http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12495292/dwight-howard-returns-practice-houston-rockets Article by Calvin Watkins. HOUSTON -- For the first time since he suffered a right knee injury, Houston Rockets star center Dwight Howard practiced with the team Monday. Howard has missed the past 22 games with swelling in his knee and isn't expected to play Tuesday against Orlando. However, with Howard practicing, there is an expectation that he will return this season. Dwight Howard has missed 22 straight games, but Monday's practice is the next step toward his return. "He didn't have a hard practice today," coach Kevin McHale said. "He was able to do some things. It was good to see him out there. Now he's just got to get comfortable. "At this stage, this is the start of coming back. Up to this point, he hasn't really been on the floor. Everything he's done has been strengthening the knee, resting the knee, trying to get the inflammation out of the knee and all that stuff. Now we'll see how he feels after he does some basketball stuff." Howard has been traveling with the Rockets, working out alone and doing two-on-two drills. McHale said he needed to see Howard practice with the team before getting his hopes up for a potential return. In February, Howard received a bone marrow aspirate injection in his knee, and it was determined that he would miss six to eight weeks. That timetable is nearly up, and Howard appears to be on target for a return. He has missed 34 games this season for various health issues and is averaging 16.3 points and 11.0 rebounds per game. McHale said the Rockets have missed Howard's ability to protect the rim on defense and his ability to take pressure off leading scorer James Harden on offense. "He looked good. He practiced a little bit today, so we were happy to have him practice and kinda have him in the mix," Harden said. "Hopefully he can get a couple more practices under his belt, and hopefully he'll be ready to go soon."
I am cautiously optimistic regarding Howard's return. As long as he is 90% of his old self I think we have a chance to compete for a ring this season.
https://twitter.com/jennydialcreech/status/577541690963189760 Vid of Dwight doing drills at Practice...Don't know how to embed from mobile
Now if Rockets can get into Playoff mode instead of letting Beverly dribbles for 10 seconds and shot a fade-away three..
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://instagram.com/p/0TJaylBdMB/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">@dwighthoward and @terrencejones1 practicing on Monday.</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A video posted by Jenny Creech (@jennydialcreech) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2015-03-16T18:47:23+00:00">Mar 16, 2015 at 11:47am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script>
Good that he's back but that spin move sort of bugs me. Youre supposed to be practicing that so you can spin away from the defender in a game. But the way he's practicing it in that video, hes just spinning in the same spot...
