Houston Rockets: What's the best lineup combo for Montrezl Harrell?

The Houston Rockets have made it official in regard to the loss of one of biggest contributors off the bench this season.

As of today, the Houston Rockets have announced that Nene will miss the remainder of the playoffs with a left adductor tear in his thigh.

I honestly didn’t know that the injury was that severe as it happened so quickly in front of my eyes in the 1st half of last night’s game.

Nene, as he usually does, went up for hard dunk with Jonathon Simmons on defense but when he started hunching over after the play I knew that the injury itself wasn’t a good sign.

He went to the locker room for treatment but it was later determined he needed an MRI to be done to see if there was any further damage.

Hence the end result of the reasoning as to why we won’t see him for the rest of the season.

He worked incredibly hard throughout the season and was certainly outplaying the many miles that he has on his 34-year-old body.

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The Rockets had an excellent plan in place to keep him rested and healthy throughout the season so that he could be unleashed in the playoffs.

He certainly was a factor in some way in every postseason contest this team has encountered.

This sucks but the Rockets do have to move on and figure out a way to leap over this difficult hurdle.

Ryan Anderson is expected to come off the bench and play some center in Nene’s role.

The advantage, of course, would be that we have a three-point threat but we lose some of viciousness on defense that Nene provided.

Don’t get me wrong — Anderson is a terrific ballplayer, but the words “defense” and “viciousness” don’t vibe with his name.

We’ll see how that pans out.

However, there’s a unused weapon on the bench; and that, my friends, is Montrezl Harrell.

Harrell has been waiting for this opportunity — not likely in this manner — to show the world what he can do.

He’s a hard-nosed defender and can get you buckets when needed but he’s still learning the game this is just his second season in the NBA.

But he’s ready to do battle and I think we don’t be disappointed.

Eric Gordon, James Harden, Sam Dekker, Trevor Ariza and Harrell

The lineup combo was used only in two games against the Spurs this season and they were only together for 10 minutes total but it yielded some excellent results.

It yielded an offensive rating of 148.8 and a defensive rating of 117.3.

That’s good for the 5th highest in combinations on offense but 12th highest on defense against the Spurs.

But let’s say if Patrick Beverley and Trevor Ariza were inserted with their top-notch defensive prowess…

Their defensive rating jumps up to a whopping 300 but the offense takes a big hit.

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Now that lineup combination was used for about one minute in one game this season but I’d like to see more of this as this combo could yield some incredible results.

Nonetheless, Harrell will be at the ready with his lunch pail to help this team get the wins that they desperately need to remain in the hunt.

We’ll find out what Mike D’Antoni does tomorrow night but he’ll likely go with a variety of combinations to see what fits best in Nene’s absence.

I can’t wait until tomorrow night.

See you then — go Rockets.

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Houston Rockets: What’s the best lineup combo for Montrezl Harrell?

By Brian K. Patterson | May 8, 2017

The Houston Rockets have made it official in regard to the loss of one of biggest contributors off the bench this season.

More from House of Houston

Eric Gordon, James Harden, Sam Dekker, Trevor Ariza and Harrell