Porter grateful for quick recovery
The injury was considered minor, the sort that is unavoidable during an NBA season and not worth much concern. But Kevin Porter Jr. had seen a dayto-day injury stretch out to seven weeks of day-todays. He could not help but worry.
Porter had collided with Nets center Nic Claxton, taking a knee to his left thigh as he made the turn on a pick-and-roll drive on Tuesday. He stayed in the game. Though he struggled, he left Toyota Center that night with little reason to think he would miss time.
When he got up the next morning, however, the leg stiffened badly and did not improve enough that day for him to play in Indiana on Thursday. A bruised thigh was not to be confused with the damage to his left big toe that forced him to miss 20 games. But the season was running out of time. He had been determined to play through “manageable pain” in the toe. He was not interested in missing time with a bruise to a thigh.
“It was definitely a frustration,” Porter said. “I want to play as much as I can. Definitely, missing those 20 games, I want to get as many games back that I missed. Injuries are part of the game. You just have to react and do your work after it happens.”
Porter was forced to miss only the game against the Pacers, returning in time to play the Chicago Bulls on Saturday at Toyota Center. But with just four games separating the time lost for one injury to another, and just 16 games remaining, another injury was particularly disappointing.
He might seem to have learned the perspective to “react and do your work” when the toe injury dragged on so much longer than the Rockets initially expected, and still causes problems. But Porter also could have exhausted his supply of patience.
With that in mind, Rockets coach Stephen Silas spoke with Porter after Wednesday’s practice in part to help him deal with disappointment about going out so soon after he had returned.
“We communicate all the time and talk through those moments and … it’s up to me to make sure he’s good and has someone to bounce his feelings off of at times,” Silas said. “It’s not always comfortable conversations but it’s necessary because adversity is hard for everybody, not just basketball players. My position with this group and him specifically is to be someone you can talk to and help you through those moments. It makes me feel good and hopefully it makes him feel good, too.”
He was feeling especially upbeat on Saturday, a mix of appreciation to be playing after being able to play in just four games since Jan. 11, and relief that the thigh injury was minor as expected, if a tad more troublesome for a couple of days. The conversations with Silas, however, were especially appreciated.
“Always having a head coach giving that assurance to a player is something that’s needed, not just in bad times, but in good times, too,” Porter said. “Just having that support, especially from my head coach, is dope, and it definitely helped.
“Just being around (teammates,) being eager to be back on the court, I kind of got some energy from them, got a taste of being on the court, being a locker room guy, them just telling me to keep working … is the support I have from my brothers.”
He returned in time for the rematch with the Bulls, having had perhaps his best game of the season in the Rockets win in Chicago. Averaging 18.5 points on 43.3 percent shooting and 34.9 percent shooting this season, Porter had a season-high 36 points, making 14 of 22 shots including 6 of 12 3s, along with nine assists and seven rebounds in the first meeting, a 15-point Rockets win.
Beginning with that game against the Bulls and until the game he was hurt in Sacramento, Porter averaged 22.8 points on 49.2 percent shooting, 42.3 percent 3-point shooting. He is one of nine players in NBA history to have his totals for points, rebounds, assists, steals and 3s in 44 games, joining Stephen Curry, LaMelo Ball, LeBron James, Gary Payton, Tracy McGrady, Chris Paul, Scottie Pippen and James Harden, who did it seven times.
But when he considers the first meeting with the Bulls, there was a mindset that Porter said he hopes to have for the remaining games of the season now that he expects to play in them.
“Just play free, play with grace and play with joy,” he said. “Looking back at that film, that was one of my most free-lancing (games) when I was just out there and playing with my teammates.
“I try to do that every game. Consistency is my biggest thing. I tell myself to play free, play with grace every game. Some games, I play better. Some games, I’m a little more tense and eager in whatever the moment is. I just try to do my best.”
To do that, he needed to be cleared to play. This time, when he missed more time than expected, it was only one game, not enough to be too aggravating but just enough to let him happily appreciate coming back.