard makes when he gets drilled.
• Erick Dampier making some sort of rope out of extra towels, presumably just in case he needed to make a great escape out of the arena.
• A “Hey Remember That Guy” Hall of Fame lineup, including: Kieth Van Horn, Marquise Daniels, Adrian Griffin and NBA champion D.J. Mbenga. Mbenga played 234 games in the NBA. Life is great.

Have a good weekend.