Even with Tracy McGrady in the lineup, the Houston Rockets have struggled offensively. They hope their first win without McGrady in more than a year can help turn around their frustrating season.

The Rockets look to overcome the absence of their leading scorer for the second consecutive night when they host the Toronto Raptors on Saturday.

Toronto's Chris Bosh is averaging 20.0 points and 9.2 rebounds per game this season.
(Chris Carlson/ Associated Press)

It's been a disappointing start for Houston (14-15), which hired coach Rick Adelman in the off-season to replace Jeff Van Gundy despite closing 2006-07 with its best regular-season finish in 10 years.

Still struggling to adapt to Adelman's offence, the Rockets are averaging just 95.0 points per game and shooting 43.8 per cent from the field as a team, ranking in the league's bottom 10 in both categories.

McGrady is scoring 22.8 points per game — his lowest average since he averaged 15.4 in 1999-2000, the last of his three seasons with Toronto. Despite his slow start, he's still the team's leading scorer, and his absence on Friday due to a knee injury figured to add to Houston's offensive woes.

The Rockets, though, shot 48.3 per cent and beat Memphis 103-83 to snap an eight-game losing streak in games played without McGrady. It was their first win without him since beating San Antonio 97-78 on Dec. 22, 2006.

Houston improved to 12-42 without McGrady since the two-time scoring champion joined the team before the 2004-05 season.

"I think we need to build a solid team, and be able to win with whatever we have," said rookie Luis Scola, who had a season-high 22 points on 11-for-17 shooting from the field Friday. "If we want to do something big, we need to be solid. We need to have four or five people step up."

An MRI exam on McGrady's knee this week revealed no structural damage. Still, McGrady is expected to be sidelined for at least one more game.

Like the Rockets, Toronto (16-14) will be without one of its stars as T.J. Ford continues to recover from an awkward fall that forced him to be taken off the court on a stretcher in the fourth quarter of the Raptors' win on Dec. 11 at Atlanta.

Ford, a Houston native, has a history of similar spills — a tendency that is especially concerning because he also suffers from a spinal cord condition that makes each fall particularly dangerous for the 24-year-old point guard. He is said to be considering retirement.

Jose Calderon has stepped up in Ford's absence, averaging 13.1 points and 9.7 assists a game in 16 starts. He had 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists as the Raptors snapped a three-game losing streak with an 83-73 win over San Antonio on Friday.

While Calderon's play has been an asset, team defence was responsible for the victory.

"To hold that great a team to 73 points is pretty good defence," said Toronto forward Jason Kapono after the Raptors held the Spurs to their lowest point total of the season and handed them just their second home loss in 17 games this year.

"To finish out such a quality team, it says a lot about this team and that's something we need to build on."

The Raptors have won five of seven games against the Rockets since 2004-05, including their first meeting this season.

Chris Bosh, Toronto's leading scorer and rebounder with averages of 20.0 points and 9.2 rebounds, had 21 and 10 in the Raptors' 93-80 home victory over the Rockets on Dec. 9.