Jonathans Blog: Hawks 105, Rockets 103: McGrady, Rockets back in Atlanta, and nothing

if not already posted

 

http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2009/11/hawks_105_rockets_103_mcgrady_1.htm

Didn't we do this last season?

Last season, the Rockets came in to Atlanta dragging from a tough schedule and shorthanded, with all the attention on Tracy McGrady, who was not playing.

He had surrendered horribly in Toronto the night before, standing around the middle of the court when the Rockets had the ball and getting out of the way when the Raptors did.

He was out for the Hawks game because back then, he was not playing the second game of back-to-backs. But with McGrady and Ron Artest out, the Rockets took the Hawks to the final seconds with an all-guts, overachieving effort.

They did that again on Friday. They were outmanned as they often are, but battled their way to the last split-second almost entirely on effort.

Yet, somehow, McGrady still seems to be much of their story.

Last season, the Rockets were furious. That game in Toronto was McGrady being Manny.

This season, they are more perplexed, frustrated and disappointed.

McGrady did say he was in no way responsible for the Yahoo! story that on Friday quoted anonymous sources saying he and Rick Adelman had a heated confrontation on Wednesday when McGrady got himself in uniform for no apparent reason.

McGrady said on Friday that he did not talk to Yahoo! Sports for this story, and had nothing to do with it. The comment was surprising since I had not asked him anything about the source of the story.

McGrady did, however, get in uniform on Wednesday, dressing up as if he was going to play. But nothing has changed. McGrady was out on Wednesday, out on Friday and will be out on Saturday. He will practice on Monday and then go for an MRI.

McGrady, and anyone that cares, has known that schedule since September. The Rockets, who tonight play their eighth game in 12 days, have not given any indication that it was going to change. But unlike last season, when the Rockets found out he was having season-ending microfracture surgery by watching television, this season they will make the decisions no matter how McGrady dresses.

As McGrady saw this week, a player can take himself out. He cannot put himself in.

Much of the drama seems to come from McGrady's impatience to return and somewhat irrational way of handling it. Setting a target date a week sooner than the Rockets' earliest possible return date was never going to speed things up. Neither was dressing up to play on Wednesday.

In some ways, the whole thing is laughable (which might explain why McGrady was laughing on Wednesday when I asked him why he was wearing a uniform.)

McGrady has heard more than anyone that the plan was to have him practice Nov. 23 and then get an MRI to see how it looks (though if I have to hear it a few more times I might stick an ice pick through my eardrums.)

He could not have thought he would just put on the uniform and run out there. Even if he did, he did not go digging through the cases to get his uniform until after the inactive list was turned in.

The Yahoo! story made it sound like he warmed up as if he was going to play. The problem with that is that McGrady doesn't warm up before he plays. The fact that he was going through that workout indicates he knew he wasn't playing. He went through the workout he has been doing all season. And he wasn't wearing a uniform. And he didn't pass a surprised Rick Adelman in the hallway on his way back from the court to the locker room.

McGrady went back in the locker room, dug out his uniform on his own, and then popped out of the locker room for a moment during Adelman's pregame media session. Adelman did not seem to notice. When he was told a few minutes later that McGrady was in uniform, Adelman laughed. He chatted for a few more minutes and then went back to work.

Both denied Friday morning and again before the game that their subsequent discussion got heated. I saw everything else and can tell you it did not happen the way it was described. And as you might have guessed, I was the one who told Adelman that McGrady was in uniform, and I heard him laugh and chat, sounding in no way annoyed by the situation.

I was not there when they met so I cannot say first hand if the conversation got heated, but they say it didn't.

Even if it did, however, I'm not sure what difference it makes. There was nothing to argue about. NBA rules would not permit McGrady to play when he was already on the inactive list an hour before the game. And the idea that McGrady needed some clarification on his status is even more ludicrous. No one's status has ever been clearer.

Other than Adelman's comments in the game-day media sessions, the Rockets have refused to comment, sticking to their September plan to wait for the practice and MRI Nov. 23.

The date, however, does not seem to be tied to the insurance policy and a number of games McGrady has now missed. Sources have told me since last June 17 that the Rockets were already getting insurance money for every game McGrady missed and that they would continue to get paid for every game he was out beginning with Game 1 of this season. The checks did not start coming in with Wednesday's game. You might recall several discussions about McGrady's trade value last off-season based on the insurance savings a team would receive.

There really are two considerations. Can McGrady play and is all this a problem?

The second one is easy. The Rockets have long-since become numb to getting distracted by the "drama" as McGrady put it on Friday. Rafer Alston would get angry. Ron Artest would be distracted and go off in a variety of directions, sometimes at the same time.

The rest seem to laugh and move on. Luis Scola was pretty typical.

"I didn't hear anything," Scola said. "It wouldn't have mattered if I did. I don't speak English."

The reason the Rockets have played well with McGrady and Yao is that they are playing guys - Scola, Battier, Hayes, Lowry, Brooks - who only play one way. Can anyone imagine Scola playing differently because Tracy McGrady is disappointed that he is still out?

The other question is tougher to answer because we don't get to see him practice. He clearly believes he is ready. A lot of players believe they should play and always have. (If someone asks Joey Dorsey down in McAllen, he would say he should be playing.) The Rockets either disagree or just don't know. My guess is they disagree.

"In my mind, he hasn't practiced enough," Adelman said. "He's not ready to play."

Those are the decisions coaches are paid to make. The Rockets believe he was not ready to help the team win as much as other players. On Monday, they'll see if that has changed.

A season later, however, a lot is exactly the same as it was the last time the Rockets were in Atlanta.

 

sorry i was in a hurry