Dwight Howard on the stickum controversy: ‘I’ve never been a cheater’

Dwight Howard doesn’t see the big deal about the sticky substance he’s admitted to using on his hands for the last several NBA seasons.

“I just think that it’s getting overblown, like I’m doing something crazy,” the Houston Rockets center said. “But again, I’ve never been a cheater, never been the type of player that has to do something illegal to win. It’s upsetting, but I can’t control it now.”

A spray can filled with an adhesive substance was removed from the Rockets’ sideline Saturday during a game against Atlanta after Howard was seen applying it to his hands late in the first quarter. Hawks forward Paul Millsap showed officials the sticky ball after Howard had handled it.

The can was removed and both benches were warned that stickum is illegal in the NBA. Based on his comments Monday, Howard has been either unaware of that rule or unaware of the contents of the tape-covered can.

“I just think that it’s getting overblown, like I’m doing something crazy,” the onetime Laker said. “But again, I’ve never been a cheater, never been the type of player that has to do something illegal to win. It’s upsetting, but I can’t control it now.”

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Rockets Coach J.B. Bickerstaff added that Howard has “never run to the back in the locker room to try to trick anyone. It was never brought to our attention. No one’s ever said anything to us about it. If you go back, you can watch every single one of our games for the past three years. [The can is] there, so we were obviously surprised by the attention it has drawn.”

Howard is not expected to be penalized by the league.

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