Paul likely to sit out vs. Jazz
DENVER — Guard Chris Paul, who played 29 minutes Friday night against the Nuggets, likely will sit out the second half of the Rockets’ back-to-back Saturday night against the Utah Jazz.
After some uncertainty, Paul was cleared to play against Friday. He had 20 points and six assists in the 136-122 loss at Denver.
Paul had been listed as questionable to play Friday because of lower back soreness following Thursday’s practice. He went through his morning shooting and pregame routine, exhibiting no issues.
“He went through most of practice,” coach Mike
D’Antoni said. “He just tweaked it a little bit. It wasn’t anything.
“It’s a product of maybe a bad bed, too. Who knows.”
Rockets center Nene sat out the first half of the back-to-back but is expected to play against the Jazz.
Capela targets Feb. 21 to play
Clint Capela on Friday rejoined the Rockets for the first time since his thumb surgery Jan. 17, getting in a workout before the game against the Nuggets and thrilled to have taken that step closer to returning.
The Rockets announced on the day of the surgery to repair ligament damage that Capela would be out for four to six weeks. Capela is hoping to return for the Rockets’ first game after the All-Star break, Feb. 21 against the Lakers in Los Angeles, which would put him in the middle of that timetable.
“This is my hope, this is my goal,” Capela said.
For now, he’s happy to be back. with his teammates.
“It was kind of hard to be away from the team,” Capela said. “When you are away, you realize how close you are with everybody, your teammates, the grind you are going through. To be back with the team, I really feel like I’m alive again.”
Nuggets coach applauds Faried
Left out of the rotation in Denver in his seventh season, Kenneth Faried returned and played for the first time against the Nuggets. Faried did not play when he returned with the Nets this season, but started for the Rockets on Friday night with Clint
Capela out and had 23 points.
“Kenneth has now been given a chance to play and he’s taking advantage of it,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “So great job by him and them.”
Faried was pushed out of the rotation by the emergence of Nikola Jokic and the solid play of Jusuf Nurkic and then
Mason Plumlee along with the free-agent addition of Paul Millsap at forward, the position Faried played in Denver.
“I’m happy for him,” Malone said. “What a great pickup. Obviously, when he was here in Denver most of his career he’s been a power forward. On this team in Mike D’Antoni’s system, he’s playing center. You lose Clint Capela, put in Kenneth Faried (and the Rockets are getting) activity, energy, running the floor, screening and rolling, finishing at a high level and rebounding at a high level.”
Harden is again player of month
James Harden on Friday was named Western Conference Player of the Month for the second consecutive month after averaging 43.6 points per game in January, the most by any player in NBA history other than Wilt Chamberlain.
Harden also averaged 8.7 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 2.07 steals in January. He became the fourth player with at least 600 points, 100 rebounds, and 100 assists in a month.
Harden had scored at least 35 points in 11 consecutive games, before Friday’s 30 at Denver. His streak of 25 straight games scoring at least 30 points is the third longest in NBA history.
Harden accounted for an average of 61.9 points per game in scoring or off his assists, the most in league history for a month.
Averaging 36.3 points, 8.1 assists, 6.7 rebounds, and 2.09 steals, Harden is on pace to become the first player to average at least 35 points and eight assists in a season. In 1988-89, Michael Jordan became the only player to average at least 30 points, eight assists, five rebounds and two steals. Harden is on pace to be the first player since Jordan in 1986-87 to average at least 36 points per game. Philadelphia center Joel
Embiid, who averaged 29.2 points, 13.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and two blocked shots per game, was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month.