Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard, second from left, sits on the bench with his knee wrapped during the second half of Game 1 of the NBA basketball Western Conference finals against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, May 19, 2015. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard, second from left, sits on the bench with his knee wrapped during the second half of Game 1 of the NBA basketball Western Conference finals against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, May 19, 2015. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Dwight Howard has said that he is willing to put his ego aside and play second fiddle to James Harden’s wizardry on the Houston Rockets. This means cleaning up the boards and playing stellar defense along with a nonspoken agreement not to complain like an utter diva.

But now, Howard might not even be able to do that after an MRI revealed a left knee sprain, leaving him questionable for game 2 against the Warriors at Oracle Arena.

The absence of Howard could be devastating for the Rockets. He didn’t play during the Rockets’ regular season skirmishes with Golden State, but they have no one to play at center without Howard. They even resorted to playing Clint Capela and Terrence Jones at center at points in the game to either match Golden State playing small, or because Kevin McHale just ran out of things to do.

The fate of whether this series gets wrapped up in five games, or a sweep is entirely in Dwight’s hands.