If Tracy McGrady were playing, Ron Artest likely would not be.
While McGrady's sore left knee has garnered the majority of attention, and inspired his declaration on Tuesday that he will have to be out for three more weeks, Artest's sprained right ankle remains sore and has led to most of his offensive struggles the past two weeks. Artest's 5-of-15 shooting on Wednesday against the Clippers dropped him to 34.3 percent shooting this season. In the previous game, he went 4-of-18.
Though he had struggled with his shot all season, before the ankle injury, his difficulties seemed to be with finding his place in the Rockets' offense, working off Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady and knowing when to defer and went to look for his own offense.
Since the ankle injury Nov. 16, however, he has played without much strength or lift and has often played with either Yao (who missed one game) or McGrady (who has missed four) out. On other occasions, McGrady has played but has been ineffective with the knee injury that has now put him out.
Artest has often tried to make up for the lack of offense by trying to take over. That has not worked, with Artest often dribbling into traffic, where he lacks the lift get off shots inside.
Artest came close to taking time off to heal, but when McGrady returned from his visit to Dr. James Andrews and the team announced he would miss a week (since amended by McGrady to three weeks), Artest decided to keep playing.
"With Mac out, we have to try to get some wins," Artest said. "Hopefully, when Mac and Brent (Barry) get back, if it is still hurting by then, maybe I'll take a game (off). It's just a little sore. But it'll be all right. We'll get through it."
ROCKETS 103, CLIPPERS 96: The Clippers kept Yao Ming surrounded with double- and triple-teams, and once with a quadruple-team. They were so aggressive at taking away his shot that in the first half, he took only two, making both. However, he was fouled so often that he went 10-for-10 from the line. The defense on Yao, however, opened up other things around him. So with the Clippers scrambling into double teams and rotations, the Rockets drove the ball often enough to take a season-high 39 free throws, making a season-high 31, and were left open on the three-point arc enough to hit a season-high 10 three-pointers. While Yao had 24 points, making 6-of-8 shots, Rafer Alston took advantage of the opportunities Yao created, making 5-of-9 three-pointers to score a season-high 21 points.
