McGrady out with knee problems

[Andrew]

Looks like T-Mac's perennial injury woes have struck early this year.

McGrady Mentions 'Shutting It Down'

Tracy McGrady aggravated his troublesome right knee against the Thunder on Monday night and could miss time after undergoing an MRI on Tuesday.

"My knee gave out on me," McGrady said. "They told me if I was to go back in, and they saw me limping they were going to take me back out. I was like, "Well, that's what you're pretty much going to see.' My knee is feeling right. I hate to do this, but I'm going to get an MRI tomorrow and until, further notice, I'm going to have to shut it down."

Just a week ago McGrady went to a doctor in Phoenix and after a brief examination and visit, was told that the best course of action was to play his way back into strength and shape.

I read in the recap of the last Rockets' game that Artest injured his ankle as well but supposedly won't miss any time. Still not great news for the Rockets given the high hopes surrounding their new Big Three.

[Modifly]

Some updates on T-MAC's latest status :

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hot ... 19234.html

That's a relief, I'm very happy to know that it isn't as bad as it appears on the news.

[Lamrock]

The Rockets will never win a title with T-Mac and Yao as their franchise players. This is the first of many injuries that will hurt the Rockettes.

[Alejandrov011]

And here we go agaaaaaain

[Lamrock]

Its a good thing that they got that offensive player Artest.

[Andrew]

It's better news for the Rockets and T-Mac but he's still not at 100% so situation still isn't great. Better they have a rash of injuries sooner rather than later though so no playoff run is derailed and with 14 teams in the West currently with losing records and the Rockets not among them, an average start won't hurt them as much as only hovering around the .500 mark would have last season in the West.

[erik_twism]

Yao out with sore left foot, T-Mac has knee problems and also Artest is listed as day-to-day (so def. not at 100%).
Do you think we can see a lineup of Yao-Artest-Battier-TMac-Alston in the playoffs or how many are out at that point?

[NovU]

Don't forget Francis is out on injury as well. It's like the whole team is ill. Must be air pollution in Houston.

[OtiS]

steve francis i miss watching his old games before he got injured, his crossovers and speed were amazing for a guy his height

[Andrew]

Yao out with sore left foot, T-Mac has knee problems and also Artest is listed as day-to-day (so def. not at 100%).
Do you think we can see a lineup of Yao-Artest-Battier-TMac-Alston in the playoffs or how many are out at that point?

Hard to say but I don't think it can be ruled out completely. Better they suffer through some injury woes now than later in the season, with their record and the West being a bit more forgiving so far this year they can afford not to bring their A game for the moment. I think Battier will come off the bench when he returns though.

[homicide1550]

Rockets have been struck early by the injury bug... Too bad for their fans...

[NovU]

Better they suffer through some injury woes now than later in the season,

Fo sho. It was a big let down when Yao had to miss all those games including the playoffs. I'd love to see them taking extra precautinary actions this year.

I think Battier will come off the bench when he returns though.

Yeah, Scola's been superb and also because of his size, I think it's obvious who'll start. But I am anticipating to see T-mac playing PG time to time. Yao, cola, artie, battie, t-mac: the line up sounds just about as good as it gets for the rockets fan.

[Andrew]

I don't know if you want T-Mac having to create for himself and everyone else though, it certainly doesn't hurt to have the ball in his hands but it helps to have another strong ballhandler out there so that the team's best scorer can work without the ball as well, as Kobe does with Fisher and Jordan did with Pippen back in the day (though both certainly handled the ball a lot themselves). It's something they could run as long as it works but I think you need Alston or Brooks in there at crunch time.