CHRON: tracy and artest practice (with new quotes)

Ron Artest sat on a folding chair, sweating from a vigorous workout and surrounded by more than a dozen minicams and digital voice recorders noting his every huff and puff.

“All this attention for one practice?” he asked.

It has come to this in the season of the revolving trainer’s room door for the Rockets. Advancements in getting everyone healthy have turned into progress measured in baby steps.

Artest and Tracy McGrady both returned to the practice floor Thursday for a hard, 12-minute scrimmage that revealed nothing definitive beyond they’re trying.

Neither McGrady nor Artest will play tonight against the Pacers in Indiana.

“They practiced,” Adelman said. “Today they looked good. We’ll see how they feel tomorrow.

“We had pretty much everybody. It was a short scrimmage after a game (Wednesday) night. But they both went through it. We’ll see how they respond, and we’ll go from there.

“I think definitely they both looked like they were moving good. They didn’t have any problems. I was pleased with the way they came out and played.”
T-Mac out 16 games

McGrady has missed 16 games this season while struggling to come back from surgery on his left knee in May and has been out the last five games to work on his conditioning.

Artest, who suffered a sprained right ankle Nov. 16, has missed 12 games, including the past six as the medical staff instructed him to shut it down.

“It feels good,” McGrady said. “I’m taking my time. I didn’t say I was coming back. I’m just trying to get some practices under my belt, and we’ll see what happens.”

McGrady would not say how close he was to returning to the lineup, though the training staff has left open the possibility of him playing Sunday at Detroit or Tuesday at New York.

“I don’t know,” he said. “We’ll see. I felt pretty good today after practice. We’ll try to get another one in Saturday and see how it goes. It is (stronger). The two weeks really helped me out.”

McGrady said he was encouraged by the workout.

“Getting up and down with guys, wrestling with that bull Ron Artest, it felt pretty good,” he said. “Conditioning is definitely not an issue. I feel that I’m in great shape. I’ve trimmed down a little bit. It’s a work in progress.”
Teammates step in

Artest said he was just happy to get back onto the floor.

“I haven’t practiced in I don’t know how long, maybe in two months,” he said. “It was good to be able to get some repetition and be able to prepare for whenever the trainers let me come back.

“I’m going to give it 100 percent. After that, we have to wait and see. I’m not going to do anything stupid. That’s the good thing about the team that we have here. We have a lot of guys that can step in.

“I feel good, but the trainers don’t think I’m good enough to play yet. … I think when I do get back, it’s not going to be 100 percent, but it will heal. The pain I’m playing on right now is nowhere near the pain when I first had the injury.

“If it was up to me, I’d play every night. Sometimes you’ve got to make smart decisions. I don’t think I made a smart decision by playing. You kind of want to show people what you’re about, kind of show the loyalty to the team.

“With everything that’s coming up this year, with contracts and all that, I didn’t want to not play because I’m injured and have people think I’m worried about contracts. You kind of want to sacrifice and show people what you’re about. But I did a little too much of ‘being a man’ and things like that. I should have just took the time off.”

With six wins in their last seven games, the Rockets have righted their ship, even without two of their big guns. That means Adelman doesn’t want McGrady or Artest coming back unless they are completely healthy and ready to play flat-out.
Playing hard

“You’ve got to see it on the court,” Adelman said. “You’ve got to see them actually attacking. Tracy went to the basket today and he dunked it. Ron went hard into the basket, he posted up. They both were playing aggressively without any hesitation. That’s what you’ve got to see. We’ve seen so much hesitation and everything else.”

Artest admitted he kept playing on the bad ankle because he didn’t think the team could keep winning if both he and McGrady weren’t in the lineup.
Bad decision

“I didn’t want us to get too far in the hole,” he said. “That’s why I wanted to play. But I had to make a decision, and they proved me wrong. They proved they could hold down the fort, and that’s a good sign.

“Now, I think the team, as much as we need them, the team needs us. We all need each other.

“Easily, if me and Tracy were healthy this whole season, and the whole team was healthy (and) Deke (Dikembe Mutombo) here, we’d have a much better record. I don’t want people to get it twisted. We have a lot of tough games ahead. I think our services will be helpful.”

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6226149.html

good sign. they just need to take their time. the team is doing fine without them. when they get back, this team can only get better. like artest said, if both were healthy the entire year, we'd probably challenge for the best record right now.

 

more updates: teammates' quotes:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6226129.html

Though Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest are not quite ready to jump back into the lineup, their teammates were happy to welcome them back to practice.

“It was good to see them back on the floor,” said guard Aaron Brooks . “They went hard. They looked pretty good coming back.

“You could see a little bit of rustiness, but they’ve been out for a while. It’s just good to see them back.

“I think they’re veteran guys. They’ve seen how we’ve been playing and how we’re running the offense. I think they’re going to fit in perfectly. They’re our two main guys, and Ron and Tracy give us other options at the end of the game.”

Yao Ming also gave a thumbs up.

“They looked in good shape,” he said. “They played some in the scrimmage, and it looked really hard.”