If Rockets center Dwight Howard truly is Superman, balky knees must be his Kryptonite.
After a 2014-15 regular season in which Howard missed 41 games with various ailments, the eight-time All-Star recently revealed that his lingering knee problems reared their ugly head again during the playoffs in a much more serious way.
On Thursday, Howard appeared on SportsRadio 610 and told Mike Meltser and Seth Payne of Mad Radio that he played in the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors on torn ligaments in his knee.
“I basically was playing with a torn MCL and meniscus,” Howard said per Garrett Heinrich of CBS Houston. “I never said anything about it, I tried to cover it up saying it was a sore knee, but I was in pain the rest of the series.
“You never know if you will ever make it back to this moment,” Howard continued. “Sacrifice your body, your mind, your spirit for your teammates and for the city and hope for the best. And when we lost, it was like, I gave everything I had. And it hurt, but we can make up for it this season.”
For a player who has received a reputation around the league for being a bit of a cream puff, both from former teammates and competitors alike, if Howard is indeed telling the truth about his hobbled Conference Finals state, he definitely deserves commendation for a incredibly gritty performance on one leg. It’s especially so considering that it came against the eventual champion Warriors and while drawing a matchup with Andrew Bogut, one of the most physical centers in the Association. Coming that close to an NBA Finals berth, especially in the barbaric Western Conference, is not an opportunity that comes around everyday, and Howard recognized that and left it all out on the hardwood for his team.
Still, for a big man who will be 30 in December with a long recent history of durability issues directly tied to his knees, it wasn’t exactly the wisest decision for Howard. Perhaps he took a page out of the book of Rockets head coach Kevin McHale who fought through a broken foot in the 1987 postseason during his playing days with the Boston Celtics. Still, McHale paid the price as his career was cut short after just 13 seasons, and he still walks with a noticeable limp now, nearly three decades later. As Howard enters his 12th NBA season, it’s worth wondering how many years he has left in the tank. Howard has certainly looked to be on the back-nine of his career for a couple of years now and with revelations like the one he made on Thursday, it could only be a matter of time before the body of the three-time Defensive Player of the Year breaks down completely.
H/T Yahoo Sports
