{"id":70293,"date":"2024-03-24T13:56:28","date_gmt":"2024-03-24T17:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=70293"},"modified":"2024-04-06T22:33:52","modified_gmt":"2024-04-07T02:33:52","slug":"ailing-rockets-injury-updates-team-extends-win-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/24\/ailing-rockets-injury-updates-team-extends-win-streak\/","title":{"rendered":"Ailing Rockets Get Injury Updates as Team Extends Win Streak"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Houston Rockets are the hottest team in the NBA, winning eight consecutive games as they fight for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/news\/nba-play-in-tournament\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a Play-In spot<\/a>. They\u2019ve <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/21\/secret-ingredient-rockets-recent-success\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">played so well<\/a> that it\u2019s easy to forget they\u2019re missing multiple rotation players. Yet, youngsters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/easonta01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tari Eason<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/whitmca01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cam Whitmore<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sengual01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alperen Sengun<\/a> have been out for several games.<\/p>\n<h2>Cam Whitmore, Alperen Sengun Get Injury Updates as Rockets Extend Win Streak<\/h2>\n<p>Ahead of their victory against the Utah Jazz, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka announced injury updates for Whitmore and Sengun.<\/p>\n<p>Per Udoka, Whitmore has returned to the court for spot-up shooting drills. Sengun has yet to return to practice. The third-year center continues to go through \u201ctreatment and rehab\u201d as he waits for a reduction in swelling and bruising in his knee.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Rockets?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Rockets<\/a> vs Jazz at 6:30PM on SCHN<\/p>\n<p>Before the game Ime Udoka gave updates on Cam Whitmore &amp; Alperen Sengun and talked the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HoustonRockets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@HoustonRockets<\/a> playing small ball <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mobmGYiZLn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/mobmGYiZLn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Space City Home Network (@SpaceCityHN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SpaceCityHN\/status\/1771667420693897586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 23, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe main thing is trying to push the swelling out,\u201d Udoka says. \u201cFrom there, it starts to loosen up [and] you can do some things.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cBut that\u2019s the main focus; the bruising and swelling. Getting that out of there.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Whitmore and Sengun have been out since Mar. 10, as the Rockets faced the Sacramento Kings.<\/p>\n<h3>Cam Whitmore<\/h3>\n<p>Whitmore ended up finishing the game against the Kings. However, he experienced knee discomfort and sought out medical treatment afterward. Udoka announced Whitmore will be out for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/13\/houston-rockets-wing-likely-to-miss-approximately-three-weeks-cam-whitmore-injury\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">at least three weeks<\/a> with an LCL sprain.<\/p>\n<p>The rookie has averaged 12.1 points per game, seventh-highest in his draft class. He\u2019s shooting 46.4 percent from the field and 36.1 percent from 3. Selected with the 20th overall pick, Whitmore has been a draft steal, his microwave scoring ability enhanced by his efficiency.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, while the Rockets\u2019 starting lineup has played well during the win streak, their bench has too. Houston\u2019s bench has scored 37.6 points per game <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/traditional?LastNGames=8&amp;StarterBench=Bench&amp;dir=A&amp;sort=PTS\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">over the past eight games<\/a>, the sixth-most in the NBA. Getting Whitmore back will only help their playoff bid.<\/p>\n<h3>Alperen Sengun<\/h3>\n<p>Sengun wasn\u2019t as lucky against the Kings, landing awkwardly as he tried to make a block in transition. The injury looked worse than <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/11\/rockets-alperen-sengun-crucial-update-leg-injury\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the eventual diagnosis<\/a>. Nonetheless, Sengun was ruled out indefinitely with a Grade 3 ankle sprain and knee bruise. It\u2019s not guaranteed, but he is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season.<\/p>\n<p>Sengun has averaged a team-high 21.1 points per game this season, shooting 53.7 percent from the field. He ranks second on the team in assists per game (5.0). A skilled low-post player with 3-point range, his passing ability blends well with his gravity as a scorer.<\/p>\n<p>The Rockets have <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/15\/rockets-ime-udoka-heaps-praise-gifted-alperen-sengun\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">obvious reasons for being optimistic<\/a> about his early return. However, the best chance for Sengun to play again in 2023-24 will be in the playoffs. For that, Houston \u2014 and namely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greenja05.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Green<\/a> \u2014has to continue their recent play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Houston Rockets are the hottest team in the NBA, winning eight consecutive games as they fight for a Play-In spot. They\u2019ve played so well that it\u2019s easy to forget they\u2019re missing multiple rotation players. Yet, youngsters Tari Eason, Cam Whitmore, and Alperen Sengun have been out for several games. Cam Whitmore, Alperen Sengun Get [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":70302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31,1608,62,3],"tags":[4293,4794,4745],"class_list":["post-70293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rockets","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-alperen-sengun","tag-cam-whitmore","tag-nba-injuries"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}