I like how you avoided the question. I'll ask again. If the magic are up 3-1 in a best of 7 series, are they considered the underdogs?
YES because regardless of the fact they are UP 3-1 they are the WORSE team by record. That team that came back and won went on to the NBA finals and ended the LAKERS DYNASTY. What do you not understand about that? This is like claiming Obama WASN'T the underdog because he is beating Hillary Clinton now. Do you understand the logical fallacy behind your argument?
1) It's the fact that you're making the argument that McGrady has never taken over a playoff game like that which is laughable. Up through 04-05 he obviously had numerous games like that. How do you think McGrady's teams would push to a game 7 (or game 5)? You think he choked those games away? No one who watched McGrady in the playoffs for the vast MAJORITY of his career (00-05) would make the argument that he doesn't take over playoff games. You're letting the play of Mcgrady over the past 2 years warp your memory of what he was. 2) Defensive win shares are NOT based on team defense. It has directly correlated with DPOY and All NBA def. selections for the past 20 years. Google it if you want to know how it's calculated. 3) Kobe looks for contact and McGrady tries to avoid it. Show me where McGrady tried to avoid contact in the playoffs this year - it was blatantly apparent he was looking for contact; the Jazz just got away with MURDER. The Jazz were complaining about the officiating in the LA series because they were getting away with MUCH less than what they were getting away with in the Rockets series. 4) Ah yes, the McGrady stagnates the offense argument. Adelman never called McGrady a ball stopper nor did he ever criticize the way McGrady plays offense. You realize that stretch of games where they ran "the motion offense" lead to a stretch of games where we played .500 ball. All those games served to do was give our rookies more confidence and cement our rotation. We won 70% of our games the second half of the season despite the fact Yao went down; our rookies and role players were putting up career numbers with McGrady controlling the offense and we were winning. The main reason McGrady has such a high usage rate is because we have one other playmaker on this team (Alston) and 0 swingmen to back McGrady up (unless you count Head as a 2/3). He handles the ball so much because he HAS TO. When he doesn't - we lose.
Why are arguing so much over the past. McGrady was in his prime in Orlando, so what, he still has game. Forget about underdogs or not, it does not matter. For the here and now, we need a third consistent scorer, hopefully through free agency or through Scola and Landry who will improve.
i don't know what wekko and others are trying to argue. i'm simply trying to say the 2 best perimeter players that tmac are most compared to DO STRUGGLE in the 4th quarters also and yet their teams are still able to win series. lebron is struggling to another level offensively and his team is still in the series (whether it's boston is overrated or whatever). it just goes to show we can all nitpick at tmac's performance, which we can b/c we're fans discussing on a forum. but the fact of the matter is even the greater players struggle tremendously, even moreso than tmac, in the playoffs and still advance. it's a TEAM game. when kobe goes for 0 points in the 4th, his teammates stepped up and converted on his passes. we wouldn't care what tmac did if his TEAMS have won. but b/c they haven't, we nitpicked and talked about how he disappeared and all that junk. kobe's 4th quarter fg% is most likely around 20% in the playoffs and yet nobody talks about it. why? b/c his team is winning. had the cavs lost game 3/4 at home, lebron would have gone down as putting up one of the worst playoff performances in a series anyone has ever seen. but b/c his team won those games, people talk about his assists. so it's fine to nitpick at tmac. but please understand that even other superstars "struggle" like tmac (or what this board claims what tmac cannot do but other superstars can) also. no one player can play a perfect game. no one player can win a game, let alone a series. hopefully, this playoffs have proven that to everyone.
i so want to trade TMAC, BUT, we will definitely get lesser value in return if we trade TMAC. so we have to keep him, hoping both TMAC and YAO will be healthy next season. hey, we have a shot for championship!!!
My logic is undisputably sound. Obama probably was the underdog when the race began. But right now, Hilary is. The two concepts are not mutually exclusive.
Please quote me where I say this. Since I know I didnt say this, please dont put words in my mouth. Actually, I did google it. And team play is factored in it. In their last 5 games vs the jazz, 57.6% of mcgrady's shots were jumpers beyond the free throw line. kobe's jumpers were 39.1% of his total field goal attempts. That means kobe attacks the basket more frequently than tmac. What good coach will openly criticize his highest paid player in a winning system? Our toughest part of the season was before the all-star break. .500 ball is pretty good when you also factor in that we were learning a new offensive scheme. It didnt hurt that we were playing the easiest part of our schedule. After yao went down, who was the best team that we beat (fully healthy)? Of course he has to. That's what he's forced the offense into doing all season long. Its not like we can suddenly change our game plan when he decides he doesnt want the ball.
Excuse me, but are you stupid? I laughed so hard after i read your posts, may god have mercy on your soul
Kobe's injury being worse than Tracy's? Are you kidding me? Tracy had his knees DRAINED of fluid through a needle just about before every game, did you know that? If Kobe's back was so bad, why did he single handedly shoot them out of the over time, going 2-15 from the 4th to OT. You are what i call a BLIND-HATER. You don't care to look at the facts, but you are so mentally focused of having a bad perception of McGracdy in your mind that no matter how he performs, he will never be up to par. Please, if you're going to diss one of your own players, if you really are a rockets fan, which i doubt any player would diss on mcgrady after his stellar performance, please take this to a jazz forum. Notice how every post of theirs is exactly like yours? We want to win, they want us to lose, don't you find it odd that you sound just like them? We don't need your hate, go away.
Tmac is OK, I am proud for his performence in the playoff,but I am disappointed about how we were playing in the playoff, just like Jeff is still the couch
The Rockets would be nuts to trade T-Mac. They're true championship contenders, and T-Mac is a large part of the reason why. Yes, he breaks down too much. But he has performed well in the regular season and in the playoffs, and it isn't his fault the team hasn't advanced. Few players have T-Mac's skills. I think Rockets fans have begun taking him for granted. The Rockets don't need to screw up the window of opportunity that's open right now. They need to get more backup firepower, limit T-Mac's and Yao's minutes and hope they're both healthy come playoff time. It's not the time for drastic overhauls.
What was funny about it? How many teams in NBA history have come back from a 1-3 deficit? How many teams have won the series after being up 3-1? When the magic were up 3-1, detroit was the underdog.
The Rockets never got up 3-1 on Dallas. They were up 2-0, lost both games at home and then the infamous game 5 where Finley came from out of bounds.
You're right, I was thinking that the Rockets got one at home in games 3 and 4 but they dropped both.
Yeah. Pathetic ain't it? You know, prior to the TMac/Yao era the Rockets had never lost a playoff series in which they won the first game. Man, how times have changed. Sigh.
Yup. How often do you see the visiting team take the first two games of a series on the road? That should have been the series. Charles Barkley said that there were games in that Dallas series where the Yao and T-Mac combo was just scary. The sad thing is that for three years now the Rockets have been trying to fulfill the potential.
