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- Hornets coach Monty Williams said guard Eric Gordon, who has played only two games since returning from a 29-game absence due to patella tendon disorder and a bone bruise in his right knee, will sit out of Wednesday’s matchup with the Rockets. Williams said the move is simply a precautionary measure fueled by doctors’ recommendations to not overwork Gordon as he continues to regain strength in his knee. “Just being smart with his knee. That’s what the doctors have recommended,” Williams said. “We just have to be careful. We don’t have a lot of back-to-backs coming up, so this is the one that we kind of targeted that we wanted to be careful. … He’s healthy, but total health means you’re in shape and physically able to do the things you know you’re capable of doing.”
- Williams mentioned his desire to use fewer players on a game-by-game basis, especially if Gordon can eventually resume logging heavy minutes. “I don’t mean short like eight-man rotation … but going forward, the rotation has to be shortened,” Williams said. “I think our point-guard rotation, I have to make some adjustments there.”
- Houston (17-14), which will wrap up a three-game homestand against the Hornets (7-24), will not play consecutive games at Toyota Center again until Feb. 2 and 5. Coach Kevin McHale said the Rockets cannot afford to underestimate a gritty New Orleans group before they embark upon a stretch in which they will play nine out of 11 contests on the road. “We got to play our style,” coach Kevin McHale said. “We’re not totally there yet in playing how we need to play all the time, but we’re getting closer. … For us, the next six weeks is huge.”
- New Orleans sports the league’s second-worst scoring offense at 91.4 points per game, which could bode well for a Houston team that is 10-3 this season when it limits an opponent to less than 100 points.
– Matt Miller
