Spring Break
The Pro Side: T-mac's surgery a big blow to the Rockets
Mike Mauro
Issue date: 2/19/09 Section: Sports
Just as Jerome Dyson's knee surgery injected question marks into UConn's NCAA title hunt, the Houston Rockets' playoff standing and championship aspirations took a hit when Tracy McGrady announced he will have microfracture surgery on his left knee, forcing him to miss the remainder of the season.
Even though McGrady is the team's third-leading scorer and has missed 18 games because of his sore left knee, which he had arthroscopic surgery on in May, he is still a dangerous player that opposing teams need to respect.
Houston currently sits in the fifth spot in the Western Conference at 33-21 overall this season and will need to keep up that pace if it wants to secure a spot in the playoffs.
Without McGrady, who was averaging 15.6 points and 4.4 rebounds this season - far below his usual career numbers - the Rockets will need Yao Ming and Ron Artest to continue to be the focal points of the team and Shane Battier to become a bigger part of the offense.
It will be interesting to see if the Rockets can buck their losing trend without McGrady in the lineup. Houston is 33-52 in the 85 games McGrady has missed since 2004.
Either way, microfracture surgery is very serious, and the future of Tracy McGrady's career is definitely up in the air.
Even though McGrady is the team's third-leading scorer and has missed 18 games because of his sore left knee, which he had arthroscopic surgery on in May, he is still a dangerous player that opposing teams need to respect.
Houston currently sits in the fifth spot in the Western Conference at 33-21 overall this season and will need to keep up that pace if it wants to secure a spot in the playoffs.
Without McGrady, who was averaging 15.6 points and 4.4 rebounds this season - far below his usual career numbers - the Rockets will need Yao Ming and Ron Artest to continue to be the focal points of the team and Shane Battier to become a bigger part of the offense.
It will be interesting to see if the Rockets can buck their losing trend without McGrady in the lineup. Houston is 33-52 in the 85 games McGrady has missed since 2004.
Either way, microfracture surgery is very serious, and the future of Tracy McGrady's career is definitely up in the air.
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