The Rockets and Hawks will both juggle a crowded injury report when they meet Saturday night in Atlanta, with each team coming in on the second half of a back-to-back.
Houston has Reed Sheppard listed as questionable with a left knee contusion and bone bruise for the 8:30 p.m. ET tip. Steven Adams and Fred VanVleet are already ruled out for injury management after both logged minutes in Friday night’s 114-110 win over the San Antonio Spurs.
Adams is sitting with left ankle injury management, while VanVleet will rest his right knee.
Sheppard also missed Friday’s game because of the knee injury. The third-year guard opened the season with three points, four assists, two rebounds and two steals in 16 minutes during Houston’s 128-110 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
VanVleet posted 14 points, five assists, three rebounds and three steals Friday, going 4-for-10 from the field and 3-for-8 from 3-point range. In two games since coming back from the ACL tear that kept him out last season, he has 16 assists and no turnovers.
Adams chipped in four points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal in nine minutes against San Antonio.
Even without Sheppard, Houston leaned on its young talent to get through Friday. Alperen Sengun delivered 29 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, while Amen Thompson put up 20 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. Thompson finished the job by blocking Victor Wembanyama’s potential game-tying shot with less than a second left.
Atlanta has its own list of unavailable or uncertain players. RayJ Dennis, Keshon Gilbert and Jalen Wilson are questionable because of their two-way G League assignments. Mouhamed Gueye is out with a left foot fracture, and Henri Veesaar is sidelined by a torn right ACL.
The Hawks are coming off a 128-81 blowout on the road against the Charlotte Hornets on Friday. That 47-point spread was the biggest victory in franchise history.
Jalen Johnson led Atlanta with 19 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, and Aaron Wiggins added 19 points off the bench while hitting 7 of 9 shots.
Both teams are 2-0 heading into Saturday, but Houston will have to finish its back-to-back without VanVleet and Adams while waiting on Sheppard’s final status.
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The bigger issue remains up front, where Steven Adams is still out and the Rockets have to keep patching together their center rotation. Udoka mentioned Clint Capela and Jabari Smith Jr. as part of that solution, while Reed Sheppard appears set for a larger role behind Fred VanVleet, but the balance of those pieces is still unsettled and leaves Houston with one obvious area to monitor even if Smart is ready to return. [Read more 🡒]
Rockets Rematch Gets More Interesting If One Veteran Guard Returns
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Marcus Smart now carries a questionable tag for the rematch with a forearm injury, which adds another layer to a game that already has a different feel because of the way the first meeting played out. Smart and Fred VanVleet both sat out that win over Atlanta, and if Houston can get even one of them back in uniform, the rematch becomes a far more revealing test of where this team stands. [Read more 🡒]
Amen Thompson Is Giving The Rockets A New Reason To Believe
Houstons hot start has given the Rockets plenty to feel good about, and Amen Thompson has been at the center of it. The 3-0 record has the team sitting atop the Western Conference, and Thompson has helped set the tone with a stronger all-around presence, including career-best rebounding numbers early in the season. His recent five-year extension only adds to the sense that the Rockets are building around a core that is starting to look as promising as advertised.
The latest reminder came in the final moments against San Antonio, when Thompson delivered a crucial block that helped close out a 114-110 win over the Spurs. Plays like that are the kind that change how a young team is viewed, especially when they come from a player whose impact keeps showing up in bigger spots. For the Rockets, Thompson is no longer just part of the future - he is becoming one of the reasons they can believe in the present. [Read more 🡒]