[Chron]T-Mac:X-rays after the game, showed no structural damage

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/2985289


McGrady's 45 carry Rockets
With attention inside, long shots wear out Nuggets
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

DENVER - This is why they put Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming together, how it is supposed to work.


Yao sets up inside. A swarm of defenders rush to surround him. And McGrady, the two-time NBA scoring champion, is left with man coverage.

McGrady kept expecting the double teams to come. But while he waited and wondered, he kept firing away until the Rockets surged to a 116-98 win over the Nuggets on Sunday in their most prolific offensive game of the season.

"The fourth quarter, I told myself I needed to take over the game, just impose my will on them," said McGrady, who had a game-high 45 points. "I was really (surprised there was no double team.) Hey, thank you. That's all I got to say, 'Thanks.' "

But McGrady did not get going in the fourth quarter until after Yao had begun the period by nailing a jumper and putting in an offensive rebound. That was enough to keep the double-team attention inside.

The Nuggets, third in the NBA in steals, have given Yao fits with small guards swooping in. But Sunday, he had just two turnovers, as he and the Rockets had none in the fourth quarter.

That let McGrady go to work on the perimeter.

"Tracy, they didn't double him," Jon Barry said, the surprise evident in his voice. "A lot of his shots are guarded. But they're good shots for him because he can raise up over guys. When they start sending guys, as soon as he saw them, he hit me. He made seven in a row, but he's unselfish. He even asked me after the game, 'Did I miss you?' You go for 45, you're not missing anybody.

"When Tracy goes off like that, it makes it easy. I can say he and I combined for 48."

McGrady made seven of nine shots, including four consecutive 3-pointers to score 20 of his 45 points in the fourth quarter. But what was even more remarkable was that after scoring three points in the third quarter and badly straining his left thumb, he rolled through a fourth quarter he had been uncertain he would be able to play.

X-rays after the game, however, showed no structural damage. "I was going up for a rebound, and I don't know what happened," McGrady said. "I got it caught on somebody's leg. I don't know if it's ligament damage or what. It's pretty sore right now, but it didn't stop me from doing what I do.

"I was kind of worried because the bandage they taped on there wasn't too comfortable."

The Rockets' 41-point fourth quarter was their highest scoring of the season. But it should not have been too great a surprise. Their 35-point first quarter on Sunday was also their most prolific.

But the Nuggets began exploiting mismatches and the double teams they brought. With 3 1/2 minutes left before the fourth quarter and the Rockets' 17-point early lead reduced to four, the Nuggets seemed ready to take control.

Carmelo Anthony, who would lead the Nuggets with 27 points, had taken off for a fast break, forcing Bob Sura to foul him to prevent the layup. But on the play, Sura's sore right knee collided with Anthony's moments after he had similarly banged knees. Within minutes, Sura would join McGrady on the bench, with both wrapped in tape and ice packs.

Anthony was called for a technical foul for shoving Sura after the foul. And like Sura and McGrady, Andre Miller had gone out with a right ankle sprain.

But things would get worse for Miller and the Nuggets. He went out for the night with a calf strain, while McGrady returned stronger than when he left.

With a 10-point fourth quarter, Yao finished with 21. But more than anything, he was the focus of the Nuggets' defense.

"We were shooting well today from 3, forgetting those three in a row in the last minutes," Yao said. "We were shooting well from the first minutes. I was interested in why they keep doubling inside and not on the 3."

But the answer might have been clear. The Rockets put McGrady with Yao for nights like these, when defenses have no good choices.

"Hey, when you get a player like McGrady shooting the ball like that, it's tough to do anything," Cooper said.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com