Eric Gordon Out For Rockets vs. Celtics With Left Leg Bruise
Rockets guard Eric Gordon will miss Tuesday's game against the Celtics due to a left leg bruise, head coach Mike D'Antoni announced on Monday.
Tuesday's contest will be Gordon's second straight missed game due to the injury. He originally suffered the leg bruise against Utah on Jan. 27, when he scored 50 points despite being kicked in the shin in the third quarter.
Gordon has battled injury throughout 2019-20. He missed 22 games after undergoing knee surgery in November, and he played just eight minutes against Phoenix before sitting out vs. the Jazz on Feb. 9. Gordon has logged 70-plus games just once in his last eight seasons.
It's been an uneven year for the Indiana product. Gordon enters the All-Star break at 15.3 points per game (his lowest average in three seasons), and he's struggling from beyond the arc at 33.2%. Gordon's 37.4% clip from the field ranks No. 231 out of the 237 players to log at least 800 minutes this season.
A poor start to the year is obscuring Gordon's low production to a degree. Gordon is up to a more respectable 43.6% from the field in his last nine games, and he's finished in single digits just three times since Jan. 1.
The Rockets' battle with the surging Celtics marks Houston's last game before the All-Star break. Gordon and Co. are currently fifth in the Western Conference at 33–20, on pace for the franchise's fourth consecutive 50-win season.
Tip-off from the Toyota Center on Tuesday night is slated for 8:30 p.m. CT.