Potentially hypocritical musings on McGrady's dilemma

Tracy McGrady was on a roll tonight. He had a 21-point first half and had staked the Rockets to a nice lead over the Jazz at the break. Then he got the news his fiancee was in labor.

At 10-15 heading into this game, the Rockets were less than 3 games out of a playoff spot and on the cusp of getting back in the race. The home fans had only been treated to 3 wins in 10 games thus far. And with Yao Ming out, the Rockets field a CBA team sans McGrady. Ergo, if he leaves, so, too, do the chances of winning a game against any other NBA team, and the Rockets can ill afford to throw away any potential wins.

Any guess as to what he did? Any guess as to what happened to the Rockets?

Most likely, you saw the score by now. You probably also know that McGrady left at halftime to be with his fiancee in labor, explaining said score. The question then becomes, what was the right thing to do? What should Tracy McGrady have done tonight?

Let me be the first to say that no matter what McGrady chose, he was going to let someone down. Either his family or the city of Houston and his teammates were going to get the short end of the stick.

Maybe he should have stayed. His team was winning a badly-needed game because of him, and what was another 90 minutes in the course of a labor that might take several hours? Not even Kirilenko could slow him down, and once Houston stopped this two-game losing streak, he could be with his fiancee for the rest of the night. Of course, even if he had tried to stay, it's probable McGrady would've been extremely distracted and played poorly after receiving the news. He might have been just as ineffective as his 29%-shooting teammates.

So maybe he should have gone. His woman was having his kid, for pete's sake. Those are the two most important people in his life, and no silly game matters as much as that. What if there were serious complications while he was running around with a little orange ball? Then again, unless something was wrong, what could he do for her by leaving? It's not as though he could deliver the child, or even that the child would have likely arrived before he came through for his fans and his team.

The truth is that he probably had to go once he knew she was in labor. Performing while knowing what she was going through, that your child was about to be born, is asking too much. And that's why Tracy should have told them not to tell him a g*ddamn thing.

Tracy McGrady should have told the Rockets to keep mum on whether his fiancee went into labor until after the game unless there were any signs of complications. He wouldn't have been any more distracted than he was in his phenomenal first half, when he knew she could go into labor at any moment. He could have come through for his team and would have been by her side just 90 minutes later than he was tonight. Again, if anything was even slightly unusual, you'd have to tell him and send him right to the hospital. Failing that, though, he might do the most good for the most people, and maybe even himself, if he puts a gag order on the team until the game is done.

If you strongly disagree, I understand. There are a number of defensible positions here. And remember, I greatly sympathize with the rock and hard place between which T-Mac found himself. It is my belief, however, that Tracy's job requires certain personal sacrifices for the greater good from time to time. We couldn't ask McGrady to perform once he knew of the labor, but we could ask him to focus only on the game until it was over. And as long as he knew he would be told of anything unusual, he could rest assured that no news was good news.

He is the heart, soul, and face of his team. He needed to protect himself from himself for a total of two-and-a-half hours. If the Rockets miss the playoffs by a game, he'll have only his own impatience to blame.

Of course, I can't say I would be any less impatient in the same situation. Can you?