Houston Rockets fans who know Patrick Beverley well probably figured this was coming at some point.
Mr. 94 Feet was unlikely to sit idly by, nursing his surgically-repaired wrist, while his teammates entered the Western Conference Finals without him. Despite his post-surgery timeline suggesting it would be nearly impossible and a report Sunday saying he has little chance of doing so, Beverley wants to suit up at some point against the Golden State Warriors.
Beverley had the cast removed from his left wrist Monday, according to a report from Shams Charania of RealGM, and he's now experimenting with braces in order to test his capacity to play in the West Final. He's set to test the wrist, which has been in a cast since March after the torn ligament was repaired, with ballhandling drills on Monday.
While it still seems somewhat doubtful, Beverley pushing to play is not at all surprising. This is the same guy who, in April, said if the team made a deep run he wanted to pull a Willis Reed, even though his initial timeline had him away from basketball until late June or July.
Were he able to suit up, he'd be an enormous boost to Houston's chances of slowing down MVP Steph Curry, even if he's less than 100 percent. Beverley is an effective and disruptive perimeter defender and would give the Rockets a more stable option than Jason Terry or Pablo Prigioni. Were he to be limited on offense, it wouldn't stand as a large impediment to the Rockets, as Beverley often cedes point guard duties to James Harden when they're on the floor together.
Depending on how Monday's tests go, it's possible Beverley could be upgraded to questionable for the later games in the series, even if it's just as a tactical maneuver to force the Warriors to prepare for him. Should the series go seven games, Beverley would have nearly two weeks to get comfortable in a brace, as the series can extend as late as May 31.
In 56 games this season, Beverley averaged 10.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.1 steals.
