Just as one key starter returns to the Houston Rockets after two-plus months away, another could soon be facing an injury of comparable intensity.
Dwight Howard returned to the starting lineup on Wednesday for the first time since January 23. It’s just the 33rd game played this season for Howard, who has dealt with ongoing right knee problems since first suffering a bone bruise in training camp.
Unfortunately for the Rockets, Howard’s return coincides with a new injury to starting point guard Pat Beverley. Beverley suffered what the Rockets diagnosed as a left wrist sprain during Monday’s win over the Pacers, and Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports that the injury could be season-ending.
Sources said team doctors are expected to reveal Wednesday whether Beverley could postpone the surgery to the offseason without risking further ligament damage or needs a season-ending procedure now.
Despite that report, it appears clarity could still be some time away. Head coach Kevin McHale said Wednesday that Beverley is visiting medical specialists, and that there likely won’t be a decision for seven-to-10 days on potential treatment options.
Those options will determine whether an immediate season-ending surgery is required or if Beverley can delay the procedure until after the season and continue to play without worsening the injury.
In the interim, veteran Jason Terry will fill in for Beverley as the team’s starting point guard. The Rockets are 6-0 with Terry starting this season, but it’s an admittedly small sample. Moreover, it remains to be seen what impact a consistently larger role could have on Terry’s performance, given that he’s 37 years old. Third-string point guard Pablo Prigioni, now the backup, is also 37.
Beverley isn’t the only notable absence for the Rockets tonight, of course. Terrence Jones remains out with a partially-collapsed lung he suffered last week, and won’t be reevaluated until at least Friday.
And even though Howard will fill some of the vacant big man minutes, he expects to be limited to about 16 minutes per game to start off as he works his way back into shape after missing over two months of action. That means power forwards Donatas Motiejunas and Josh Smith will each need to play virtual starter’s minutes on most nights for the foreseeable future.
The Rockets are now 47-23 on the season and in possession of the West’s No. 3 seed despite their planned lineup (Beverley, James Harden, Trevor Ariza, Jones and Howard) starting only two games together for the entire season. Houston is 2-0 in those games.
DERRICK ROSE EXPECTS TO BE CLEARED FOR CONTACT SOON
Derrick Rose expects to be cleared for contact either this week or next and still believes he will return this season after a late-February surgery on the torn meniscus in his right knee.
Rose spoke to several reporters in Toronto today, and his comments were transcribed by the Chicago Tribune‘s K.C. Johnson:
“Oh yeah, I’m not worried about that,” Rose said. “I’m feeling good. I’m trying to do all the right things. Put all the positives in the bag and just try to go with it. It’s something that I’ve been doing for a long time. Rehab is definitely a grind. But I’m getting used to it.”
“Should be sometime this week or next week,” Rose said when asked about taking contact. “Gotta talk to (Director of Sports Performance) Jen (Swanson) and go from there.”
This Friday marks four weeks since Rose’s Feb. 27 surgery. At the time, the Bulls estimated a return to action of four-to-six weeks, so Rose coming back in the next week or so would seem plausible.
The Bulls are now 43-29 and holding onto the East’s No. 3 seed by a half-game over Toronto.
OTHER NEWS FROM AROUND THE NBA
University of Kentucky coach John Calipari desperately wants to return to the NBA as a head coach, one anonymous NBA front office executive told NorthJersey.com‘s Steve Popper.
Calipari coached the Nets from 1997 through 1999, compiling a 72-112 record before going back to the college ranks. But he’s matured significantly since that stretch in the late 1990s, and Popper says a reunion in Brooklyn is possible:
The one name that could return the Nets to all of those things they thought they could be, that they seemed primed to be, is currently guiding the best college basketball team in the nation, a coach who crashed and burned with the Nets once already. The Nets can be saved by John Calipari.
“He desperately wants it,” the front office official said. “He won’t say it out loud. The NBA is the only place he’s ever failed and it drives him nuts. He’s not the same guy he was then. He came to the NBA and he wasn’t ready. He’s ready now.”
Popper notes that Calipari has remained close with Brett Yormark, who is the man behind Brooklyn’s successful marketing and branding and a close confidant of owner Mikhail Prokhorov.
Calipari reportedly turned down a $60-million offer from the Cavaliers last June to stay at Kentucky, but that was before it was known that LeBron James would be returning. And if his Wildcats finish off a perfect season in 2014-15 and win their second national championship in four years (with three title-game appearances in that stretch), there may not be much left for Calipari to prove at the NCAA level.
Additionally, Calipari has relationships with many NBA stars, such as James, and his potential strengths as a recruiter for a big-market team such as Brooklyn are much more relevant now than they were in the late 1990s era of NBA free agency.
At 29-40, the current Nets under coach Lionel Hollins are still in the mix for the East’s final playoff spots. It would certainly seem unlikely for the Nets to cut ties with Hollins less than a year after hiring him.
That said, the Calipari scenario is one that can’t be ignored. Once Kentucky’s season ends, Calipari will be far and away the biggest “splash” name potentially on the coaching market. And if there’s one thing we know about Prokhorov, it’s that he’s always open to a splash move. Stay tuned.
Hawks guard and perimeter defensive ace Thabo Sefolosha will play tonight in Orlando after sitting out the past 23 games with a calf injury.
Sefolosha went down during Atlanta’s game on January 30 vs. Portland, which was their 18th of 19 consecutive victories. The Hawks, now 53-17, were a respectable 14-9 in Sefolosha’s absence — but that 60.9% win clip is far below their season-long mark of 75.7%.
Kent Bazemore, averaging 5 points in 17 minutes per game, will likely see his minutes reduced at the wing spots to make room for Sefolosha in Atlanta’s rotation.
Ben DuBose is a veteran sports reporter who has followed the Houston Rockets and the NBA since Hakeem Olajuwon was Akeem Olajuwon. He writes for both SheridanHoops and ClutchFans, an independent Rockets blog. You can follow him on Twitter.