The Houston Rockets, as it is with just about every single NBA team of record, are full of comings and goings. Thanks a lot, injuries.
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The team confirmed on Wednesday morning that star center Dwight Howard would indeed be returning on Wednesday night, as the Rockets gear up for their playoff push:
The minutes restriction has not been set, but Dwight has a solid guess:
If anyone has a solid guess as to what happens to the Houston Rockets from here on out, with 12 games to go in the regular season, go right ahead and shout it out.
Since coming to the Rockets as a heralded (and, if we’re honest, much-loathed) free agent in 2013, Howard has gracefully ceded his franchise status to star guard James Harden. Harden not only leads most ballots in the upcoming MVP race, but he also leads the NBA in total minutes per game, and trips to the free throw line – he’s taken on quite a bit, he’s dashed around as much as anyone, and he’s been inviting people to slap at his arms for years.
This isn’t to conclude that Harden is going to fall apart any time soon, far from it, and he’s certainly not going to take a back seat to Howard offensively now that the big man is back. Not because James is a selfish prat, but because he knows that nearly five months of all-out James Harden-y play has kept the Rockets afloat in the maddeningly-deep Western Conference.
Dwight Howard seems to agree, which no doubt helps. From a discussion with USA Today’s Sam Amick:
"He said, 'I'll be returning soon, but I don't want you to change your game," Harden told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday. "He said, 'I don't want you to do anything different. Just go out there and do what you do, and do it at a high level every single night.' He said, 'I'll adjust to you,' and that right there gave me confidence to just play, and play my game and not worry about anything else. Once you hear that from your other leader, then you know you can just go out there and play the way that I've been playing.
"I definitely needed to hear that, and he told it to me. So right there that gave me all the confidence in the world, not to try to force it to get him into a rhythm or try to do anything forceful. I can just play my game. Him telling me that just gave me the green light to just go out there and just be the James Harden that I've been being all season."
The Rockets have been nearly as good without Howard as they have been with the center this season in terms of the team’s record, thanks in no small part to the play of Terrence Jones as Howard’s de facto backboard-slapping replacement in the front court. The big forward is currently out indefinitely with a partially collapsed lung, however, a frightening malady without an obvious return date. Mid-season pickup Josh Smith and the sometimes-maddening Joey Dorsey can pick up the slack in Jones’ absence, and Howard can contribute some of the same sort of game-changing athleticism when he is working at full strength, but Jones will be missed.
Worse, even if Terrence does manage a regular season comeback, there is no guarantees as to whether or not his conditioning can hold up to an injury like this, or if he’ll be able to leave his body prone to the usual sorts of flights of fancy that made his stint in Howard’s absence so memorable. One possible athletic cog to fill in the holes would seem to be rookie skywalker K.J. McDaniels, but Rockets coach Kevin McHale has only seen fit to play McDaniels 16 total minutes after Houston dealt for him in February, and just 62 seconds since Jones went down. McDaniels did not play at all in Houston’s most recent game, 10-point win over Indiana on Monday.
That win had all the makings of a blowout until the Pacers managed to make it respectable in the second half after Houston guard Patrick Beverley left the contest with a wrist injury. Pacers point guards C.J. Watson and George Hill went on to score 20 combined second half points, as Indiana came back in time to make Rockets fans feel awfully, awfully worried about their team’s future.
Beverely could be out for the season, depending on decisions stemming from an appointment with the Rockets’ medical staff on Wednesday. If they decide that playing through the wrist sprain could cause further ligament injury and threaten Beverely’s career moving forward, he’ll undergo surgery and sit out the season, per Yahoo Sports’ Marc Spears.
If he can play without risking anything beyond this season? Then the man will gut it out. Though not for another week, at least, according to Kevin McHale via Jenny Dial Creech at the Houston Chronicle:
“He is going to meet more people [Wednesday] and get a final determination as to what is going to happen,” McHale said. “There probably won’t be any major decisions made for a week-10 days, see what happens.”
What happens in the meantime is that 37-year old Jason Terry, who flamed out in Boston and Sacramento last season, will get the starting nod. Pablo Prigioni, a mindful player who at times looks slower than an opium-addled cloth cap, will also receive plenty of minutes. Rookie Nick Johnson, a tweener guard who has shot poorly in the majors and played only so-so ball despite big minutes and shot attempts in the D-League, will be forced into the rotation.
Beverley is the team’s enforcer, he’s the squad’s heart and soul, he means business he’s a rude dude with a tough attitude and also the Rockets have played just fine at times without Beverley running the show. We respect the guy, but the Houston has been just fine with Patrick either on the pine or in street clothes.
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If McHale can get creative, utilizing Corey Brewer and Trevor Ariza defensively, the Rockets can steady onward. Two of the team’s better defensively lineups have featured the ancient Terry at point, and it’s worth reminding that Beverely shoots as accurately from the field (38 percent) as Terry does from long range. This doesn’t mean Jason Terry is still a lights-out shooter from beyond, but this is doable. This team won’t have to rue dealing Isaiah Canaan or Alexey Shved unless things go terribly pear-shaped.
Even with two significant starters out, a trade deadline acquisition that has been ignored thus far, Josh Smith partially continuing his Josh Smith’ian ways, Howard’s minutes restriction and perpetual injury worries or the fear that the weight of it all might eventually get to Harden (who, never forget, spent significant time working with Team USA last summer), this is still a workable construct. The Rockets might get the rejuvenated Spurs or the nearly-the-same Trail Blazers team that downed them in the playoffs last year in the first round, but you can’t count this crew out in the same way that you can dismiss that borderline-tragic Oklahoma City Thunder.
A lot has to go right, and the Rockets know that. Adding an all-world center to the mix can’t possibly hurt as a start, though.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
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