HOUSTON — Dwight Howard, having nursed his sprained left knee with ice and electrical stimulation for much of the previous 36 hours, declared himself ready to go at the Rockets’ morning shootaround before their game Saturday night here against the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference finals.
“I feel a lot better,” Howard said, “so really happy about that. I didn’t want it to continue to linger throughout the whole playoffs.”
Of course, the expiration date on that statement was expected to be the start of the game, when any number of things had the potential to go wrong.