Very bad news for us Rockets fans. I've been hoping that he'll probably be back in the next week or so. I just don't know how the Rockets will handle the playoffs without Howard. Howard has been instrumental in the Rockets' success this season. His presence provides us with rebounding, post game and outside touch that punishes the opponents for double-teaming Yao. I just hope that this will serve as an inspiration for the Rockets to play their best and make most out of their available players. "Rockets' Howard out rest of season with viral infection By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle RESOURCES LOS ANGELES Juwan Howard, desperately missed in the Rockets frontcourt, will not be back this season, team sources confirmed today. Howard suffered a viral infection in his heart that will bar him from physical exertion for four to six months, according to sources speaking on the condition of anonymity. Howard, who had been out with a sprained right knee, had hoped to come back from that injury for the playoffs, but doctors told him Monday and again today that though his condition has been remedied he will not be cleared to play this season."
is this true? if so, this really hurts the Rockets...Howard was a PF who could step out and hit the 15-footer and also rebounded and defended very well...if you wanna know how bad the Rockets miss him, just look at their record without him during these past few weeks...this is pretty bad news if its true...
So that means that chinese article we were discussing about in the thread that was locked a couple of days ago was actually true. Because it said that he was suffereing "virulent myocarditis" and "chest cholic" and had to be sent to the hospital. Damn that's really bad news for the rockets.
Guess ur post wasn't an April fools joke I really hope our 2-headed PF will step it up. I've kinda been demoralized by this news..hope Juwan gets well soon though. edit: I was checking out Vin Baker's stats awhile ago and im thinking that maybe JVG should give him a chance. He's really not that old at 33 or 34 and considering that 3 seasons ago he was averaging a decent 11 ppg and 6 rpg i think he just might do better than weatherspoon if given more PT. What do you guys think?
Baker's game has been killed by alcohol addictions and I doubt he will ever return to his Seattle form. Don't expect too much out of him. Chazzo, I don't think the article you posted a while back had anything to do with this. That one was an article on the NCAA Final Four, not Howard's condition. I think someone just added translations as a joke. As for Howard, it's definitely bad news. One positive we can take out of this is it could be a motivator and we won't have to adjust to fit Howard back into our rotation again, although it would be definitely good to have him with us instead of without.
Here's a link if anyone wants to read the full story. Link Bad new's for the Rockets. The powerforward will still be weak for the playoffs and that's probably what will hurt us the most. Already our record has dropped a bit since his knee rehab and this won't be helping us.
Nah Trip, the link has changed now into something about NCAA, but I read that article and was actually about Juwan Howard's condition. The translation was done by someone "copy-and-pasting" the entire article onto http://babelfish.altavista.com/ (or something similar). Which is why there were weird phrases like "big vanguard zhu prosperous - howard" (It means power forward Juwan Howard). Funny how this was in the chinese news a couple of days before it came out of local news. You can find the latest version of the article here http://sports.sina.com.cn/k/2005-04-07/13211494482.shtml. Or http://sports.sina.com.cn/nba/index.shtml and click on the 5th blue link
Big time blow to the rockets, we are 6-6 without him. Really weakens our chances of doing good in the playoffs, especially if we get stuck with a team like the sonics. Weatherspoon and padgett have to step it up. At the suns game, bowen looked pretty good, we should give him more playing time as a PF.
I see. Chinese sources actually are true, but I doubt that Howard actually fainted at home and foam started coming out of his mouth. Anyways, this injury would take a toll on our team, but I'd say that the Rockets are already accustomed to playing without Howard. He's already been a lucky man to stay healthy for most of his career. Btw, is it just me or has Padgett dropped off from his mid season form? Everytime I look in the box score, he has a bad night. Is it time to drop him from the rotation and play someone like Braggs or Baker?
Nah Padgett's just in a shooting slump. I don't know why probably from the pressure or something. Give him a couple games and he should be back to his midseason self. Or, another scenario is that perhaps he was just hot for those couple of games during the winning streak then just lost it after a few games. Who knows?
man i was hoping it was a joke, this sucks without howard our team just isnt the same and it happens to be in the playoff drive this really hurts... and anybody know why braggs isnt putting up minutes? he seems to be just sitting ther eon teh bench.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting cheen0:</div><div class="quote_post">man i was hoping it was a joke, this sucks without howard our team just isnt the same and it happens to be in the playoff drive this really hurts... and anybody know why braggs isnt putting up minutes? he seems to be just sitting ther eon teh bench.</div> at this point, i think we need to forget about bball, just wish Juwan can get well, i wish all the best to him, heart problems are serious. i knew somebody who got the same thing, it limits his ability to do sports.
Gulp..hope Juwan can still play like he did this season when next season starts. Speaking of Padgett, Trip, he scored 16 today. not bad I know..whats the point of signing Braggs if you're not gonna play him
Yeah like all of you guys I hope Juwan is ok, it's a shame he won't be playing anymore games this season, Padgett scored 16 tonight which is pretty awesome, but obviously he won't score that many points every game, Regarding Vin Baker, I too thought we should of given him more playing time a while ago, but then when he got to play scrap minutes, like a measly 5 minutes he would get about 3 fouls 0 points and maaaybe 1 rebound, now whether he was just slack because he was playing in garbage time or whatever from what I have seen he hasn't been impressive, which is a real shame..I mean this guy used to be an All Star! he played in the 2000 Olympics! I would like to see Torraye Braggs play some more minutes, he has played quite well grabbing quite a few rebounds in his limited playing time, obviously JVG won't put him in unless we're blowing out our opponents because theres always the risk that he'll screw up and cost us 6 points or so and a timeout to sub him off if there aren't any fouls and Out of bounds and stuff, so all I can wish for is we start blowing out some teams..starting with the Suns next
Blowout wins would be the best thing we should wish for. To say the truth, I don't care whether it's a blowout for us or against us. Either way, we will get a chance to rest our starters and groom them for the playoffs and also get the seldom-used resverves acclimated to game action if they need to be called upon in the playoffs. I'd prefer wins though.
