Dwight Howard injured his ankle in the Rockets’ 123-114 loss to the Pistons yesterday in the 1st minute of the game, which was unfortunate for Howard because he had been dominating as of late. He posted a monster 36 points 26 rebound game on January 18th.

Howard underwent a MRI earlier today as a precaution, and the MRI came back negative, meaning that the original diagnosis of a sprained ankle was indeed true, but it will cause Howard to miss at least one game:

Clint Capela will likely start at center for the Rockets in Howard’s absence while Terrence Jones likely also sees an increased role.

Howard is averaging 14.4 points, 12.1 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game in 37 games for the Rockets this year. He will be missing his 8th game on the year on Friday.

[twitter-follow screen_name='tony_montalto' show_count='yes']