Tracy McGrady Archives February 2008 Tracy McGrady Archives February 2008   TRACY MCGRADY INEFFECTIVE SHOOTING FOR THREE QUARTERS February 27, 2008 - Tracy McGrady was ineffective for the first three quarters, going 2-of-11 with six points. He helped the Rockets stretch their lead when he had two slam dunks early in the fourth quarter to make 73-51 and finished with 11 points. McGrady said Yao's injury was a "devastating blow,'' but that they can't use it as an excuse. "If we continue to play defense and believe, then we really control it ourselves,'' he said. "Everybody is really counting us out, which is cool, but we just have to keep believing.'' With one star out and another struggling, the Rockets got double-digit contributions from several others, including Luis Scola, who was 7-of-7 for 14 points. Rafer Alston finished with 13 points. The Wizards snapped out of their shooting slump for a while in the third quarter and had doubled their first-half points total of 23 with a hook shot by Brendan Haywood with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the quarter. Antawn Jamison had 12 points in the quarter and Oleksiy Pecherov added a pair of 3-pointers. HOUSTON ROCKETS VS. WASHINGTON WIZARDS GAME HIGHLIGHTS The Wizards were often harassed into taking bad shots as the shot clock ran down. Washington also missed several would-be dunks and layups in the first half. "Our defense in the first half was unbelievable,'' McGrady said. "I've never witnessed anything like that.'' Houston scored the first seven points of the game and had built a 24-12 lead by the end of the first quarter thanks to 10 points by Scola on 5-of-5 shooting. The Wizards were 5-of-27 in the period. "This is a veteran team with a lot of pride and they showed us why they have been one of the best teams in the league this month,'' Jamison said. "We had some opportunities, but didn't capitalize. In the first half our shots weren't close and we were complaining about calls too much.'' Houston was ahead by 19 in the second quarter before scoring 12 straight points to push its lead to 49-18 about one minute before halftime. The Rockets led 51-23 at halftime, a Houston record for fewest points allowed in a half. The Wizards' 21.3 percent shooting in the first half was a season low for a Houston opponent this season. - NBA.com   TRACY MCGRADY STILL PERFORMS HAVING BEEN SICK ALL DAY February 8, 2008 - Minutes after the Houston Rockets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, Tracy McGrady was slurping down chicken noodle soup. He was sick all day, skipped the morning shootaround and showed up less than an hour before the game. Good thing Houston didn't need its All-Star guard too much in this one. Yao Ming had 22 points and 12 rebounds and Rafer Alston had 17 points and nine assists in the Rockets' 92-77 victory on Thursday night, their ninth win in 10 games. McGrady, sluggish and visibly ill throughout the game, scored eight points on 3-for-11 shooting. "We had a lot of guys step up tonight,'' McGrady said. LeBron James had 32 points and seven rebounds for the Cavaliers, who sorely missed Drew Gooden, their second-leading rebounder. Gooden sat out with a groin injury, the first game he's missed this season. Houston outrebounded the Cavs 55-35 and Cleveland grabbed only seven offensive boards. "We got outworked on the boards and we got outworked on all the loose balls,'' said Coach Mike Brown. The Rockets also held every Cavalier but James to a dismal shooting night. James went 12-for-23. The rest of the team went 19-for-55. HOUSTON ROCKETS VS. CLEVELAND CAVALIERS GAME HIGHLIGHTS "We didn't let a lot of other guys get going,'' Alston said. "He's a superstar, he's going to get his and he's going to be a factor in the game. As long as you eliminate the other guys, their role players, you should be OK out there.'' Houston led by one after a sluggish first half, then outscored Cleveland 32-20 in the third quarter to take control. The Rockets sank their first five shots of the quarter, three of them 3-pointers. McGrady hit a deep jumper and a 3-pointer from the wing on consecutive possessions to put Houston up 53-44. McGrady was struggling to breathe seven minutes into the game and covered his head with a towel on the bench during the first time out. He returned to the game, but was replaced by Wells with 2:54 left in the first quarter. James missed four of his first six shots, including a one-handed dunk attempt that Yao partially blocked. He hung in the air to hit a jumper in the final seconds of the quarter to cut Houston's lead to 23-19. The Rockets could've led by more, but missed 10 of their 11 3-point tries in the half. The Cavs finished the half with a 12-6 run and trailed 40-39 at the break. McGrady missed all five of his shots in the half. - NBA.com