The Houston Rockets have been without Clint Capela for just about four weeks, but now it looks like he could be back for Tuesday's game against the Miami Heat.
#Rockets broadcast says Clint Capela is expected to play in the next game.
— Joshua Reese (@MrJoshua) January 15, 2017
Clint Capela plans to get fouled soon. pic.twitter.com/J9IuCNVaCa
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) January 15, 2017
Four weeks ago, Capela fractured his left fibula after bumping knees with Karl-Anthony Towns. It was first reported that he would miss the next six weeks, but he's back baby!
With Capela injured, the Rockets have gone 11-4. Nene and Montrezl Harrell have stepped up and really helped keep the team from missing the Swiss Roll too much.
In the 15 games Capela has missed, Harrell has started 10 games, scored 14.2 points (68% from the floor) and grabbed 4.9 rebounds. Nene started 5 games, scored 8.6 points and grabbed 3.7 rebounds.
At times, the defense has looked like it has missed Capela, but the numbers say they haven't missed him too much. With Capela, the Rockets allowed 45.9 points in the paint a game, without him, they allowed 48.
It will be interesting to see how the Rockets work Capela back into the rotation since Nene and Harrell have played so well. When Capela is back to playing 30 minutes a game, it's very doubtful that all three will get playing time. Nene is the only one of the three capable of hitting jump shots from outside the paint, but chances are Mike D’Antoni won’t want to play two of them at a time for more than very small stretches of game time.