Rockets put pieces in place to combat Hawks' Howard

HOUSTON -- In just 13 minutes on Tuesday night, the Houston Rockets received what they needed from veteran center Nene in their win over the Sacramento Kings.

Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni is striking a delicate balance in divvying minutes within his center rotation, focusing intently on matchups while exercising caution to not overwork Nene, 34. That scheme was compromised when starting center Clint Capela was sidelined for a month with a leg fracture, but with Capela making his 32nd start of the season on Tuesday night, Nene was back in his comfort zone.

Nene scored 11 points and blocked two shots in the Rockets' 105-83 victory. He provided a physical presence against Kings All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins, the brute force that the slender Capela and undersized center Montrezl Harrell lack.

By sparingly using Nene, who is averaging 8.2 points and 3.7 rebounds, D'Antoni set the stage for Nene to work similarly against Dwight Howard when the Rockets (36-16) host the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night at Toyota Center.

"I just want to make sure that when I can rest him, I want to," D'Antoni said of Nene, who is averaging 17.1 minutes. "I'll never play him when we don't need him. There'll be days that we give him off because we feel that the matchup is OK for us. But if there's a somebody like a Cousins, there's somebody he's playing, so we look at the calendar and make sure that Nene is ready to go on those days."

Nene sat for rest three times in January, and the preseason script called for D'Antoni to avoid playing Nene in back-to-backs. However, when Capela missed 15 games, Nene played with greater frequency. Now that Capela is healthy again, Nene can resume his role as a specialist against bruisers like Cousins and Howard.

For Howard, Thursday will mark his first time playing in Houston for the opposition since Dec. 4, 2012. Howard signed with the Rockets as a free agent in July 2013 following his lone season with the Los Angeles Lakers, and he averaged 16 points, 11.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks over three seasons and 183 games in Houston.

Despite his elevated performance in the postseason with the Rockets (17.9 points, 13.9 rebounds, 2.3 blocks), his relationship with All-Star guard James Harden deteriorated to the point where the organization didn't make a strong push to re-sign him during the offseason, facilitating his return to his hometown of Atlanta.

Per 36 minutes, Howard is rebounding at a clip (15.6) better than any time previously in his career. But after averaging 13.7 points per game in his final season in Houston, Howard carries a 13.6 scoring average into Thursday. He had his string of consecutive double-doubles snapped at five games after scoring just six points in the Hawks' 116-93 road loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday.

"We have to come out with a little more intensity," Atlanta forward Paul Millsap said. "Defensively ... we weren't making it hard on them."

The Hawks (28-21) have alternated wins and losses for six games and are 6-5 over their past 11. Their inconsistency, a season-long issue, remains mystifying.