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Vaihteeks hyviä uutisia.Jumpman sanoi:McGrady looks like he'll play Wednesday
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3425746
The difference makers
Tracy McGrady. Yao Ming. The core is strong. With the addition of Derek Anderson, Stromile Swift and Rafer Alston, the Rockets believe they have the supporting cast to carry them to a title
They come with hopes that the lost seasons and varied struggles that brought them to this point could not diminish. The years could not take that away.
Derek Anderson waded through the mess in Portland without getting stained, as if those trials were needed to bring him to his best chance at something greater.
Stromile Swift teased with talent enough to jump through the league's roofs but never to break through the ceiling that seemed to block him for five unsatisfying NBA seasons.
Rafer Alston fell from coveted free agent to the Raptors' petulant pariah, then escaped as if it was all to give him a new, mature perspective on this chance.
They come to the Rockets from vastly different beginnings, from Anderson's NCAA-championship pedigree to Swift's two LSU seasons to Alston's tumultuous Fresno State and street-ball years.
They play different positions, bring different talents in careers at different stages. But they join a solid, proven, veteran team anchored by reliable stars to together become the Rockets' X factors, as if the struggles that made them available brought them to Houston not just with hope still alive, but renewed.
"I think us three can make the difference," Anderson said. "We still need Jon (Barry). We still need Dikembe (Mutombo). We need everybody else here. But us three have to do more than whoever was here last year. We have to go above what they did to go beyond where they did last year. It's up to us as a team, but it's also up to us three. We have to be better.
"I think everybody has a destiny, whether it's in your career or life. Right now, I just think I'm trying to follow my destiny. I think this is our destiny."
Anderson got what he wanted. Playing for the Spurs in the 2000 playoffs, he had been hurt badly enough with a dislocated shoulder to become a free agent searching for security. The Trail Blazers gave him a long contract and a place on a richly talented team.
Then the Blazers collapsed under the weight of their crimes and misdeeds. When they began rebuilding around a new crop of prodigies, the security Anderson sought became a trap. But the NBA's new collective-bargaining agreement offered teams a one-time chance to cut players to avoid paying luxury taxes on their salaries. Anderson happily became a tax-amnesty free agent.
Coach Jeff Van Gundy revealed his planned rotation for Wednesday's regular-season opener, in which he will start Rafer Alston and Derek Anderson at guard, Juwan Howard and Tracy McGrady at forward and Yao Ming at center.
David Wesley, Jon Barry, Stromile Swift and Dikembe Mutombo will come off the bench, Van Gundy said, with Ryan Bowen playing against quick power forwards or post-up small forwards.
That rotation offers the same frontcourt that started much of last season but a different starting backcourt, with Bob Sura out and Anderson starting rather than David Wesley. That was not much of a surprise, however, with Anderson having started seven of the eight preseason games.
"That's how we're going to start," Van Gundy said. "How we're going to end we'll figure out.
"I don't know what it gives us off the bench, and I don't know what our starters will do. I just think it gives us the best chance to play well right away. Everybody in that nine-man group is going to play with each other. It's not two separate units. It's how we're going to start the game and how we're going to start the third quarter. But those nine are going to play on most nights with everybody else. It's not Derek Anderson plays better with Rafer Alston or Juwan Howard plays better with Yao."
With that rotation, either guard Moochie Norris, guard Luther Head or forward/center Lonny Baxter would join []Sura[/b] and Dion Glover on the inactive list.
Chron.com
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Coming into the game, I was concentrating on just getting into the game, playing defense and rebounding, getting my legs," McGrady said. "I thought the rest would eventually come together."
McGrady struggled in the first half, shooting just 1-for-9.
"I just felt good in the second half," McGrady said. "I got my shot back. After you hit two or three shots in a row, you just kind of feel it. Once you get that feeling, you're in a zone. I don't care what defense they throw at you. It helped that I had others knocking down shots. It just opened things up for me."