Another injury for Capela
Orbital bone fracture to keep center out at least next 2 games
When Clint Capela broke the bone around his right eye Monday, he did what he typically does when in the shadow of the basket. He put in his layup. Moments later, he grabbed consecutive offensive rebounds.
With the pain unable to break through the adrenaline, he demonstrated some of the reasons the Rockets missed their starting center so greatly in three of the previous four games and likely will miss him again as he sits out the Rockets’ next two outings.
When Monday’s 112-107 loss at Oklahoma City was over, the pain won. Capela did not know something was wrong until after the game. Then he was diagnosed with a fractured right orbital bone that will keep him out for the Rockets’ back-to-back at Boston and Washington beginning Thursday.
“Obviously, Clint has been in and out of the lineup, Luc (Mbah a Moute as well), so you take guys that are versatile that create opportunities defensively that we’re missing,” guard James Harden said. “But we’ll be all right. It’s a grind period right now — dropped three in a row — but it’s a long season.”
The Rockets have been hopeful guard Chris Paul will return from a strained groin muscle in one of the next two games, but they’re unsure because he was sore after going through some of Sunday’s practice. Paul went through extended shooting drills Monday, with a decision about his return likely to be determined by how he feels Thursday after participating in Wednesday’s practice in Boston.
“I’m not confident,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “He wants to (play). Trying to hold him back is hard. We want to make sure he’s 100 percent. I’m confident against the Lakers at home (on Monday) he’ll be back. I’m hopeful for one of these two games, but I don’t want to go there yet.”
Unique weapon lost
The loss is significant with the Rockets on a three-game losing streak that began with consecutive games minus Capela, who had a bruised left heel.
“He’s the one guy that gives us that weapon on lobs and dunks and rim protection,” D’Antoni said. “He’s the one vertical (spacing) guy. We can do it without him. We need to do it. But that’s kind of like the straw that breaks the camel’s back. When you have Chris and Luc out, that’s three of your top guys and three of your best defenders. That makes it tough.
“One of the reasons we had so much success last year was how (Capela) improved from the year before to last year, and we made another jump this year because of how he improved from last year. He’s been a key. He has his fingerprints on almost everything we do offensively and defensively as far as the improvement.”
Capela was limping after Monday’s game, but the Rockets hope that by sitting out the rest of the week, he might be able to play with a mask and that the time off will help his heel injury.
“He’s going to be out a couple games,” D’Antoni said. “We need to hold serve until we get our guys back. They said he can play with a mask on. The swelling will go down in a couple of days. The other one (the heel injury) is about pain tolerance. Hopefully, with the three or four days he has to rest, that gets better.”
Averaging 14.2 points, Capela leads the NBA in field-goal percentage, making 69.1 percent of his shots. He is sixth in rebounding (11.2 per game) and blocked shots (1.76). Capela is on pace to be the first player to average at least 13 points and 11 rebounds in fewer than 26 minutes.
“He got hit, but he didn’t know what it was until after the game,” D’Antoni said. “It’s weird, because he said during the game he didn’t even know it. He was fine. He had no clue that anything was wrong.”
In interim, rely on Nene
With Capela out, Nene could return to the lineup. Averaging 7.2 points and 3.3 rebounds, Nene has made just four of 15 shots in this last three games. He usually has been held out of one game during backto-backs, but the Celtics and Wizards both start physical centers (Aron Baynes and Marcin Gortat), making it especially difficult for the Rockets to be shorthanded at center.
D’Antoni said Nene can play both games in the back-to-back but that the coach likely would limit his time against physical centers.
“We’re going through a period — we had good luck at first, and now we’re having bad luck,” D’Antoni said. “We just have to deal with it. It’s all part of a long season. We just have to hang in there.”