Starting point guard Jeremy Lin bruised his chest in Game #2 against the Thunder and he could be limited in the rest of the series.  Lin has played in 2 games (both starts) for the Rockets so far in this series against the Thunder and he is averaging 26.0 minutes, 5.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.0 steal per game.  Regardless of how much Lin can play moving forward, rookie Patrick Beverly is going to play a lot.  He has played in 2 games (1 start) against the Thunder so far in this series and he is averaging 34.5 minutes, 13.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game.  Lin needs to bite the bullet and show some toughness.

With Toney Douglas getting dealt to the Kings last night, the Rockets need 24-year old Patrick Beverly to step up behind Jeremy Lin at the point.  Beverly has played in 15 games (0 starts) overall this year for the Rockets and he is averaging 13.7 minutes, 4.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game.  He is only shooting 37.5% from the floor, 32.3% from three point range and 73.7% from the floor so far this year, and that just won’t get the job done.  Beverly has played in 6 games (0 starts) so far in February and he is averaging 17.7 minutes, 5.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game.  The Rockets need Beverly to keep playing well behind Lin.

The point guards are holding the Rockets’ offense back a little bit so far this year. 24-year old Jeremy Lin is proving to be a very average basketball player. He has played in 26 games (all starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 32.7 minutes, 11.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game. He is only shooting 41.9% from the floor, 29.7% from the three point line and 81.8% from the free throw line so far this year. He needs to start shooting better or passing the ball more. 26-year old Toney Douglas comes off the bench shooting the rock. He has played in 25 games (0 starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 19.5 minutes, 8.4 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. Douglas is only shooting 38% from the floor overall, but he is also hitting 43.4% from three point range and 94.9% from the free throw line so far this year. 22-year old Scott Machado was recently called up from the D-League. Machado has played in 2 games (0 starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 3.5 minutes, 2.0 points, 0.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

The Houston Rockets signed small forward Carlos Delfino over the summer thinking that he would give them an offensive jolt off the bench. It hasn’t worked that way so far this year. Delfino is averaging 25.2 minutes, 9.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 steal per game so far this year. He is only shooting 34.7% from the floor and 32.9% from the three point line so far this year, which is pretty awful. Forward Marcus Moore is really stepping up this year after showing next to nothing as a rookie last year. He is averaging 20.4 minutes, 8.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game so far this year. Toney Douglas is backing up Jeremy Lin at the point so far this year and he is averaging 18.9 minutes, 7.7 points, 1.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 steal per game. He is only shooting 36.8% from the floor so far this year, but an impressive 41.7% from three point range so far this year. Center Greg Smith has been stepping up lately. He is averaging 12.7 minutes, 6.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game so far this year. He is shooting a rock solid 58.9% from the floor so far this year, which is impressive. SG/SF Daequan Cook has been pretty awful so far this year as he is only shooting 35.8% from the floor. He is averaging 12.7 minutes, 5.0 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game so far this year. Center Cole Aldrich hasn’t got to play too much so far this year. He is averaging 8.3 minutes, 2.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game so far this year. The Rockets need a little more from these guys moving forward.

The Rockets gave 24-year old point guard Jeremy Lin a lot of money over the summer, hoping that he would play at the level he did with the Knicks last year. That hasn’t been the case so far this year. Lin has played in 13 games (all starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 33.6 minutes, 10.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.8 steals per game. He is only shooting 34.8% from the floor and 24.3% from three point range so far this year, and that’s just not going to get it done. Lin isn’t going to lose P.T. any time soon, but the Rockets need him to start playing like the player they thought they were getting when they signed him.

The Rockets have lost 25-year old point guard Kyle Lowry for the next 2-4 weeks due to a bacterial infection. Lowry has played in 38 games (all starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 35.4 minutes, 15.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game. 25-year old Goran Dragic will replace Lowry in the starting lineup. Dragic has played in 42 games (4 starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 20.8 minutes, 8.2 points, 2.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. In Dragic’s four starts this year, he is averaging 36.5 minutes, 18.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 8.8 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Dragic is shooting a red hot 57.8% from the floor in his starts, so the Rockets should be o.k. until Lowry returns to action. The Rockets will also get 23-year old Jonny Flynn out of mothballs to back up Goran Dragic. Flynn has played in 9 games (0 starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 11.7 minutes, 3.1 points, 0.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.

26-year old point guard Aaron Brooks just hasn’t been able to get it together this year. Brooks played in 14 games in January for the Rockets in which he averaged 23.9 minutes, 11.6 points, 1.0 rebound and 3.4 assists per game on 34.6% shooting from the floor and 29.4% from three point range! Brooks has now played in 26 games (7 starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 24.5 minutes, 12.3 points, 1.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. Brooks has never found his shooting stroke as he is hitting 36.2% from the floor and 30.1% from the three point line so far this year. Brooks has lost his starting job to Kyle Lowry and I just don’t see him getting it back any time soon, if at all.

24-year old point guard Kyle Lowry is having a rough start to January. Lowry has played in 7 games so far this month and he is averaging 33.3 minutes, 10.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, 5.4 asssits and 1.0 steal per game. He is only shooting 34.4% from the floor (22 of 64) so far this month. Lowry has done a good job at the point so far overall this year. Lowry has played in 35 games (31 starts) for the Rockets so far this year and he is averaging 33.0 minutes, 10.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game. With Aaron Brooks back healthy, Lowry can’t afford to keep playing like he is so far this month or he is going to likely be replaced in the starting lineup when Kevin Martin is ready to return to action.

With Yao Ming out for the year and Brad Miller & Chuck Hayes hurting right now……the Rockets need 23-year old center Jordan Hill to step up. In his last four games, Hill has averaged 28.0 minutes, 8.8 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.0 blocked shot per game. He has now played in 36 games (8 starts) so far this year and he is averaging 18.4 minutes, 6.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. The Rockets have enough scorers at other positions so they would probably be more than happy with good defense and rebounding out of Hill until Miller & Hayes get healthy.

25-year old point guard Aaron Brooks has had a rough year due to a ankle injury. In his first 8 games back from an ankle injury, Brooks is averaging 20.3 minutes, 9.4 points, 1.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. Brooks is only shooting 31.9% in those 8 games (23 of 72 from the floor. Brooks has now played in 13 games (5 starts) so far this year for the Rockets overall and he is averaging 23.9 minutes, 12.1 points, 1.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. The Rockets are lucky to have Kyle Lowry at the point as they can take it slow with Brooks until he gets near 100% healthy.