Rockets vs. Grizzlies: Who Will Step Up in Absence of Star Players?

It will be a battle between two of the top teams in the Western Conference that will be lacking a lot of star power.

The Houston Rocket's James Harden is still nursing a foot injury and will miss his second straight game, while Marc Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies will miss his first game of the season Monday night when the Rockets pay a visit.

Harden is still day to day, but the outlook on Gasol is much bleaker after he suffered a sprained MCL in Friday's loss to San Antonio. According to Sam Amick of USA Today, Gasol is out indefinitely with his injury. 

That leads to the question of who is going to step up for the two teams in their stars' absence. For the Rockets (9-5), point guard Aaron Brooks made his case Saturday with a 26-point performance in the team's 112-101 victory over the Timberwolves.

Brooks has struggled to find playing time this year, totaling just 15 combined minutes of action in the previous six games. But with Harden out, he played a season-high 24 minutes against Minnesota and dished out five assists to go along with his 26 points. He also shot 10-of-14 from the field, including nailing six of seven shots from three-point range.

While you can't expect that type of performance every night, Brooks is capable of stepping up for a game or two in Harden's absence. As he showed Saturday, he still has some of the 2009 magic left in him, a season where he averaged 19.6 points per game for the Rockets.

The Grizzlies (7-6), on the other hand, will have a much tougher task of replacing their star Monday night. Kosta Koufos is first in line for replacing the reigning Defensive Player of the Year award winner and is up for the challenge.

In his sixth NBA season, the 24-year-old Koufos, who was traded to Memphis for Darrell Arthur in the offseason, has made 114 starts for four different teams. He has been a solid rebounder and defender throughout his career, averaging 10.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per 36 minutes.

However, he doesn't provide much on the offensive end, so the scoring load will need to be picked up by the likes of Mike Conley and Zach Randolph.

Koufos will be thrown right into the fire during his first night in the starting lineup, going against Dwight Howard, who has averaged 17.9 points per game this season while shooting 56 percent from the field. 

In four games against Koufos last year, Howard averaged 17.3 points and 16.8 rebounds while shooting 28-of-37 (76 percent) from the field. The Grizzlies could always go to the Hack-a-Dwight strategy; however, he has improved his free-throw shooting recently, knocking down 64.1 percent of his shots over the last six games.

Overall, it will be a tough test for both teams as they attempt to replace a pair of franchise players that are, by definition, irreplaceable.