[Chron] Sura aching to play

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/3077890

PHOENIX - Bob Sura's legs bounced nervously, uncontrollably as he sat on the Rockets' bench watching teammates warm up.

His face was hard, his eyes empty. He did not turn his head or change his expression when he finally said what had become obvious: "This is killing me."

Sura then had two more games to serve on the injured list, incarcerated by soreness that developed in his surgically repaired back the day after the All-Star break.

The frustration was evident from the first games he missed. It became worse when he went on the injured list so that the Rockets could make roster moves to acquire Mike James and Moochie Norris to hold down his position and force him to follow doctor's orders.

But the Rockets lost four of his first five games barred from the court, increasing his longing to return to the active roster.

The Rockets' rout of Dallas on Sunday helped. But then another game, Tuesday's win in Seattle brought back his aching desire, as if his last drops of patience drained in his last game certain to be out.

"It is very difficult to start out the season the way I did (missing training camp and the first month of the season due to the back surgery) and now to be gone, to have another setback," Sura said. "It's been, well, it's been very difficult.

"It really hurt me to sit there and watch. It's really hard on me. I'd almost rather sit home than to be there, but I have to be there. It's not fun for me."

But with Tuesday's game behind him, Sura had completed his required five-game stay on the injured list and could be freed from the bench for Friday's game against Phoenix.

"He says he feels fine," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "He's practiced. He'll practice in Phoenix (today). We'll see from there."

If his return is uncertain, to be determined after Friday's shootaround, his place in the Rockets' rotation is not.

"He'll start," Van Gundy said, cutting off the question to indicate that there is no question about that.

But Sura also had no doubt he would be ready to play by Friday.

"I practiced the other day for the first time," Sura said. "We had some hard workouts, some hard conditioning workouts. We'll practice (today) and be ready to go Friday.

"It doesn't feel great. I don't know that it will this year or maybe ever. It's something I will have to live with, I guess."

The Rockets will not wait for Sura to fully recover, knowing that he might never play an NBA schedule without some soreness. They will need him to judge his readiness, knowing that at this point it will be difficult to get him to acknowledge a setback should today's practice not go well.

Trainer report good
"He's doing well," Rockets trainer Keith Jones said. "He's able to practice and do everything. If he's still feeling like he is now or feeling better, I'd assume we'd take him off the injured list and make a decision from there.

"Obviously, he can play with a lot of pain. He's played through a lot. You just really don't know how he's feeling, and Bobby's not going to tell you. He tries to play through everything. When he says 'I can't do it,' you know it's gotten pretty bad. Bobby's back, he's always going to have some discomfort and some stiffness. He has to gauge it. He knows if he can work through it."

But there is a sense that at this point, Sura would inflict injury before admitting to one.

"I can tell you what the decision is going to be: He's playing," guard Jon Barry said. "He's chomping at the bit. I don't think Keith has got enough to stop him. Bobby wants to be out there bad."

For all his frustration, Sura said that he was relieved to learn that the soreness was caused by a buildup of scar tissue on a vertebra, rather than a new injury. But with that fear out of the way, he could move on to basketball concerns.

The Rockets' second-leading rebounder at the time, averaging 10 rebounds per game in the five games before the break, he watched as the Rockets were outrebounded in four of the next five games.

If he comes back Friday, he would return in time to face three of the most difficult point guard assignments in the NBA, Steve Nash, Mike Bibby and Baron Davis, with three games squeezed into a rush of four days.

"It was disappointing for him to have to go out," Barry said. "We won eight in a row. We go to the break. The pieces were finally into place and he goes down. We need him. What Bob brings is something we have lacked. It will be nice to finally have our team set."

Intense test
That schedule would seem an intense test for the healthiest of players. But if there was a bright side to Sura's unwelcome return to the injured list, it did allow him to rest his sore right knee, a nuisance since mid-December.

"The knee felt good, the body's rested," Sura said. "I guess that's a good thing. But it's hard. It pains me to sit watching."

But finally, after all those maddening nights stuck to the bench, instead of playing through pain, playing will end it.
Rockets summary

Reluctant hero
Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy made his point clear. He then made his orders clearer.

Center Yao Ming, Van Gundy told the Rockets, was making 59 percent of his shots in the fourth quarter this season.

Yao Ming, he added, should get the ball in the fourth quarter.

Several days after that practice, Yao made four of five fourth-quarter shots, scoring 10 points, and passing to Tracy McGrady for a 3-pointer, helping the Rockets hold off Seattle on Tuesday.

"I cannot say it feels good. I feel a lot of pressure in the fourth quarter," Yao said. "Coach talked about my field-goal percentage in the fourth quarter in practice. I did not know that. It gave me a lot of confidence. It's still a lot of pressure."

Light my fire
Beginning with Tuesday's game in Seattle, the Rockets' four-game road trip offers a pretty good taste of some of the tougher venues in the league for visiting teams. After Friday's game in Phoenix, the Rockets will travel to Sacramento.

But as much as a home crowd helps their opponents, the Rockets have said that playing in that kind of atmosphere helps them, too.

"Having people against you lights a fire under most people," Rockets guard Jon Barry said. "It really does for Tracy (McGrady). I like to see him get upset. When he's upset, he's really something."

Asked about the difference between playing before raucous crowds at home compared to docile home crowds, Barry said the Rockets have fed off the energy on the road often lacking in Toyota Center.

"Certainly, our energy level on the road has been better on the road than at home," Barry said. "It's a great atmosphere in Seattle and, of course, it's always tough playing in Sacramento."

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You gotta love this guy, I can't wait to see him back on the court. Go Bobby!