Injuries Expose Lack of Depth on Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets lost this week for the fourth straight game. The loss was so lopsided head coach Mike D’Antoni pulled his starters out to rest them with over seven minutes left to play.

The Houston Rockets are riddled with injuries. Their lack of overall depth was exposed by the Dallas Mavericks in Wednesday’s 20-point loss. The Mavericks bench outscored Houston’s 65-25.

D’Antoni called it a problem and something the front office was trying to address. He added that the front office was doing the best if could. Additionally, no blame was handed out as it just is the way things are right now.

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Houston played Wednesday without star Chris Paul and non-starter Gerald Green. D’Antoni said that he expected both of the players to return for Houston road game on Friday at San Antonio. As well as that, Nene Hilario a backup center is close to debuting for the season following a calf strain.

At that time, D’Antoni said the team’s depth should be good. Although, right now we have to play rookies as sixth or seventh coming off the bench when they should be ninth or even tenth.

The only reserves for the Rockets to play any non-garbage minutes versus Dallas were Danuel House Jr. a recent call up from the G League and rookies Isaiah Hartenstein and Gary Clark, both of whom were undrafted.

Houston started the regular season counting on additions to the roster such as Michael Carter-Williams and Carmelo Anthony to play important roles off the bench, but the Carter-Williams is no longer in the rotation and Anthony and the Rockets parted ways.

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Four players for Houston, which is 9-11 and next to last in the Western Conference, have averaged 36 or more minutes during the current losing streak, which included two games that went to overtime.

D’Antoni says fatigue played a big role in recent struggles the Rockets have faced. He is also worried about long term effects if he is not able to lessen the load of players like James Harden, Clint Capela, Eric Gordon and PJ Tucker.

D’Antoni expressed his worry over minutes. He pulled his starters early against Dallas calling it stupid having them play late during a blowout. He added that periodically they may have to take off a game to see what happens.

Harden says the big workload the healthy regulars for the Houston Rockets have faced is a problem. However he is confident the team would be back on track quickly.