Just as the Rockets were getting on a roll, having won five in a row, the basketball gods struck down Chris Paul — he limped to the locker room in Miami Thursday night with what was later described to be a strained hamstring. Houston is 0-5 in games Paul has sat this season, and that’s not counting Thursday night when Miami took the lead on a 17-4 run third-quarter run with CP3 out, and the Heat held on to win.
How long will Paul be out? An MRI was done Friday and the team announced it is a Grade 2 strain and Paul will be re-evaluated in two weeks. He could miss a little more time, hamstrings are slow to heal and tricky because players think they are 100 percent and want back out but the muscle is not yet ready for explosive movements.
The report from the team fell in line with what Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN had reported earlier.
There's optimism that Chris Paul's left hamstring injury will cost him only two-to-three weeks out of the Rockets lineup, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 21, 2018
Rockets’ opponents over next three weeks: Spurs, Thunder, Celtics, Pelicans, Grizzlies, Warriors, Trail Blazers, Nuggets, Bucks. As if winning without Chris Paul hasn’t been hard enough for Houston this season (0-5). https://t.co/IYMxGqorCs
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) December 21, 2018
The Rockets stumbled out of the gate 4-7, in part due to injuries and suspensions (including Paul being suspended for two games after a scuffle with the Lakers in an early season game after Rajon Rondo spit on him). All season long it has been two steps up and one step back with no real traction. The Rockets’ defense has been terrible and the offense inconsistent. That changed somewhat during the five-game win streak, when James Harden played at an MVP level again lifting the offense, while the defense improved to average.
Now we could see another step back for the Rockets. Houston will have to lean more on Michael Carter-Williams and Brandon Knight, options that should make Rockets’ fans nervous. The Rockets have been looking at wings on the trade market, would GM Daryl Morey consider a move for a stop-gap point guard?
It may depend on how long Paul is out. If it really is just a few weeks, the Rockets will try to weather the storm.
