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[Feigen]TMac Cautious, Out a Week

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by docgundy, Dec 27, 2007.

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docgundy Member

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First the news: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5405713.html

I have some problems with this. As Feigen said, the MRI was good news. I expected Tracy to maybe miss Friday and Saturday with the extended break, but I guess he wants to miss longer. You better hope he's back to his old self when he returns now. Otherwise, I'd be damned to be fed up with his play.

T-Mac using caution
Rockets star doesn't want to return too fast from knee injury

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Tracy McGrady's sore left knee might not be as damaged as he thought, but that does not mean he expects to be back on the court anytime soon.

Two days after an MRI showed no damage other than swollen tendons and McGrady's status was termed "day-to-day," McGrady on Wednesday predicted he would miss another week, a stretch that would put him out for three or four games at a time the Rockets (13-15) are losing contact with the top half of the Western Conference.

"Right now, I'm saying a week to see how I feel," McGrady said. "Come in here, get a couple practices, get up and down the court. Don't want to rush it because we don't want the same thing to happen again. We'll see."

McGrady, the Rockets' leader in points and assists per game, left at halftime of last Wednesday's loss to Orlando and missed the double-overtime loss to Denver the next night. He played Saturday in Chicago but left shortly after halftime the next night against Detroit after a flare-up of the knee pain following a dunk late in the first half.

Rockets trainer Keith Jones on Wednesday would not discuss a timetable for McGrady's return until meeting with the doctors, likely today.

"It's definitely a relief," McGrady said of the MRI results. "I thought I had something torn in there. That's not the case. It's just sprained. I'll probably be out a week. I don't really know. I can't really put a timetable on it. I know I'll miss the next few games.

"It's a sprain. I got some inflammation in there we got to get out."

Adelman willing to wait
The Rockets held out hope McGrady could return sooner than he predicted. But coach Rick Adelman said they might be better off getting him back when he is able to move and play at full strength, rather than with him continuing to be limited and going in and out of the rotation.

"So far, the tests they did looked fine," Adelman said. "He's got soreness in it. He's the only one who can tell us how he feels. We'll just have to see what happens from this point on. I just kind of look at it as a day-by-day thing. I'd much rather have him playing, but if it's better for him not to play, we just have to accept that.

"When he does play, it's a big lift for us. But he can't play like he's tried to. When it's bothering him, he can't move the way he wants to move. That doesn't help us at all. It's frustrating. You'd like to have him out on the floor. You'd like to have him playing. But if he's not going to play, you really need the other people to step up."

Without McGrady, the Rockets are 0-3 this season, 2-12 the past two seasons and 11-42 since he joined the Rockets for the 2004-05 season. McGrady has left three games with injuries this season — a sprained elbow, a sprained ankle and the sore left knee. But in the previous game McGrady missed, the Rockets took the Nuggets to two overtimes in Denver before losing on a last-second shot.

Heading to Memphis to face the Grizzlies on Friday in the first half of a back-to-back with Toronto at Toyota Center on Saturday, the Rockets have lost four of their past five games. They have lost six of eight since last winning consecutive games Dec. 5 and 7.

Their next three games, including the New Year's Eve game against Golden State, are against teams that have defeated the Rockets this season since their slide from the 6-1 start.

"It's a good opportunity to find ourselves," center Yao Ming said. "We can't keep going on like we are now. This is a good time to test us. We need to turn the season around. We're probably (playing) a little better but still not good enough if we want to be a good team in this league. Our record is 13-15. That says we're still struggling."

Back-to-back up next
Adelman and Rockets players have said they believe the team has improved. Though they face a Friday-Saturday back-to-back and have been terrible in back-to-backs (2-6 when playing a second game in as many nights), this week was supposed to be a chance to improve the record,as well.

Now they appear certain to try to do that without McGrady.

"We have to turn it up another level," guard Rafer Alston said. "With Tracy, we had to turn it up. Now, without him, we have to turn it up two notches. Most of us have been there before, missing one of our superstars if not both. I'm well prepared to go out there and do the job. I know these guys understand the position we put ourselves in."

Whether they would be better served to play with McGrady diminished by the injury or to give him the time needed for him to be back at full strength is unclear.

McGrady sounded ready to wait, a position that teammates endorsed.

