J-Speaks: Rockets Lose Another Starter

They are already without their All-Star lead guard and their sharp shooting sixth man. Now the Houston Rockets, who have dug themselves out of hole to start this season will now be without their starting center for the next month and some change. 

According to a report from ESPN’s NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski, Rockets’ starting center Clint Capela will be on the shelf for 4-6 weeks because of ligament damage in his right thumb, which he sustained in the third quarter of the Rockets 116-109 loss at the Orlando Magic on Sunday night. 

“As I was going up for the lob, I got hit in the hand,” Capela, who had 17 points and 10 rebounds in the contest said after the game. “We’re going to see what it is when we go back home. It’s just sore right now. We can’t really see anything [on the X-ray] yet. We’ll see what happens.” 

How big of a loss is this for the Rockets? Well besides losing a player that was having a career season scoring 17.6 points, 12.6 rebounds and 1.8 blocks on 63.1 percent shooting, which is No. 3 in the NBA, they are losing a player who scored 40 percent of his points off assists from reigning Kia MVP James Harden. The 294 points Capela scored off of assists by Harden was No. 1 in “The Association,” with the next closets being the New Orleans Pelicans combination of All-Stars Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday at 219. Right behind them is the Memphis Grizzlies duo of All-Star Marc Gasol and Mike Conley at 217. 

“This is a damaging blow,” former NBA champion and ESPN NBA analyst Paul Pierce said on Monday’s edition of ESPN’s “NBA: The Jump.” “He was one of the best pick-and-roll players in the league. He finished when James Harden drove the lane with lobs and dunks. He was a defensive anchor for them.” 

Fellow ESPN NBA analyst Tim Legler echoed those same sentiments on Tuesday’s edition of “Sportscenter” when he said of Capela, “When you talk about rim protection. When you talk about offensive rebounding, and then when you talk about the finishing from James Harden. I mean, the fact that you got Clint Capela lurking along the baseline on most of these James Harden drives, you already have to stay home on the shooters because he can find them. Now that backline defender has to make a difficult decision. Do you step up and try to confront Harden at the hash? Or, do you allow Clint Capela to catch that lob or get something easy?”

“So, I think the pressure he takes off of James Harden offensively to me is the most important thing he brings to this team.”

Along with being a defensive anchor, great offensive and defensive rebounder, the 24-year-old Capela was a great screen setter, which has allowed the Rockets sharp shooters in Harden, Gerald Green, Austin Rivers and other to get so many open looks from three-point range. 

The Rockets already are without nine-time All-Star point guard Chris Paul, who has missed the last 10 games because of a Grade-2 left hamstring strain and former Kia Sixth Man of the Year recipient Eric Gordon, whose on the shelf currently with a bone bruise in his right knee. 

This means more will be asked of reigning Kia MVP James Harden, whose been as hot as a raging inferno scoring at least 30 points or more in 17 straight games, three shy of the late Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlin’s record of 20 that he had in 1964. 

In that 17^th contest where he scored 30 or more, Harden registered a season-high 57 points, going 17 for 33 from the field, including 6 for 15 from three-point range, 17 for 18 from the free throw line, with nine rebounds and two steals in leading the Rockets (25-18) to a 112-94 win versus the Memphis Grizzlies (19-24). Harden scored a franchise record 36 of those 57 points in the second half, registering his third game of this season and the 12^th time in his career reaching 50-plus points. 

While they lost the battle of the boards by seven (43-36) and gave up 50.7 percent shooting on the night, the Rockets without Capela forced 24 Grizzlies turnovers, 12 of which by steals. 

The question now is how long can Harden keep this pace up with some very important cogs in the Rockets wheel down at the moment? 

So far, the Rockets led by Harden have righted their ship going from an 11-14 mark and out of the playoff picture in the rugged Western Conference to now being in a virtual tie with the Portland Trail Blazers (26-19) for the No. 4 Seed.

The one good thing for the Rockets is that of their 15 games before the All-Star break, only five are against teams over the .500 mark. 

Hopefully the Rockets can get Paul and Gordon back in the lineup to provide an offensive lift to Harden, who can definitely use it. 

According to ESPN, Paul is expected back from injury at the end of this month. There is no timetable for Gordon’s return. 

“I will say this for James Harden, for me it’s a two-man race between [Giannis] Antetokounmpo and Harden for MVP,” Legler said. “If James Harden continues to win games over the next three to four weeks-shorthanded to the extent that he is, he has a chance to cement the entire deal, probably by mid-February.”  

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of  1/14/19 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Jorge Sedano, Kevin Arnovitz, and Paul Pierce; 1/14/19 6 p.m. edition of ESPN’s “Sportscenter,” with Kevin Negandhi, Keith Olbermann, and NBA analyst Tim Legler;www.nba.com/games/20190114/MEMHOU#/matchup/boxscore/recpa;and www.espn.com/nba/standings.