It is unlikely that he will almost certainly not return this round, but expecting him back is recommended. Probably.
He would need post surgical physical therapy to build up his strength in his wrist. Having a cast on makes your muscles weak. As of right now he is more prone to injuring himself if he comes back too early.
IF Bev comes back does that mean we won't see Prigs for the remainder of the playoffs? Do you continue starting Jet and have Bev become back-up? What would be the plan? How do you feel about the possible change?
If Bev does come back, expect him to be only useful in a do or die situation. Meaning Curry puts up 40+ (on 7-11 3pt). Its very unlikely he cracks rotation. Don't expect much
GS has the MVP, but we got the skills champ. Bev would add another dimension to this team in spot minutes, and Prigs and JET can't handle Curry. Rockets need their defensive specialist at point guard.
QFT, Even if he plays sparingly for defense, he may have trouble shooting, dribbling, etc. Also it's a contract year, guys
I'd hold Bev out til we really need him. The Rockets are in a groove right now and you don't wanna mess with that.
Agreed. Save Bev and work him in as needed. Spot minutes when Ariza isn't available to guard Curry. If we can get 8-10 minutes a game of solid hustle and D out of him I would thank my lucky stars.
The day is approaching. I don't think the wrist will have an impact on his defense. As far as offense, because it's his non-shooting hand it likely won't ruin his form. Hell, we saw what LMA and Wall could do with serious hand injuries. I think the closer you get to the elbow and shoulder the more your shot is affected. I expect Bev to be weaker offensively than usual, which is pretty bad. However his defensive intensity will be greater than anything we've seen. We know that he will be hungry to prove something against the MVP in a contract year. He may be our only hope of slowing Curry without a double team. If Bev can't come back we may as well allow Curry to go off and lock down everyone else. I am convinced he'll return by game 3 at the latest.
No way in hell he doesn't find a way to get some minutes this series since his cast is now off. No telling if he ever gets another opportunity to play on this stage. Bev has that fire, heart, and determination that our guys have always fed off of his entire time as a Rocket. Bev doesn't care about a contract year, he's already proven his value nothing that happens in this series can change that negatively.
"It's a contract year" goes both ways for PBev. If he comes back in the WCF and plays admirably (given the circumstance), he will boost his payday.
The key thing to remember with these supposed conflicting reports: The Rockets have no incentive to give Golden State a heads up if Beverley is playing. If you could take advantage of the element of surprise to catch your opponent off guard, why wouldn't you? It's the West Finals... you take any small advantage you can get. Remember, the Rockets said Beverley was out for the year back in late March. If McHale, Morey or anyone around the team says ANYTHING different -- i.e. "maybe, we're not sure", that becomes a story. Your opponents will be more ready for the possibility -- and perhaps more importantly, the Rockets themselves would start to wonder and might get caught up in the "will he/won't he" drama. Because of that, the ONLY logical thing the Rockets can do publicly in this situation is stick to their original story until they know 100% that he's playing. And even then, I think they'd ideally wait until 30 minutes before tipoff, i.e. the Josh/Terrence lineup switch, before tipping off the Warriors. Only chance it breaks before then is if someone in Bev's camp wants to get word out and leaks it to a reporter they like, IMO. My take is that what Shams is reporting and what the local folks are reporting is not mutually exclusive. The Rockets have every reason to put out the front that they do not expect Beverley to play. However, behind the scenes, I think there's more going on. Hopefully tonight goes well. Keep in mind, this is his non-shooting and non-dominant wrist. It's not an unthinkable scenario.
