In what could turn out to be an embarrassment of riches, the Indiana Pacers welcomed back Danny Granger on Friday night against the Houston Rockets.

Granger, who averaged more than 20 points per game in three consecutive seasons (2008-11), missed the first 25 games of this season with a left calf injury. The Pacers were just fine in his absence. They went 20-5 and allowed the 30-year-old to make sure the muscle strain was fully healed.

Indiana had a lot of practice playing without Granger, who in the past almost singlehandedly dictated whether they won or lost. He played in just five games last season because of a left knee injury that eventually required surgery in the spring.

Frank Vogel planned to give Granger 15-20 minutes in the early stages of his return, but blowout wins over the Rockets and Boston Celtics (Sunday) allowed Granger to see a little more action without ramifications in the win-loss column.

Even though there weren’t any tense possessions played this weekend, Granger was very much thrown into the fire against Houston. The Rockets rank sixth in the NBA in pace and Vogel decided the Pacers were going to get out and run with Dwight Howard and Co. That’s easier said than done when you haven’t played in a game in more than nine months and you’re coming off an injury that easily could be aggravated by running too hard or too much.

In 22 minutes, Granger went 1-for-7 with five points, five turnovers, two rebounds and two assists against Houston. He made one of his four three-point attempts and sank both his foul shots.

Granger wasted no time adding to the excitement at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Less than a minute after he checked in, he blocked Howard from behind on a four-foot attempt. During his first stretch of play -- he was in for the final 4:05 of the first quarter -- he also tipped a pass and clearly wasn’t looking for his shot. His lone attempt was long.

Vogel kept Granger in for the first 5:40 of the second quarter and he played alongside C.J. Watson, Lance Stephenson, Luis Scola and Ian Mahinmi. He played with Watson, Paul George, Scola and Roy Hibbert in the first period.

Francisco Garcia got by Granger on the defensive end during this stretch and he had several miscommunications with his teammates on the offensive end. On one possession he was long on a three and then short-rimmed another attempt following an offensive rebound.

Vogel followed a similar substitution pattern in the second half. Granger replaced Stephenson with 2:47 left in the third and he remained on the floor until there was just 2:28 left in the game. He logged a whole 82 seconds with Indiana’s four other starters.

Granger made his first (and only) field goal at the 9:48 mark of the fourth when he hit a three-pointer to give the Pacers a 92-67 lead. Aside from that, he looked as you might expect in his final 12 minutes. He stepped out of bounds and had the ball taken from him by both James Harden and Omri Casspi.

The hometown fans serenaded Granger with a “Dan-ny” chant when Vogel removed him from the game. Afterward, the career-long Pacer expressed appreciation for the support.

Granger logged 25 minutes against the Celtics and his shot looked like it was in midseason form. He went 4-for-5 from three as he contributed 12 points and five rebounds. He missed all three of his two-point attempts and was second to only Stephenson, who had a triple-double, on the team in plus/minus (+17).

He entered the game a tad earlier this time, joining Hill, George and Hibbert on the floor along with Scola at the 4:58 mark of the first period. In five minutes he grabbed two rebounds, was bullied by Gerald Wallace in the paint and blended nicely into the offense without attempting a shot. In the second quarter Vogel sent out a lineup of Watson-Stephenson-Granger-Scola-Mahinmi. West replaced Scola for the final two-plus minutes of Granger’s run in the quarter. He front-rimmed a 21-footer on his first field goal attempt, but then rebounded with consecutive three-point makes.

The earliest dimension he added to Vogel’s offense was on the break, whether a traditional fast break or one created by Stephenson, as another option on the wing for a kick-out three.

His first action of the second half came at the 3:54 mark when he replaced Stephenson to log a few minutes with the starters once again. Vogel then slowly trickled the rest of the second unit out onto the floor, with the exception of Stephenson, who chased a triple-double in the fourth.

Granger stayed in until there was just 3:45 left in the game, which was in hand for the second time in three nights. He added two more threes and another pair of rebounds, but did show some rust at times. One example came when MarShon Brooks rejected him on a layup attempt in the fourth.

The sample size is small, even for a guy that played in just five games and scored just 27 points in 2012-13, but a rusty Danny Granger may have already made the Pacers a better team. They scored more than 100 points in back-to-back games for just the second time all season and the bench has quickly become more dangerous.

Rumors about Granger’s future with the Pacers have been swirling for nearly a year -- ever since George emerged as a star and Stephenson as a competent starter. Larry Bird insists that he isn’t looking to trade him and Granger has said all the right things when it comes to staying in Indiana.

The Pacers aren’t going to lap everyone they face with Granger back in the fold, but each win should increase his chances of at least finishing out his contract (which expires this coming summer) in blue and gold.