"He's been in this league a long time," forward Shane Battier said. "He knows the length of the season and about knickknack injuries, especially early. We'd rather have him heal up and come back 100 percent.

"T-Mac on one knee isn't the best for him and isn't the best for our team. He needs to get right, and only he knows when he is ready to go full bore."

Still, McGrady's declaration Wednesday could have been considered a surprise, coming so soon after good MRI news. But by now, the Rockets have learned to assume nothing.
Click to expand...

Now to Feigen's commentary on his blog: http://blogs.chron.com/nba/2007/12/mcgrady_ill_probably_be_out_a.html

Feigen comments on what I had a problem with earlier in this post.

McGrady: "I'll probably be out a week."

A few years ago, during a game in Boston, a long rebound bounced out of bounds almost directly to me.

Tracy McGrady was the closest to it on the court, but had no chance to get it. I had a great angle and knew no one could have kept that ball from going out of bounds.

McGrady saw it the same way, turned and walked slowly back the other way. It looked awful. He wasn't wrong. He cost his team nothing. But it looked awful.

That's the way it is with McGrady. Sometimes even when you are right, you are wrong. When you think of the things he says but shouldn't -- talking about teammates that can't shoot, reasons the Rockets lose - he often is right, even if he was wrong to say them.

On Wednesday, he talked about when he might be back with the Rockets, saying his sore left knee would probably keep him out for a week. And he made this prediction with a la-di-da wording that seemed incredibly casual with the Rockets season on the brink. But the impression I get around the Rockets is that he is right, that he probably will need some time to rest the knee or face a long, long stretch of relatively mediocre play while dragging his left leg around behind him.

"Right now, I'm saying a week to see how I feel," McGrady said. "Come in here, get a couple practices, get up and down the court. Don't want to rush it because we don't want the same thing to happen again. We'll see."

He just about said "oh well." But what someone says is not as important as what they do and the sense around the Rockets is that if he sits out the better part of a week he will be doing the right thing.

Perhaps that's why he polarizes opinion so.

That begins of course with the Rockets being such a disappointment. Whether losing Game 7 or reaching this point of the season at 13-15, the Rockets have fallen far short of expectations.

Those that wish to blame someone (having moved on, for the most part, from Rafer Alston) will naturally blame McGrady. When you are a franchise player, that's fair. It is on him. But beyond that, he seems to divide opinion because he so infuriates some with his manner. Others could care less what he says or what expression he wears on his face. Some want to see the stars' passion.

His comments typically don't rankle me at all. Reporters generally like it when players are consistently frank, but I don't think I would care if I were a fan, either. I can understand why they bother others, but they don't irritate me. Neither does his expression when he plays.

The greater issue is that he is a fine player that could be and should be better, a shortcoming which some will consider unforgivable.

Personally, I think most of the criticism of McGrady comes from the same thing that defines much of his career: he has never won a playoff series. The disappointment that brings to those with an emotional stake in those series breeds an increasing antipathy the following season.

For now, however, he is likely to be out for the next few games. He said a week. Figure on him missing two to four games. Some will say he should play, that he is not that hurt. It is not clear how they would know that unless they snuck a peak at the MRI. But the Rockets' brass believes that he has an injury, he did play on it, that didn't work and now he needs rest.

McGrady was probably right with his comments on Wednesday and with his plan to rest the knee. But he made it sound wrong again.
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#1 docgundy, Dec 27, 2007

docgundy Member

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sorry for the clutter at the top of the article

#2 docgundy, Dec 27, 2007
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i dont want to sound like an ass (only tmac, after all, knows how much it really hurts) but when the season is on the brink then tmac needs to frickin suck it up. i love him but he is doing nothing to shed the 'soft' image he has. im so sick of him getting hurt with these minor injuries...every casual fan knows tmac is a bit of a puss, but a week? at this point? come on man. guys play hurt every day.

tmac is the anti brett favre. it hurts to read this kind of news every season. oh well.

thanks for posting man.

#3 jello77, Dec 27, 2007
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maybe he needs to spend less time at camp chiwawawa or whatever and man up. Anyone still have that link?

#4 FFz, Dec 27, 2007
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he will probably miss 2 games, maybe 3. We can beat Memphis and Toronto without him, but Goldenstate is a sure loss without him(perhaps even w/him ). He SHOULD make it a point to be back for the Celtics game on Jan. 2nd. If we don't have him for the Celts game, it could be quite embarrassing for us.

