Two nights after losing reserve forward Danuel House Jr. for an indefinite period due to a foot sprain, the struggling Houston Rockets (1-4) suffered an even more impactful injury on Thursday when starting point guard Kevin Porter Jr. sprained his left ankle during a home loss to Utah.
Porter first suffered the injury in the first half and attempted to stay in the game, but he did not return after halftime. Veteran DJ Augustin started in his place to open the second half of a 122-91 loss (box score) to the Jazz, who clearly outclassed the young and rebuilding Rockets. Led by 19 points from Bojan Bogdanovic and with seven players scoring in double-figures, Utah improved to 4-0 on the 2021-22 season to date.
In postgame comments, head coach Stephen Silas said he did not yet have an update on Porter’s status moving forward.
Christian Wood scored 16 points to lead the Rockets, who made just 9-of-44 shots from 3-point range (20.5%). Rookie big man Alperen Sengun added 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals in 24 minutes, while rookie guard Jalen Green scored 13 points but went 0-of-8 on 3-pointers.
Houston does have an extra day between games to potentially allow those injuries to heal up, since the Rockets don’t return to game action until Sunday night’s game at Los Angeles versus the Lakers. Tipoff from Staples Center is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. Central.
Kevin Porter Jr. is out for the rest of the game with a left ankle sprain.
— Cayleigh Griffin (@cayleighgriffin) October 29, 2021
