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Hearing the boos: Dwight Howard finds out there are lots of Laker fans in Manila

The Houston Rockets' Dwight Howard goes for a layup while the Indiana Pacers' Roy Hibbert tries to stop him. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)

If Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird was arguably the most popular NBA personality during the NBA Global Games 2013 here in Manila (although the Houston Rockets' Chandler Parsons could give him a run for his money), then the Rockets' Dwight Howard was perhaps the most despised.

Last July, despite a major campaign from team management to keep him in Los Angeles, Howard bolted the LA Lakers and signed a free-agent contract with the Rockets, drawing the ire of the Lakers and their fans. Kobe Bryant, in particular, was said to be pretty upset at the All-Star center for turning his back on them.

The Lakers were supposed to contend for the 2013 crown with the addition of Howard and point guard Steve Nash, but instead they struggled through injuries and lack of cohesion and got swept in the first round of the playoffs by the San Antonio Spurs. In the fourth and final game of that series, and with their season on the line, the big man even managed to get himself ejected in the third period, ending his short and tumultuous stint with LA.

RELATED: Slideshow of the Rockets-Pacers game

Naturally this did not sit well with Lakers fans, including those in Manila, of which, Howard found out, there are plenty.

During the Rockets' 116-96 win over the Pacers at the Mall of Asia Arena, Filipino fans made Howard feel like he was at the Staples Center, the Lakers' homecourt, booing him every time he touched the ball and sarcastically cheering him when he made his only free throw. Howard is a notoriously poor free throw shooter.

Howard still had his trademark smile on for most of the game, even though he labored through a rough offensive night, scoring only nine points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field and 1-of-4 from the line in 23 minutes of action. Maybe the boos did get to him.