HOUSTON – Rockets center Dwight Howard said on Sunday that while he hasn't "circled a date" for his return, he is hopeful to be back on the floor in the next couple of games.
Howard went through an extended work-out on Sunday before the team left for Indiana.
"I would love to," Howard said about returning during the road trip. "It's going to depend on how I feel today after the workout I just had and how I feel in the morning."
The Rockets center hasn't played since January 23rd. His status for Monday's game against the Pacers has been upgraded from "out" to "doubtful", news which even caught him by surprise.
"I have?" Howard said. "That's a big step."
Not only is it a big step for Howard, but for the Rockets as well who right now are dealing with a bunch of injuries. In addition to Terrence Jones (partially collapsed lung) and Kostas Papanikolaou (ankle) being out, Josh Smith had to leave Saturday's loss against the Suns early because of a calf injury.
Smith is expected to play on Monday, but the team wasn't able to go through a full team practice because of the amount of players that are banged up.
"Dwight has been looking good," Corey Brewer said. "We need him back, you can tell. His rebounding, his defensive presence. We have to have him back, especially before we get into the playoffs. We need a healthy Dwight."
The Rockets are 16-9 since Howard got injured in January. The closer he gets to coming back on the floor, the harder it is to wait.
"It's tough because you want to play so bad and you can't," Howard said. "It's hard for me to sometimes watch the games because a lot of times I'm upset because I can't get out there."
A silver lining to being out has been what Howard calls the "intense" rehab. Not only is his knee feeling better, but overall he feels stronger.
"When you're rehabbing, it's pretty intense, more so harder than practice or anything the rest of the guys are doing," Howard said. "They're really trying to test you to see if you can last a little bit longer in the games so from that stand-point, I feel like I'm ready."
The Rockets are on the road to face Indiana on Monday and New Orleans on Wednesday before returning home to host Minnesota on Friday.
