Step Up

Here we go again. Another Tracy McGrady injury. Another uninspiring performance by the Houston Rockets at the end of a game.

The Rockets’ inconsistencies are almost more frustrating than watching George W. Bush speak. How can you surge back from an 18-point deficit (without TMac), take a brief lead, and then end the game without a field goal for the final five-plus minutes?! During which, a single possession presents itself with at least three wide open looks for a tying 3-pointer, followed by a buzzer-beating attempt for another tying tre after a perfectly executed intentional free-throw miss by Yao Ming. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

What’s going on? How can one team be so good, yet so bad? Reminds me of the Clutch City vs. Choke City days of yore. This stressful inconsistency seems to be an inescapable trait of the Rockets year in year out.

Anyway, the Rockets lost another game within their grasp. What can you do but learn from it. Time to move on. And for roughly one week, the Rockets will be moving on without lazy-eyed superstar, Tracy McGrady.

TMac, the superglue that holds the Rockets together, will ride the bench for a few games with an elbow injury. What impeccable timing for the team’s go-to-guy to get hurt—right before the Rockets launch in to a threesome with the Spurs, Suns and Mavericks.

The week ahead will prove to be a pivotal one for the Rockets. The team will have to cope without TMac, forcing Yao Ming to exert himself as the Great Wall that he is. Other players will also be forced to step up their game. Perhaps this is where we’ll witness the second coming of Steve Francis. Or maybe the emergence of the team’s new little man, Aaron Brooks.

Chuck Hayes came out of nowhere to grab rebounds along with a starting spot in the Rockets’ rotation last year. Who’s going to step up this year and add a third head to the monster that is YaoMac?