Best case would be a return for the G.State game to get some pt before the celtics game

Rest up and let's roll.........

Jello, he is just guessing

#5 Tfor3, Dec 27, 2007
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Merry Christmas everyone!

#6 igotask8board, Dec 27, 2007
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Tfor3 said:

he will probably miss 2 games, maybe 3. We can beat Memphis and Toronto without him, but Goldenstate is a sure loss without him(perhaps even w/him ). He SHOULD make it a point to be back for the Celtics game on Jan. 2nd. If we don't have him for the Celts game, it could be quite embarrassing for us.

Best case would be a return for the G.State game to get some pt before the celtics game

Rest up and let's roll.........

Jello, he is just guessing
Click to expand...

I think I have to correct you something. from the recent observations, we play tougher without him and we have more chances to win. His absence is a totally good news for us. Just forget about the "Rockets' glass".

#7 Rock_Johnson, Dec 27, 2007

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it's time for Bonzi and Scola to step up big time and win some for the Gipper ...

let's not diss TMac. he's hurt, he needs time to recuperate.

#8 YaoYi, Dec 27, 2007
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Rock_Johnson said:

I think I have to correct you something. from the recent observations, we play tougher without him and we have more chances to win. His absence is a totally good news for us. Just forget about the "Rockets' glass".
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Anyone who thinks the Rockets have a better chance to win without McGrady has clearly been asleep at the wheel.

#9 thacabbage, Dec 27, 2007
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thanks for the post lol im curious to see how well rafer shoots the ball when his game is raised up two notches

#10 l3igballer23, Dec 27, 2007
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Well, this is another chance to see if Yao can actually lead his team to victory without T-Mac.

#11 Angkor Wat, Dec 27, 2007
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Angkor Wat said:

Well, this is another chance to see if Yao can actually lead his team to victory without T-Mac.
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Adelman can't lead this team anywhere with anybody. So we can't even technically get that far...

#12 Ziggy, Dec 27, 2007
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I guess he ll be back when we are opposed against a weak contender?

joke a outrageouse joke...

Anyway, the sooner we get used to his absence for our 'current team', the better it will be for us to get stronger on the offense. I will be expecting the following games~~~~must be some games worthy to watch.

Go Rox.

#13 oneonepyopyo, Dec 27, 2007

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Tfor3 said:

he will probably miss 2 games, maybe 3. We can beat Memphis and Toronto without him, but Goldenstate is a sure loss without him(perhaps even w/him ). He SHOULD make it a point to be back for the Celtics game on Jan. 2nd. If we don't have him for the Celts game, it could be quite embarrassing for us.

Best case would be a return for the G.State game to get some pt before the celtics game

Rest up and let's roll.........

Jello, he is just guessing
Click to expand...

We Want Steve!!!

Time for Francis to step it up!

#14 poprocks, Dec 27, 2007
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Tmac should stay at home as long as he likes. Rockets play worse if he only plays half a game as usual.

#15 brush, Dec 27, 2007
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Great, here comes a 4 game losing streak.

*add that to our current one.

#16 Uprising, Dec 27, 2007
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poprocks said:

We Want Steve!!!

Time for Francis to step it up!
Click to expand...

Real question is, can he step it up? I don't know how many chances can Steve get but here's another one. And we still don't know if he will get any significant minutes to contribute. Now with T-Mac out he should get some time but with Brooks in the lineup, Him or james, even both might not get to play.

#17 Angkor Wat, Dec 27, 2007
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poprocks said:

We Want Steve!!!

Time for Francis to step it up!
Click to expand...

He is not the old Steve any more. He has lost his speed, explosiveness, and even his touch. So forget him.

#18 tsunami, Dec 27, 2007

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Angkor Wat said:

Well, this is another chance to see if Yao can actually lead his team to victory without T-Mac.
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well yao had enough chances. he can't get it done. he needs either tmac or his $20 mil replacement. even yao fans admit that.

#19 Jonhty, Dec 27, 2007
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Jonhty said:

well yao had enough chances. he can't get it done. he needs either tmac or his $20 mil replacement. even yao fans admit that.
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So tell me why TMAC wants to quit Orlando Magic when he knew that Hill could not be the old Hill any more? By the way Hill earned even much less than $20Million then.

#20 tsunami, Dec 27, 2007

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