Houston Rockets center to undergo MRI on knee

Dwight Howard will undergo an MRI on a bruised left knee on Wednesday following a collision with Houston Rockets team-mate Josh Smith in their defeat to the Golden State Warriors in game one of the Western Conference finals.

The incident occurred in the first quarter of the series-opening clash at Oracle Arena, which saw the Rockets suffer a 110-106 loss after leading by 16 points in the second period.

After the coming together with Smith, center Howard loosened up in the tunnel and returned to the bench with about three minutes left in the first quarter.

Howard started the third quarter and played just nine minutes in the second half. He finished the game with seven points and 13 rebounds, both below his playoff average of 17.2 points and 13.8 rebounds.

"It's very painful," Howard said after the game. "I tried to play it off as much as possible, but I couldn't give my team-mates what I needed to give them."

The Rockets are accustomed to playing without Howard, who missed 41 games in the regular season nursing a knee injury in his right leg.

Houston still managed to secure the number two seed in the loaded Western Conference, so coach Kevin McHale still expects his team to perform with or without Howard.

"Dwight wasn't able to play, but we played over a half a season without Dwight," McHale said.

"There's no excuses. We've got to play. There's balls there to be had, there's rebounds there to be had. There's baskets there to be had, there's lay-ups there to be made. We've got to do that."

Game two takes place at Oracle Arena on Thursday.