Houston Rockets star Tracy McGrady gingerly shot baskets but didn't practice during his first on-court activity since straining his back on Friday.

McGrady is expected to miss three weeks. He walked slowly and winced as he bent at the waist between perimeter set shots at the Toyota Center on Monday.

"That's definitely an improvement," McGrady said. "I've been walking around here hunched over for the last three days. This is the first day I've been able to stand straight up and not have any problems."

McGrady suffered the injury doing a reverse layup at Friday's practice. He bumped into Yao Ming, landed awkwardly and immediately felt sharp pain.

"It broke me down, and I couldn't stand up," McGrady said. "It was pretty painful. Gosh, I don't want to go through that anymore."