[ESPN] Taking measure of great pains

First, the good news. Tracy McGrady returned to action Tuesday and looked good. He seemed explosive in his play, especially turning the corner during the loss to the Indiana Pacers. To me, that says his aching back is better.

And that's about it for the good news. NBA courts are littered with injuries, with Hornets guard Chris Paul the latest to hit the deck with an ankle injury. In recent memory, there hasn't been a playoff race so difficult to project because of injuries to key players.

We now have the unhappy prospect of a Houston Rockets team again facing the familiar issues of playing without either Yao Ming or McGrady. Or both.

We've said it countless times in the past few seasons: if T-Mac and Yao are both healthy, then this is a team that can get out of the West and into the NBA Finals.

But now I'm joining those who wonder if that will ever happen.

Yao's knee injury will likely sideline him until after the All-Star break. The Rockets are now 16-12. I do think they will still be over .500 when Yao makes it back, and be in contention for those final two playoff spots in the West.

Though it's not going to be easy. So far this season, the Rockets are 0-1 minus Yao, 2-5 without T-Mac.

While Yao heals, the progress of Bonzi Wells will be the thing to watch. Wells, wherever he's been in the NBA, is a guy you can put in isolation to carry your offense.

He has one of those body types that can just blow up with inactivity, which it did in the off-season. Now he's getting lean again, but it seems like he has dead legs now, just like its training camp.

Overall, the loss of Yao ranks as one of the five injuries most likely to take the heaviest toll on a team's fate. Here's four other injury situations that affected teams most dramatically:

• Heat center Shaquille O'Neal -- When the Miami Heat play disinterested hoop, they look like the worst team in the NBA. We really can't tell what kind of toll Shaq's absence is ultimately going to take on Dwyane Wade -- what he did on Christmas (40 points) is tough to do every night. He takes a lot of hits, and Shaq's not there to make things easier.

So Shaq, when he comes back, is going to take at least a month of playing to get into some kind of shape. Until then, he's going to put on some weight. If he's not going to aggressively go after his rehab, then he might not be a factor till we get very close to the playoffs.

• Lakers forward Lamar Odom -- With him healthy, they're a top six team in the West, one that could challenge for conference supremacy. He was finally comfortable NOT deferring to Kobe. He was an All-Star player in his own right. Last season he was a spectator, relatively speaking. How he comes back from the sprained knee next month bears intense watching.

• Grizzlies forward Pau Gasol -- Still making his way back from a broken foot, putting in 23 minutes in his sixth game Tuesday. Still the Grizz dipped to 6-23, the worst mark in the league. The loss of Gasol was devastating. This is a Grizzlies team, with a healthy Pau, that could post a win total in the high 40s as one of the tougher teams to play because of their halfcourt style. Without Pau, no.

• The New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets -- Just a wounded team. When it seemingly couldn't get worse for one of the more promising young teams in the league, Paul, one of the great young floor leaders since Magic Johnson, is carried off the court Tuesday after spraining his ankle. The team was already missing key pieces, Peja Stojakovic (back surgery, return this season in doubt), David West (elbow) and Bobby Jackson (rib).

This was a team that showed major strides in the season's first three weeks. Now they're reduced to fighting to stay competitive every night.

That's gotta hurt.

ESPN analyst Tim Legler, who made 43 percent of his NBA 3-point attempts in the face of five knee surgeries, turned 40 on Tuesday.

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