Russell Westbrook to rest Tuesday; Clint Capela, P.J. Tucker to play

Russell Westbrook (rest) is out for the Rockets on Tuesday in Memphis, while P.J. Tucker (shoulder) and Clint Capela (heel) will play.

As part of a season-long maintenance plan following offseason knee surgery, Houston Rockets guard Russell Westbrook will sit out Tuesday in Memphis on the front end of a back-to-back sequence of games.

Head coach Mike D’Antoni announced the plan at Monday’s team practice in Houston. Now 31 years old and in his 12th NBA season, the Rockets are resting Westbrook in one game of all back-to-backs this season.

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Westbrook will make his return to the lineup in Houston on Wednesday, when the Rockets (26-12) host the Portland Trail Blazers (16-24) in the second game. Houston has won four of its last five games overall.

Eric Gordon is expected to start in Westbrook’s place at Memphis, as he did last week when Westbrook sat out in Atlanta.

Gordon has been a much improved player since his recent return from knee surgery, averaging 15.6 points (38.6% on 3-pointers) in 26.9 minutes since his Dec. 29 return. Before that, he averaged 10.9 points (28.4% on 3-pointers) in 29.4 minutes per game this season.

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On paper, the Grizzlies (18-22) would seem to be the slightly tougher matchup of the back-to-back, since they’ve won seven of their last nine games and are led by Rookie of the Year frontrunner Ja Morant — who happens to play Westbrook’s position at point guard.

However, since the Rockets enter Tuesday coming off two consecutive off days, the team’s role players may be more likely to shoot well and compensate for the absence of an eight-time All-Star — as opposed to when they’re potentially more fatigued in Wednesday’s second game.

With this plan, Houston will have a former MVP in Westbrook as a fresh reinforcement for the nationally televised matchup against the Blazers. That game will be the first return of 10-time All-Star Carmelo Anthony to Houston after his brief stint with the team last season.

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In 33 games played this season, Westbrook is averaging 24.6 points (43.1% shooting), 7.7 rebounds, and 7.0 assists in 35.2 minutes He’s been especially dominant of late with a 28.4 points per game average over his last 14 games, good for No. 3 in the entire NBA over that span.

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Unlike Westbrook, frontcourt starters Clint Capela (heel) and P.J. Tucker (shoulder) are each slated to play in Memphis, per D’Antoni. Capela sat out Saturday’s victory over Minnesota with the nagging heel bruise, which will give him nearly five days of rest going into Tuesday’s game.

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Tucker left Saturday’s game after just two minutes with a scary-looking right shoulder injury, but the team said postgame that he should be fine, and fortunately that appears to be the case. Tucker has not missed a single game in three seasons with the Rockets, and he’s the NBA’s leader in games played going back to the 2012-13 season.

The 6-foot-10 Capela is Houston’s leading rebounder (and third in the NBA) at 14.4 per game, while the 6-foot-5 Tucker is the team’s best and most versatile defender. He’s also renowned for his corner 3-point shooting, with a 37.3% overall accuracy rate on 3-pointers this season.

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