Dwight Howard (knee) upgraded from out to doubtful vs. Pacers
The Houston Rockets upgraded center Dwight Howard from out to doubtful for the team’s Monday night road game against the Indiana Pacers.
Howard has not played since January 23, missing the past 23 games because of swelling in his right knee. Howard had a bone marrow aspirate injection in his knee on Feb. 9 and has only played 32 games this season. He also sat out 11 games earlier in the season because of issues with the same knee.
If Howard doesn’t play against the Pacers, he could possibly suit up for Wednesday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
"That’s a big step,” Howard said to the Houston Chronicle. “I haven’t circled a day, but hopefully the next couple games I’ll be back.”
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Howard is averaging 16.3 points, 11 rebounds and 1.4 blocks a game this season for Houston (46-23), which is currently third in the Western Conference standings, 2.5 games behind Memphis with 13 games remaining in the season.
“You want to play so bad and you know you can’t. It’s hard for me to sometimes just watch the games because a lot of times I’m upset because I can’t get out there,” Howard said. “But everything happens for a reason. Hopefully, this will be good for me and good for our team.”
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