VIDEO: Dwight Howard dunking all over Clippers in 1st half of Game 7

The Los Angeles Clippers did not come out defending as if Sunday's game against the Houston Rockets were a Game 7.

It is, and the Rockets are treating it as such. Dwight Howard, in particular, came ready to punch his ticket to the Western Conference Finals, playing a terrific first half despite some early foul trouble.

In part because the Clippers have been a little loose in their coverages and in part because he's an incredibly athletic near-7-footer, Howard was able to get free for a pair of thunderous first-half dunks:

And then one more just a little later:

Despite Howard's performance - 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting with 11 rebounds - and some generally poor play, the Clippers find themselves down only 10, 56-46 at halftime. They'll need to stop giving up baskets to Howard like these two if they're going to flip Game 6's script on the Rockets and make a second-half comeback of their own.