Rockets center Dwight Howard tried to maintain the usual upbeat manner, but his disappointment was clear.

He had been ready to test his sprained left ankle. He had a good day of rehab on Friday. He returned to the practice court Saturday to test himself. He did not like the results.

“I did some running today. Still couldn’t do a lot,” Howard said. “Hopefully, it will feel better tomorrow. I thought I was going to be ready to run today, but it wasn’t working.”

Howard said he still had pain in his ankle “especially when I’m running.”

“That’s the next step, to be able to run without pain, then jump and then cut through all the stuff I like to do and the way I like to play,” Howard said. “It wouldn’t be smart of me to just try to rush.”

The Rockets have not entirely ruled Howard out of Sunday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, but Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff said there was just a “small possibility” Howard could play. The Rockets also play Monday in New Orleans in a stretch of five games in seven days.

“There’s a hope,” Bickerstaff said. “There’s a small possibility. That’s all.”

Howard had been in his best stretch this season. He had scored a season-high 36 points while matching his career-high of 26 rebounds against the Clippers on Monday. In his 10-game streak of double-doubles, Howard had averaged 20.6 points and 14.7 rebounds while hitting 64.4 percent of his shots. He had scored 20 points in five of 11 games after reaching 20 in five of 26 games.

In the first minute against the Detroit Pistons, however, Howard fell awkwardly after a foul by Pistons’ center Andre Drummond. He did not return to Wednesday game and was out Friday against the Milwaukee Bucks.

“It’s very difficult,” Howard said. “I was very upset when it happened. I felt like I was very comfortable on the offensive end and my teammates were finding me in the right spots. I thought personally it was the best stretch I had all year so I was very upset.”

The injury was not considered a long-term issue. Bickerstaff had said Friday that Howard would likely be out three or four more days. Howard, however, had hoped to slice a day or two off that timetable. There remains a “small possibility” that he could, but before Howard ran on Saturday, he had expected a greater chance than that.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com

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