Francis in Boston, should play

I heard earlier today that Francis rejoined the team in Boston and is expected to play Friday.


OS

 

No word yet if he and Cat are going to hit the Boston strip clubs tonight.

os

 

I've always heard that sex is actually good for headaches...at least that's what I tell my wife!


os

 

Ever read Loose Balls by Jason Williams (Nets)? He has some great stuff in it. He said anytime a player says he has the flu it's really a hangover.

I strongly recommend the book...in paperback now. Lots of good behind the scenes info.


os

 

I liked Rudy's book, only because I'm not from Houston and he told the history of the Rockets. He has some good stuff about when he and Calvin were roommates.

I've also read Hakeems book as well as former Comet Cynthia Cooper...I would not recommend either. They are both good if you want to know more about their childhoods but not very indepth when it comes to NBA or WNBA "dirt".

os

 

I often wonder how so many people claim to know what Francis is thinking and feeling. I said this earlier in the week, the combo of Francis and Griffin has the potential to be deadly. They just need the right mix to go around them. I'm not quite sure what that mix is but I think they are close. Many people are also forgetting the sweet new arena being built downtown. That won't hurt in the search for free agents, etc., down the road.

OS

 

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle

BOSTON -- All things considered, Steve Francis had a good Thursday.

He rejoined his team. He talked business at Reebok headquarters. He draped himself in Maryland gear, including his authentic Juan Dixon jersey, to watch his beloved Terrapins for a few hours with his phones and pagers all switched to the off position, which his worried friends and family could understand.

But most of all, the headaches were gone.

To Francis, a day without blinding pain is a good day.

He is not, however, cured. The tests he took in Washington, D.C., as with the battery of tests he has taken since his migraines began in training camp, have failed to show their cause.

"It's very tough to deal with," Francis said. "It's so frustrating. I'm really sick of it."

There is a mixed blessing in the test results. Because the tests have been negative, Francis does not have to be concerned with potentially alarming causes of migraines. But lacking answers, he said he can't help but wonder and worry.

"It's good things are coming out like that," Francis said. "But it's bad, too. I'm getting fed up. I want to get this over with.

"Of course I'm worried. I can't play. Plus I'm worried about myself. Who wouldn't be worried? It's very, very possible it's something in my diet. That's the next thing. I eat a lot of food. I eat the right things. I don't think it's something like that.

"It worries me. I really don't know how to cure migraines. The doctors gave me all the medicines. All the tests came out great. I've taken every test you possibly can take. They all came out good."

So the guessing continues. Francis thought he might be causing the migraines with his usual edginess before games. But he said he has sometimes had headaches on days off, though not as often as on game days. And the pain began during the relatively unexciting time of training camp.

"That's when it really just started -- in Austin," Francis said. "I have never had it before."

He has played with the pain in many games, including Tuesday's in Philadelphia. That game, which brought a sudden relapse, convinced him to try more tests.

Francis made just five of 20 shots and committed seven turnovers against the 76ers. He did not blame the headaches for his 1-of-9 first half, but there is no way to know how greatly they affected his vision or balance. In the second half, he admitted, he had trouble focusing and felt dizzy. He played with similar dizziness in the Rockets' previous game against the Nuggets on Saturday, taking only eight shots.

In the one game prior to Wednesday's that Francis missed with a migraine -- against the Lakers in Los Angeles on Dec. 30 -- he sat on the bench for much of the second half trying to bring objects in his view into focus.

After Tuesday's game, he decided to try again to discover the cause of his problems, rather than wait for the appointment scheduled for next week.

"That made me make the decision to think about myself before basketball," Francis said. "The Philadelphia game I was hurting my team. I wasn't being aggressive. But don't get me wrong; the first half, I was just missing. At halftime, it hit me. I knew I wasn't up to par.

"If I didn't have that one good game when I had headaches against Dallas, I wouldn't have said I could play with it. It's been very frustrating."

But on Thursday, he returned to business. He met with Reebok officials about a new line of "Above the Rim" clothing to be released in June.

He planned to return to shootaround this morning and to play tonight, believing he at least will not have to hear the criticism of the Rockets that he hates.

Francis is the only NBA player leading his team in scoring average, rebounding average and assists average. The Rockets are 1-17 in games he has missed.

"I love my team," Francis said. "The only thing I don't like is people saying we can't win without me. I'm another player on the team. That would make me feel bad to hear people saying you can't win without one guy. I care about my team."

But as much as he tried to return to routine, there was a difference. More than ever, the phones -- which he eventually turned off in order to watch Maryland in peace -- would not stop ringing.

"Everybody's calling me, asking me about how I feel, talking about playing basketball," Francis said. "My family, especially my grandma, are really calling. My grandma really wants to come here. She wants me to be well. Everybody wants me to be well. It's something I understand. But I don't know what to tell them."

 

Whatever it takes.

os