Tarik Black makes NBA debut

Tarik Black made his NBA debut for the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night vs. the Los Angeles Lakers. Black’s first start in an NBA game will be overshadowed by Kobe and Dwight Howard’s childish feud and rookie first round pick Julius Randle’s broken leg.

Black’s debut was impressive mainly for one reason: he played more minutes than Dwight Howard.

Black primarily serves as Howard’s backup so it wasn’t surprising to see him get so many minutes as Howard was in foul trouble for the majority of the game.  Houston also trounced the Lakers by 18 points in the season opener.

Howard played 21 minutes, scored 13 points and 11 rebounds.  Black played 24 minutes, scored two points on one-for-two field goal attempts, grabbed two rebounds and picked up four fouls.

Tarik Black scored his first NBA points, a layup, with 3:56 remaining in the third quarter.

Another Jayhawk makes his NBA debut tonight as Andrew Wiggins will take on the Memphis Grizzlies.