Source Battier and Alston have surgery Houston Rockets forward Shane Battier and guard Rafer Alston each had surgery on Friday. Battier underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove bone spurs in his left ankle. Alston's procedure involved repairing ligament and tendon damage in his right ankle. The surgeries were performed by Rockets team physician Tom Clanton. "Both procedures went well," Clanton said. "Shane just needed to have a few bone spurs removed from around his left ankle joint. Rafer's procedure involved the repairing of some ligaments and tendons in his right ankle. I expect both players to be ready and available to participate in training camp activities." Battier averaged 9.3 points and 5.1 rebounds in 80 regular season games, including 78 starts. Alston averaged 13.1 points and 5.3 assists during his 74 games (all starts) this past season, but he missed the first two games of the playoffs versus Utah due to a strained right hamstring. Alston sustained the ankle injury in Game 6 of that first-round series, when the Rockets were eliminated from postseason play. Please no more injuries next season! We need a healthy team for true title contention next year. Our team looked like a hospital ward last year: with Yao, McGrady, Battier, Landry, Rafer, being injured and missing games or having to play with injuries. Here's hoping Rockets have no major injuries next year.
i hope for their speedy recovery, i think that management should realli look into them next season and try to reduce injury somehow
Battier needed that surgery, he was obviously struggling in last 3 games in the series, he couldn't move. Rafer's sprain also didn't look well so I'm happy they both had surgeries
You forgot Poland... er... Francis. I can't get that billboard out of my head -- the one with the puzzle pieces indicating that adding SF3 and Mike James, along with Scola, was going to make this last year a big one. I was down with trading Bonzi and I'mmikejamesbitch for Jackson, especially as a let's do it now thing, but it's hard to think about that billboard. In those days I felt bad for Rafer, as much as I'd yelled at him before. He looked like the fifth wheel on a bicycle where Rockets PG's were concerned, but he still turned out to be our best answer at that position. And we failed again to get out of the first round because he wasn't able to play. It's a fun exercise to think about where we'd have landed without the injuries. It's a depressing one to think about where we were supposed to get with the squad we started the season with -- the one on the billboard. I hope Steve proves all the cynics wrong next year, even though all the evidence going back to his first season in ORL puts the lie to that fantasy. But anyway, you forgot Francis.
cant believe I forgot stevie! I was thinking of him when I was typing but I think after I wrote those 5, who form a perfectly good starting lineup, I just forgot about Francis.(to be honest he didn't have much impact on the team after going out early). I guess Stevie could have been 6th man on that list. Regarding that puzzle you're talking about, I think the missing piece was health. We would have seriously beaten Utah if we had Yao and Rafer playing well,(well, at least playing). I really hope next year we'll have even a better "puzzle". I just get really pumped when I think of how the team will dominate if we have one of Maggette(Full MLE/S%T), Ron Artest(full MLE/S&T), Miller(Trade). Whatever it takes to get those players, or at least one of them, be it future picks, our young guys, expiring contracts, I'm willing. When you wait until Yao and T-Mac pass their prime years, the chances of winning a championship gets more remote by the year. I'm saying we spend our near future for NOW. Just make sure those picks we trade away are lottery protected...
So in the surgery pecking order, McGrady goes first (obvious one) but Battier and Alston go in at the same time? Can't bode well for Battier's future as a Rocket, there is a subliminiabable message being sent here by Morey. I just hope the doctors don't surgically remove his intangibles...
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/basketball/nba/wires/05/10/2030.ap.bkn.rockets.injuries.0109/ Its SI, but they cited from the Houston AP. Thats more like it
I think whats funny is that people expect this team to be healthy for a title run. This team is getting older not younger and history has proved for the past 3 out of the 4 season our Big 2 is INJURY prone.. Trade Tracy because obviously the Owner will never trade Yao (Cash Cow) ming.
Impressive. Four of our five starters were injured during the playoffs and we still managed to win 2 games against Utah. Go Rockets.
shows how utah sucks and how we'll be able to dominate them next season, with the exception of them having "home court advantage"
The most healthy men of Rockest were injured. In this case, 4 of starting lineup had the injured problem except Scola. I can't believe we will have a healthy season next year, but I hope we will get a healty playoff.
Thats because our key players were injured Hornets wouldn't have done much better without Paul and Chandler
