Rockets legend Tracy McGrady duels Dirk Nowitzki in 2004

Typical Tmac game. Looked great but couldn’t get it done in the end.

And whoever is using that game winner to try to make the claim he’s clutch, would have meant a lot more if his team didn’t drop a 2-0 series lead with the next 2 at home.

 

We could have won with Juwan, but he didn't bring much on defense. Nevertheless, it's clear that he was missed.

 

Show me a clip of Tmac hitting any kind of bucket in a meaningful 2nd round game of the playoffs..period...

 

I could argue that that game was just as important as a playoff game.

 

Although he was at his best here, he couldn't lead us to the 2nd round even after a 2-0 lead in a best of 5 series against a relatively weak Utah Jazz team. It wasn't all on him, but he should taken control in the clutch. His lack of aggression and urgency was evident. That's why I don't consider him a Rockets legend.

 

Ya you could but it wasn't.

 

The reality is that Harden has a significantly higher drop in scoring efficiency from regular season to playoffs than Mcgrady. Do what ever you want with that information.

 

Cool. How many playoff series did T-Mac win for us?

 

Enjoyed this video. Thanks for posting.

I got used to seeing the stiff, old, lumbering, broken down Dirk of the last few seasons of his career. I forgot how good he actually was.

Harden is clearly the better, more accomplished player in my mind, but McGrady's style of play was so much fun to watch when he was healthy.

Really wish Bobby Sura had more seasons with the Rockets.

 

Game 3 against the warriors last year was pretty damn clutch if you ask me. Game 7 against the clippers is really underrated too. He could have folded after Mchale benched him game 6 but he didn't.

 

so many long 2s …. moreys head would explode

 

Bro it is not in the playoffs that is the point. Harden is demigod in RS. There is one game winner against GSW like 4-5 years ago but it comes after he failed to get the ball from the inbounds and GSW made it a tie on the other half with like 10 seconds to go. That is the whole point. It is no coincidence Rockets went down as soon as CP went down. CP is from that old cloth of players that play to score in any given way not that rely on some tactics.

 

Oh yeah lol show me the clips when Ginobli shut Harden ass down. Can you even imagine Ginobli shutting down prime T-mac? The only thing that McGrady lacked is durability, give him 8 prime years in weak ass conference and he would come on top. He was going against another legend Dirk with great coach Jerry Sloan, refs was against us and we only had like 1 homecourt advantage back then. Harden crushes average teams but when he comes against another great? It is L after L until he proves otherwise

 

Tmac was a terrible 3 point shooter, he had one great series in a regular season game

Harden can beat him in shooting blind folded

 

Series tied 2-2 vs Spurs WCF. Show me one clip of Tmac as a rotation player in 2nd round of playoffs.

 

I can show you when as a young gun with Orlando Magic took champion Pistons to 7 games while playing with Euroleague talent against best defense in decades. I know you hate him but T-Mac in terms of basketball talent was on Kobe level. Harden maximized what he can do and overaly has way better career than T-Mac but at the same time he hass a glass roof he won't pass, he is not athletic/long enough to force his will in playoffs and we saw this times after times

 

Took to game 7 is different from winning a series. I don’t hate Tmac, I rooted for him when he was a Rocket. And you are right, in terms of potential, Tmac could have been better than Harden. But he didn’t maximize his potential while Harden exceeded his.

 

McGrady's teammates looking surprised when he passes sometimes....

 

Do you think T-Mac could win a series in his prime if he had Durant and Westbrook as teammates?

For Mcgrady, durability and the level of competition he faced in the first round was his downfall. Harden as a Rockets didn't have to face the level of competition in the first round that Mcgrady did with the prime Dirk Mavs and prime Williams and Boozer Jazz. The lack of durability from both Yao and TMac hindered their ability o be a top 3 seed and avoid elite competition in the first round.

 

He had an organ issue at the time which might have cut short his career....

Mavs had Josh Howard and he delivered.