“The knowledge of the game and what it looked like and how it was played was so strange and foreign to Americans in so many ways. MVP Westbrook, who is fresh off of breaking the 55-year-old record of most triple-doubles in a seaso. In such a context, it’d almost be a relief if the whole debacle could be pinned on Howard’s absence. That face — all determination and brambled beard — still fronts much of the league’s promotional mat.