Swelling, no tear, for McGrady

An MRI exam on Houston Rockets guard Tracy McGrady’s left knee showed swelling in the tendon but no damage, the Houston Chronicle reported.

“There was no structural damage,” Rockets trainer Keith Jones said. “There was some inflammation in the tendon by the kneecap where the tendon starts.

“That’s really it. Now, we stay aggressive with it. We’ll change a few things and get it stronger and see where it goes.

“He’s still day to day, and we’ll see what happens.”

McGrady, who is the Rockets’ leading scorer at 22.8 points a game, left at halftime of Houston’s loss at Detroit on Sunday after aggravating his knee injury.

McGrady injured the knee in the Rockets’ loss to Orlando on Dec. 19.

He then sat out a loss at Denver the next day but returned to play 30 minutes in Saturday’s defeat of Chicago, scoring 20 points along the way.

Stephon Marbury looks ready to rejoin the New York Knicks again.

Marbury is set to return for a third time this season when the Knicks face the Magic tonight, the New York Post reported.

Marbury has missed seven of his team’s last 11 games after the death of his father on Dec. 2. The Knicks have gone 3-8 during that stretch.

Marbury took his third leave last Thursday after skipping practice because of a combination of flu-like symptoms and personal reasons.

SOCCER

Serbia hires Djukic to

coach its national team

Former Yugoslavia defender Miroslav Djukic was hired as the national soccer coach of Serbia, which failed to reach the 2008 European Championship.

He replaces Javier Clemente, who was fired last month.

The appointment of the 41-year-old Djukic was announced by Serbia’s soccer federation.

Djukic resigned as Partizan Belgrade coach this month. He played for Spanish clubs Deportivo La Coruna and Valencia in the 1990s and made 48 international appearances for his country.

He is a former under-21 coach for Serbia.

Partizan hired former Chelsea midfielder Slavisa Jokanovic as its coach Tuesday.

This will be the first coaching position for the 39-year-old Jokanovic, who played for Chelsea in the 2000-01 season.

He also played for Partizan and Deportivo La Coruna in the 1990s.

Partizan leads the domestic league standings, six points ahead of rival Red Star Belgrade.