<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Tracy McGrady left the Houston Rockets at halftime and apparently the team's ability to score went with him. McGrady collected 21 points and five assists in the first half, but departed to be with his growing family as the Rockets fell apart after the intermission to come up on the short end of an 82-74 contest against the Utah Jazz. Leading his team to a 41-36 lead at the break, the Houston star was noticeably absent afterwards. Early speculation had McGrady not returning because of the back problem that sidelined him for eight games earlier this season. But the Rockets' leading scorer left instead to be with his fiancee, Clerenda, who went into labor with the couple's second child, Laymen Lamar, born at 9:53 p.m. CST. "What a great player he is and it has to be really tough on (Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy)," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "You have to wonder what will happen next. It's tough on any coach when you have this happen. As coaches, we have to adjust all the time, and this one was probably a new one for Jeff." Van Gundy, maintaining a season-long stance, wasn't about to pin the loss on McGrady's absence. "We didn't lose because he wasn't there," Van Gundy said. "We lost because we were inept offensively. What matters is that we fouled too much, we turned it over too much, and I think we probably shot in the 20's. We didn't play well enough on offense to win. We have professional players out there, so we have no excuses." </div> <div align="center">Recap</div>
