Kobe Bryant’s death came as a shock to not just the basketball community, but the world at large. Ever since January 26th, , especially from the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers are currently the best team in the Western Conference with a record of 38-11. Last night, they blew out the San Antonio Spurs by a score of 129-102 while Dwight Howard had an impressive night.

Up until last night, Howard hadn’t spoken very much on Bryant’s tragic passing. In the immediate aftermath of the team’s win against the Spurs, Howard was asked about Kobe’s death and how he’s been feeling about it. As you can imagine, the last week has been tough on the Lakers big-man.

Harry How/Getty Images

Per Ryan Ward Of Clutch Points:

“I was extremely hurt. It really hurt me bad. I didn’t know what to do or say, but I was extremely hurt. Still kind of lost for words. It doesn’t seem real that it happened. I never expected in a million years we’d be talking about Kobe passing away.

“It was very sad. There were nights where I just cried myself to sleep just thinking about it, and it still hurts to this day. It’s kind of hard to talk about it because I just get these overwhelming feelings from it, but he meant a lot to a lot of people, as you could see from the love around the world that everybody received and how hurt everybody was. I could tell that people were deeply saddened.”

In this last stretch of the season, the Lakers will be playing with Kobe’s legacy in mind and we’re sure players like Howard will be putting in extra effort to win the title in his honor.