The Houston Rockets are finally getting healthy

After dealing with several injuries to key players, the Houston Rockets appear to be getting back to full strength at just the right time in the season.

James Harden. Chris Paul. Luc Mbah a Moute. Clint Capela. All of those players have missed a decent amount of games this season for the Houston Rockets. The most glaring absences have been from Paul, Mbah a Moute and Harden, with each of them missing a minimum of 2-3 weeks of the season so far.

Paul went down with his knee injury in the first game of the season and proceeded to miss the next month. Mbah a Moute hurt his shoulder all the way back on Dec. 13, while Harden suffered his hamstring injury on New Year’s Eve.

Along the way, Capela missed a couple of games here and there, further depleting the Rockets’ depth and defense, causing them to slide toward the end of December.

However, there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel, as Mbah a Moute and Harden are expected to return to the court sometime this week, starting as early as Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Mbah a Moute has missed over a month, and in that time Houston’s defense has fallen apart. Just look at how valuable Mbah a Moute is on that end of the floor:

Mbah a Moute’s length is extremely valuable on the perimeter, and allows the Rockets to put three (Mbah a Moute, P.J. Tucker and Trevor Ariza) good-to-great wing defenders on the floor at one time if necessary.

Mbah a Moute can effectively switch and cause havoc defensively, often times leading to easy steals:

Plus, the 31-year-old forward is hitting his shots better than his defensive partner Tucker, as Mbah a Moute has connected on 37.3 percent of his 3-pointers, compared to just 33.8 percent for Tucker.

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And then there’s James Harden, who is expected to return either Thursday or Saturday. The Rockets are 4-2 without Harden, as Chris Paul has been able to weather the storm and Houston has taken advantage of some “softies” on the schedule.

Without Harden, the Rockets play with a more calculated, methodical approach. This is, of course, mainly due to Paul being able to have his fingerprints on the offense and run the show at his comfort level. Adding Harden back allows the Rockets to lessen Paul’s minutes and work load, and raises the ceiling for the team’s offense.

This is the most significant injury Harden has dealt with in his NBA career, so it will be interesting to see how he plays in the first couple of games. Hopefully the team recognizes the importance of reducing his minutes during the remainder of the regular season, but that can only be done if they remain healthy.

The Rockets have been at full strength for less than half of the season so far, so it is getting increasingly important that the team can remain healthy for a significant stretch in order to build proper chemistry and cohesiveness on the floor.

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With Mbah a Moute and Harden both expected to return this week, the Rockets get a boost on both ends of the floor, something the team really needs as they hit the ground running for the second half of the regular season.