NEW ORLEANS — Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard made his return to the starting lineup for the first time since Jan. 23 when he played 17 minutes of the Rockets’ 95-93 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans Wednesday night.

Howard, 29, had missed the previous 26 games with swelling in his right knee and the team is taking a cautious approach during his return.

He played a prescribed 17 minutes, scoring four points, grabbing seven rebounds with one blocked shot on an Anthony Davis layup attempt. 

Howard returned in the closing seconds of the game for rebounding purposes as the Pelicans were attempting some late free throws.

“I felt pretty good, it seemed as soon as I got out there it was time to sit back down,” Howard said. “It was kinda of an adjustment period for me, I just have to get back out there playing. The main thing for me is really helping the team on the defensive end, the other stuff will come.”

Howard’s first basket was a dunk on a feed from James Harden. There were times Howard looked rusty as there were miscommunication issues on two pick-and-roll plays with Jason Terry and Pablo Prigioni in the first quarter.

But Howard found his stride as the game progressed scoring on an alley-oop dunk, on feed from Prigioni in the second quarter.

Howard covered a variety of the Pelicans’ big men from Omer Asik, Alexis Ajinca and Davis.

Howard, who used a stationary bike at times when he wasn’t playing, said his knee felt fine but still needed some more work on the floor. The Rockets won’t use Howard in back-to-back games, and will continue to monitor his minutes and how he’s feeling for the rest of the season. 

“Not bad for the first time playing in a long time,” Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. “I think he ended up with seven rebounds for us and 16 minutes and a couple of assists. We’ll just work from there.”