Rockets' Nene to miss remainder of postseason with adductor tear

The Houston Rockets will be without a crucial component of their high-flying bench for the remainder of the postseason.

Rockets big man Nene suffered a torn left adductor in Game 4 of the Western Conference semis against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, an injury that has ended his 2016-17 season, the team announced.

The injury-prone 34-year-old had run a relatively clean bill of health in his first season in Houston, and experienced something of an offensive renaissance as a dive man in the Rockets' spread pick-and-roll attack, particularly in the postseason.

He averaged 10 points and 4.7 rebounds in 17.9 minutes across nine playoff games, shooting 70.6 percent from the field (the second-best qualified mark in the league) and posting a career-best 21.6 PER. The Rockets have been 12.2 points per 100 possessions better with him on the floor.

He leaves a significant void in the team's reserve frontcourt. To fill it, the Rockets will likely need to ask starting center Clint Capela to soak up more minutes, and ask Montrezl Harrell - who's played all of 18 minutes in the playoffs - to take on a bigger role off the bench.

They can also tinker with smaller lineups featuring Ryan Anderson at center, but those lineups will be dangerously deficient defensively, and they've been largely reluctant to take the risk. The Rockets have played lineups with Anderson as the lone big for a total of 35 minutes this postseason (with 19 coming in Game 4 after Nene's injury), and have been outscored by one point during that time.