The Rockets have been afflicted with shooting woes on a couple of occasions already this season. But the injury bug had stayed away so far, leaving many people optimistic about the team's chances for a high playoff seed in the Western Conference. But then Tracy McGrady's elbow barged in to the discussion.
In the waning seconds of a disappointing first half against the Lakers at Toyota Center, T-Mac collided hard with Lakers forward Luke Walton and immediately left the game holding his elbow. An MRI later showed that he has a strained tendon in his right arm, making the injury far less serious than it had seemed at first. However, McGrady is expected to miss at least a week's worth of games, including a brutal stretch of games against Phoenix, San Antonio, and Dallas.
The injury is made all the more distressing because there doesn't seem to be anyone else on the Rockets' roster who can take the place of McGrady's scoring. Yao will continue to get his, but when offseason acquisition Mike James is shooting just 32% from the floor, Luis Scola is barely getting enough playing time to show what he's capable of, and Bonzi Wells still not capable of assuming the court general role, the Rockets' chances of putting some distance between themselves and their Western Conference rivals take a nosedive.
Which, inevitably, brings us to the Steve Francis question. He still hasn't played a minute this season and is obviously on coach Rick Adelman's shit list, but he should still have enough in the tank to provide a spark to the sure-to-be painful McGrady-less perimeter offense. But to bring things back to the context of last night's game, the other reason that the Rockets lost was a sick game by Kobe Bryant, who scored 30 with a blistering shooting performance. While T-Mac's strength is not defense, he was the most effective defender against Kobe (especially with Shane Battier in foul trouble), and Stevie Franchise would've been treated like a Colorado hotel employee by #24. The only real solution is for T-Mac's elbow to heal, and soon.
The Rockets head down I-10 for a matchup against the Spurs tomorrow night. Tim Duncan's team are poised to make a run at back-to-back NBA titles, so Yao and co. will have their work cut out for them. Stay tuned to Houstonist for more Rockets coverage!
--
photo: flickr user jeffbalke
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit