--When Tracy McGrady returned from his visit to Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., the Rockets announced he would be out for another week. A day later, he said it would be three weeks.
Either way, it was clear that McGrady does not intend to play until he can play at a level he has not consistently this season. "Obviously, I came back a little bit too early," McGrady said. "My knee is still healing, and it's not ready.
"I have to rehab. I have to rehab for a couple of weeks, and I have to gradually work my way into practice, and we'll go from there. But right now, I won't be playing for a couple of weeks.
"If I could control it, it would be something different. But it's uncontrollable, and I'm definitely not going to get discouraged about it. I trained my (butt) off in the summertime, and things happen.
"I'm fortunate that I will be able to overcome this. I won't have to worry about losing my quickness or any of my explosiveness. I've just got to build everything back up, which will happen. I should be ready to go by the end of this month.
"I don't have to go under the knife again. I'm relieved."
--Rafer Alston does not have a lot of games hitting five three-pointers and he knows it. He is making 36.9 percent of his shots this season, and is a career 38.5 percent shooter. But he is going to have open looks and is determined to shoot them confidently.
"The last three games, I've been able to shoot 50 percent from the three-point line (actually 13 of 29)," Alston said. "I got it going early. Some days it feels good. I know what type of shooter I am. I'm that type of shooter. I can do that. I can go 1-for-7 from behind the arc, the next night come back here and go 5-for-8. The team encouraged me to shoot. The coaching staff encouraged me to shoot."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Going into the fourth quarter, it was really close (the Rockets led, 77-76) and we needed to do something to win the game. I was trying to do whatever I could and that was bring energy. I felt that gave the team a little spark." -- Carl Landry.
