Dwight Howard officially listed as ‘questionable’ for Game 2 with a knee sprain
The best possible news for the Houston Rockets is still the worst possible news.
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From the team’s Twitter account:
This, after this play from the first quarter of the Western Conference finals:
In a lot of ways, this is fantastic. His scary collision with teammate and longtime friend Josh Smith had all the markings of an MCL or ACL tear. It doesn’t take your knee bending completely the wrong way or some gruesome fall for these things to go pop, and Dwight Howard is lucky he came out of there with just a sprain.
It’s also not outrageous for players to return to game action right after spraining an ACL – it’s been done in both pro basketball and pro football several times – prior to an MRI and diagnosis. Howard’s return to Tuesday’s Game 1 allowed many to play armchair doctor, but his presence shouldn’t have served as any considerable proof.
Just about immobile with a stiff knee, Howard had to leave the final 11 minutes of Houston’s 110-106 loss to Golden State. He failed to score in the second half while taking two shots, and he registered just three rebounds and one block in just under ten minutes of second half action.
Howard told the press that if he remained as immobile as he was in Game 1 that he wouldn’t hesitate to sit for Game 2. From the Houston Chronicle:
“I would have to sit,” Howard said of his chances to play if he feels the same on Thursday. “I have to listen to my body. The most important thing is that I listen to my body. Nobody can understand an injury but the person that is injured. It’s going to be how I feel. If I feel I can tolerate it and go out and play with it, then I will. But my career is the most important thing. I want to do what I can to help this team, but I cannot help the team if I’m hurt.”
[…]
“Today, I was in pretty good pain,” Howard said. “I got the MRI. I’ve been icing and the rest of the things. I have the rest of today and we’ll see come game time.”
Howard is not putting his career in danger while playing on a sprained knee, but he is absolutely correct in pointing out that a Rockets team without him on the court will play far better than one featuring the sort of post-sprain Howard we saw in Game 1. Howard’s plus/minus following the sprain was merely a -2, not exactly damning, but the Warriors’ small lineup was able to wreak havoc with both Howard loping around and Golden State center Andrew Bogut saddled with foul trouble.
Houston went 29-12 with Howard in the lineup during the regular season and 27-14 without him as he sat for significant time with a fluid buildup in his right knee. The Rockets needed everything they had in order to down the Warriors in the first place, though, and while the team did well to circle the wagons against differing types of foes during the regular season without Dwight, winning four times in six games against the best team in the NBA is an entirely difference scenario, altogether.
There is a fair chance that the wagons could continue to circle in Game 2 if Dwight decides to sit. Reserve rookie Clint Capella has been a spring surprise for Houston, and the Rockets aren’t exactly built to dump the ball into Howard 25 times a game and stand around. They play small (in a good way!) even with the 6-9’ish Howard out there roaming the floor.
Still, this hurts. And the every-other-day Western Conference final scheduling isn’t going to help much. The Rockets are lucky Howard doesn’t have major structural damage to his knee, but that’s about the extent of the good news at this point.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
