McGrady set to return; Artest, Yao questionable AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — A game after the Rockets lost with Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest out, they could face the Detroit Pistons with all three back. Not one is certain to play, but each was determined to be well enough for decisions to be made today. Yao did not practice Saturday after he bruised his right knee in a collision in the first minute of Friday’s game. X-rays were negative and the swelling subsided enough for Yao to be considered a game-time decision. McGrady, who has been out since Jan. 9 to work on his conditioning, practiced and added extra running as Rockets coach Rick Adelman made plans for McGrady to return to the starting lineup. Artest, out since Jan. 7 with a bruised right ankle, is questionable. “If everything goes good, he’s expected to play,” Adelman said about McGrady. “We’ll see about Ron. You’re going to have to work them in, No. 1. It’s going to change the rotation. It’s going to cut minutes down on people who have been playing. Some might not play at all. We’re just going to have to work our way through it. “I think if Tracy is ready to go, we’ll probably start him. We’ll start him right off the bat because then when Ron is ready to play, he’s coming off the bench and it’s like we figured our rotation to be. Then we got to figure out what to do with Von (Wafer) and Brent (Barry). It seems you plug them right in, but we’ve been playing without them so long now, it’s not going to be that easy.” On Friday, McGrady said he felt ready to return. On Saturday, Artest said he was optimistic he would soon return. “When me and Tracy come back, it makes us a better team” Artest said, “Whatever the chemistry was, it’s going to be better.” • • • TONIGHT: ROCKETS AT DETROIT PISTONS • When/where: 5:30 p.m.; the Palace at Auburn Hills. • TV/radio: FSH, ESPN; 610 AM, 850 AM (Spanish). • Records: Rockets 27-17; Pistons 24-18. • Key matchup: Tracy McGrady vs. Allen Iverson. Former scoring champions who have struggled in different ways this season. Iverson is averaging a career-low 17.7 points; McGrady is averaging just 15.4 points. • Rockets update: Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest, who have not played in the same game since Jan. 2, are all game-time decisions. The Rockets had won six of seven before their loss Friday in Indianapolis with Yao going out at halftime with a bruised knee. If Yao, McGrady and Artest play, the Rockets would have their planned rotation available for just the third time this season. • Pistons update: They were blown out by the Mavericks on Friday, their fifth loss in seven games. First-year coach Michael Curry has moved Richard Hamilton out of the starting lineup, with Allen Iverson and Rodney Stuckey starting in the backcourt. The Pistons have won their past seven games against the Rockets in the Palace. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6228853.html I'm really interested in seeing how McGrady will come back from his latest off time. Let's see if he can back up all that talk.
Sounds good. However I don't see why RA feels the need to start T-Mac... this team has been starting fine without him...especially Wafer(the likely move to the bench) early.
Defense..... its been missing a lot of the time.....bigger guys better defense.....defense wins championships.
We'll see in tonight's game against Motown Pistons to see what's gonna be to our starting lineup and see how well T-Mac said he felt since he's been out for almost 2 weeks. Damn,and I just can't wait to watch 'em all on the floor. Ron Ron and Tracy all in the attack mode would be interesting for us to better enjoy the game night in and night out,won't ruin my night either with the traditional Chinese Lunar New Year. Just No more letdowns,T-Mac!We need ya and a win,badly.
Exactly,but I think they,who's injured and sidelined for weeks,need to get on the court to play with their teammates and figure out what exactly is gonna do with the substitutions like Von Wafer and Brent Barry,how much minutes they two should be given to play along with T-Mac in the lineup. That should be a tough job for RA to designate 'em all to the right spots.Von's been remarkable recently and hope he could be as good as he was with McGrady in the starting five.
Ron needs to return! He would be playing at his favorite place, where one of the most infamous fights went down, The Palace. Ron needs to show up and show Detroit, not only can he punch fat Detroit fans in the face for throwing beer at him, but he can dominate on the court as well.
Why do you guys want T-Mac off the bench? He said he's ready to go back full force so why not let him?
lol.. its because he "says" he can. We don't believe anything he "says" anymore. If he still continues to play crapball, then he should come off the bench and not disturb the chemistry of the current 1st unit (esp. Von Von).
No, because when he comes back that means he is healthly and his body is ready. we need t-mac, not tracy comming off the bench.
I'm really embarrased to be calling our 3 main players the "Big Three". I mean, let's hope they show us they can be worthy of the name at least because so far it hasn't happened yet.
