MRI Negative-Hip Strain for T-Mac (Day to Day)

By JONATHAN FEIGEN


NEW ORLEANS - The thoughts, visions of terrible possibilities, could not have been worse or prevented.


The news, however, could not have been better.

Tracy McGrady had been facedown on the court, slapping the floor in pain. The Rockets' shooting was nearly as damaged. The Hornets, young and athletic with a frontcourt of fliers, seemed in position to pounce.

A few hours later, while the Rockets toughed out an 81-68 win Friday night over the Hornets, the MRI on McGrady's right hip showed no more damage than a strain, and he was considered no worse than questionable to play Sunday in San Antonio.

But even while moving to 15 games better than .500 for the first time since the end of the 1996-97 season, the Rockets we're happier that there was no other reason for the night to be memorable.

"That was a gutty victory for us," said Rockets guard Bob Sura, who led the Rockets with 19 points and 11 assists. "Tracy going down early. Yao (Ming) struggled a little bit. To gut one out on the road — a good feeling, a good feeling.

"Hopefully, he's a quick healer. You never want to see anybody get hurt, especially your best player, a guy you're going to count on every night. But it sounds like it's not going to be too bad."

It didn't look good.

In the third minute of the game, McGrady came across the lane defensively and ran into one of Yao's massive legs, hopping for a moment before crumpling to the court.

McGrady did not move, even when Vin Baker and Dikembe Mutombo carried him off, McGrady never touching a toe to the court.


Nearly returned
The initial report, however, listed McGrady as questionable to return. McGrady even began preparing to return to the game, when the decision was made to instead send him for an MRI to be sure there were no tears or other damage beyond the strain.

"Nothing torn, nothing new, just calling it a hip strain," Rockets trainer Keith Jones said after getting the MRI report. "The MRI was basically for what we were looking at negative. We'll see (Saturday) night how much soreness he has, what his range of motion is."

But as much as one of McGrady's nights of offensive brilliance would have been welcome, the Rockets went into Friday's game believing to beat New Orleans they would have to keep the Hornets' array of frontcourt athletes off the boards, defend and take care of the ball.

In the second half, they found that wherever they turned.

For the second consecutive night, Scott Padgett had a season-high in rebounds, this time getting 11 to match Clarence Weatherspoon's season-high. Ryan Bowen stepped in for McGrady and made each of his three shots. The Rockets' defense grew stronger throughout the game, with the Hornets making just 35.1 percent of their shots and missing each of their 10 3-pointers.

"Defense, rebounding and keeping the turnovers down, those can win any game no matter who's out there," Padgett said.

"I think everybody's got that mindset now, you can't wait for somebody else to do it. You can't block your man out and watch the ball. Block your man out and go get it. If a play needs to be made, make it."


Taking control
The Rockets began to take control late in the third quarter when, after trailing 48-47, they opened an eight-point lead, the same margin they had after three quarters in their previous trip to New Orleans, with the Hornets an incredible 1-45 when trailing going into the fourth quarter.


Flurry in fourth
But they headed toward blowout much as they had the night before against the Cavaliers with a fourth-quarter flurry of fast-break highlights.

After Sura scored on a drive to regain the Rockets' eight-point lead, Padgett scored on a reverse when Chris Andersen swatted his shot away after a foul was called and well after it had caromed off the backboard.

Padgett's three-point play gave the Rockets an 11-point lead. He immediately scored on another break. And when Jon Barry finished a break for his lone field goal in 11 shots, the Rockets had their largest lead, 73-58, and Barry celebrated by heading back for the Hornets' timeout beaming to the bench with arms raised.

"We played with great heart, great heart in the second half," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "For the most part we've done a good job of that this year, but tonight in the second half, they're such a big strong, physical team, I was very pleased with how we competed."

He would soon get more to please him. Having seen how the Rockets could play without McGrady, he was told they likely would not have to for long.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/3103301

 

This is the best news possible under the circumstances. When it happened it sure looked bad. Hope T-Mac doesn't have any lingering effects and can lead us through this road trip.

 

You can't confuse an X-Ray with an MRI. X-Rays are taken to deteemine if there are any broken bones. An MRI examines everything, including ligaments, tendons, joints, muscle tears etc.
In Tracy's case it's a strained hip, which means there some inflammation (pain) around the hip joint. Rest cures strains of this kind. This is similar to an injury he had in Orlando against New Orleans (Tractor Traylor caused it). He missed two games, but I don't think this one is as severe. I expect him to be back for Utah, maybe even San Antonio (you know he loves national TV games)