2:36 PM Fri, Jan 18, 2008 | Permalink
Butch Alsandor
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I spent the last 3 days at Rockets practice and one thing was clear, Tracy McGrady
is not 100 percent yet. However, there's a very good chance he will play when the Rockets
host the Spurs on Saturday night.
Rockets forward Shane Battier told me on Friday ,"I'm not going home and pray to the injury
fairy that T-Mac will be ready to play, because we have to be ready to go anyway".
McGrady also introduced a new twist to the injury watch, saying that he will probably
be coming off the bench if he does play on Saturday.
Yes, he did say coming off the bench. Would you bring Tom Brady off the pine ?
What about Ryan Howard ? For T-Mac the move would be about chemistry, he wants
to work his way back into the mix. The only problem is , Rick Adelman is the man who
makes the call as to who starts and who sits . But when he was asked about
McGrady's comments about coming off the bench , he said he hadn't really thought
about it yet. Like all superstars , T-Mac gets to call some of the shots and there's nothing
wrong with that . Afterall no one knows his injury situation better than he does .
He really wants to be in the lineup , but he also wants to be healthy enough to play
his game . The Rockets need the old T-mac to . McGrady at 50 percent won't make much
of a difference vs a team like the Spurs . But the good news is , on Friday , McGrady
said he was about 75 percent healed, and would be a gametime decision on Saturday.
The bottom line is the Rockets just have to play better with or without McGrady.
Maybe Rafer Alston said it best , he told me, "I like our lineup , but I like it better
with Tracy", and that's something we all can agree on.
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