Austin Rivers sits out second game, to return Wednesday vs. Denver

Austin Rivers sat out Monday’s game with a thumb sprain, but he’s confident that he’ll play for the Rockets on Wednesday vs. Denver.

Houston Rockets reserve guard Austin Rivers missed a second consecutive game Monday with a sprained thumb on his right shooting hand, but he’s confident that he won’t miss any further time the injury.

Wearing a protective brace, Rivers went through pregame shooting drills on the court at Toyota Center to test his status before Monday afternoon’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

While Rivers said he wanted to play Monday, the Rockets opted for caution in hopes of ensuring the injury fully goes away. The 6-foot-3 guard is averaging 7.7 points and 2.3 rebounds in 22.9 minutes per game.

Rivers said he suffered the injury last Tuesday in Memphis when he got his thumb stuck in another player’s jersey. He initially didn’t tell anyone about it and played Wednesday at home versus Portland, but Rivers said it became impossible to hide when the area swelled up “like a baseball.”

Rivers shot just 1-of-5 (20%) in 18 minutes while fighting through the injury in the team’s loss to the Trail Blazers. Houston entered Monday in a slump, having lost four of their last five games overall.

While Rivers still offers capable perimeter defense, the 27-year-old has slumped offensively for much of the 2019-20 season with just a 30.3% overall clip on 3-pointers. In his last 17 games since Dec. 7, Rivers has shot just 38.2% overall and 25.5% on 3-pointers.

The Rockets and Nuggets have split their first two meetings of the 2019-20 season, so Wednesday’s game could be critical for tiebreaker purposes later in the year. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Central at Toyota Center.

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