{"id":123706,"date":"2025-02-14T14:06:39","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T19:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=123706"},"modified":"2025-02-14T14:06:39","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T19:06:39","slug":"rockets-injury-all-star-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/14\/rockets-injury-all-star-break\/","title":{"rendered":"Dinged-Up Rockets Seeking Injury Repairs Over Break"},"content":{"rendered":"

The All-Star break is here and excitement abounds for the many first-time All-Stars<\/a>, including Houston’s own, and very much deserving<\/a>, Alperen Sengun<\/a>. However, teams across the league<\/a> will be breathing a sigh of relief for the week-long break in their 82-game schedule. After their recent fall in the standings<\/a>, the Houston Rockets will certainly be among them. However, there’s one injury situation the break may not be able to repair.<\/p>\n

Dinged-Up Rockets Seeking Injury Repairs Over Break<\/h2>\n

The Starting Power Forward<\/h3>\n

The first Rockets starter to succumb to the injury bug was forward Jabari Smith Jr.<\/a> While Smith had rebounded from a poor start<\/a> to the season, the Rockets weren’t initially derailed too badly. That was partly because of a resultant increase in minutes for former bench player Amen Thompson<\/a>. Now, Thompson doesn’t look like he should ever return to the bench again.<\/p>\n

Thompson’s exact position is unclear. It could be he’s a forward, as he was when filling in for Smith, or it could be he’s a guard, as he’s had to be filling in for another Houston absence. Whatever the case, he’s first and foremost a winning basketball player who can guard anybody on the floor. If a team could play five Thompsons at once, they probably would. One day, an NBA team might settle for two<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another Starting Power Forward<\/h3>\n

The closest thing the Rockets have to another Thompson is his former bench ally, Tari Eason<\/a>. The Rockets’ early season success and identity arose primarily from two sources. First, their tried and tested starting lineup has been one of the most effective in the league. Then there was the Thomson-Eason defensive duo, arising nightly from the bench to chase basketball players around the court like the monsters from a Scooby Doo episode.<\/p>\n

Still managing his injury from December last year, Eason has started for the Rockets in his last four games. He was especially phenomenal against the similarly dinged-up Phoenix Suns\u00a0Wednesday night<\/a>. Kevin Durant<\/a> collected his hyper-efficient points total as usual, but the rest of Phoenix’s offense looked stuck in tar, thanks in no small part to Tari Eason, professional tar machine. Not only was he a menace defensively, clawing his way to three steals, but he also had 25 points, 9 rebounds, and four assists. Eason was everywhere on the court, swinging around the arena, long-limbed and menacing like a regular Tarzan. He looked like a million-dollar man. His actual nickname, Peso, turns the US-Mexican exchange rate on its head and then some.<\/p>\n