CHICAGO (SportsRadio 610)- Rockets forward Dillon Brooks could return by the end of the team's current six game road trip, but forward Tari Eason will remain out, head coach Ime Udoka said before Wednesday's game against the Chicago Bulls.
Brooks missed his eighth straight game on Wednesday after suffering a strained right oblique against the Indiana Pacers on December 26, though he was able to get in some live action after the Rockets morning shoot around inside the United Center.
"I think he ok, as far as doing (everything on the floor), but if he gets hit in that area, could aggravate it, but he went through today and looked good and felt ok."
Eason hasn't been shutdown, but Udoka said the team will miss an undetermined amount of time due to the leg soreness that kept him off the floor five straight games and 14 games overall this season.
"We are giving them a chance to rested and really heal up a little bit," Udoka said. "Instead of the back and forth, on and off games, decided to give him a certain amount of time, I'm not sure what that is yet, but a week or so, two weeks or so, whatever it takes to calm down, and then from there we can try to manage it better throughout the season."
Eason missed the first six games of the season due to a stress reaction in his lower left leg, and had popped up on the injury report before virtually every game since his return. Udoka said last week the best way for him to solve the issues would be to rest.
"He's been itching to get out there, and even when he played, he played with some pain, but he played well, and so for him, it's helping him, saving him from himself because he wants to play every game and doesn't want to be on a minute restriction."
Eason did not play more than 20 minutes in 9 of his first 10 games this season, and had been restricted to just 25 minutes this season.
"I think he was fabricating the amount of pain he was in," Udoka said. "He was feeling a little bit more (pain) than what he said, but we told him to be honest and looking at this like a marathon and try to get him right for the homestretch."