Rockets' Beverley suffered a strained hamstring on Wednesday
A season opening back-to-back has left Houston Rockets guard Patrick Beverley a little hobbled.
On Wednesday against the Utah Jazz, Beverley took a seat with 5:09 to play and a 16-point lead. It looked as if the Rockets may just be resting him in a blowout, but the team announced that Beverley suffered a strained hamstring in the victory.
He managed 31 minutes before going down, scoring seven points on 3-of-6 shooting and adding a pair of assists. On Tuesday, he scored nine points with five dimes in 31 minutes.
Any extended absence for Beverley would put enormous pressure on an unproven backcourt rotation. The team can run the offense through James Harden, and Jason Terry can man the point in a pinch, but a heavy workload would fall to sophomores Isaiah Canaan and Troy Daniels.
The Rockets knew they'd be a little thin at point after trading Jeremy Lin in the offseason, somewhat of a risky (yet understandable) move given that Beverley played just 56 games last season due to three different injuries. They're betting that the 26-year-old can improve on the 10.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists he averaged a season ago, and do so over 70-plus games.