OAKLAND - Dwight Howard suffered a knee injury in the first quarter of the Rockets Game 1 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday, he underwent an MRI and the team has classified the injury as a knee sprain. He has been listed as questionable for Game 2 on Thursday.
With 5:50 to go in the quarter, Josh Smith fell into Howard on the offensive end of the floor.
"From there on, it was bothering me the whole game," Howard said afterwards. "I really couldn't run, jump or do anything."
Howard tried to walk it off along the baseline near the Rockets bench, but he was taken into the locker room where the training staff wrapped ice around the knee.
He played in spurts throughout the rest of the game, but was never fully able to return to normal.
"It was very painful. I tried to play it out as much as possible but I couldn't get my teammates what I needed to get them," Howard said. "It is disappointing and frustrating but it is a long series."
Howard finished with 7 points and 13 rebounds in 26 minutes of action. He did not play in the 4th quarter.
"Thank God it is nothing major but bruises, especially around your knee, make it very hard to do a lot of things that I want to do," Howard said.
Howard is optimistic he will play in Game 2 on Thursday, but says it depends on how his knee responds to ice treatment and rest.
