http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/sports/basketball/08hoops.html Great news about the back. Now, about the heart ...
Hopefully he isn't bull****ting about the whole motivation thing... There should be no excuse for this Rockets team to lose to the Jazz. They have enough to even beat Dallas in the 2nd round, then the motivation just doesn't seem to be there right now for this team. Hopefully this is all just a result of them clinching a playoff spot and wanting to rest their bodies for the playoffs.
Good post Will, now wait for the people to come in and Bash you. How could you DARE question Tmac's heart? When it has been in question his whole career. DD
His whole career? How do you explain his performance when Yao was out? TMac is no Kobe in terms of fire. But to say that he has no heart his whole career is exaggeration.
Like many have already pointed already but when the team succeeds it's the I in McGrady, but when he fails to show up in the biggest game of the year against Utah, it's lack of team defense like when Yao got dunked on by Boozer or Shane getting called for a foul which was really a Boozer charge. No one's questioning that Tmac saved our season but if you want all the glory when we win then be prepared to shelter the criticism when we lose.
Am I the only one who doesn't like this quote. If he really said what I did, that is not good thing to say. He should have said what WE did was amazing. Maybe he was quoted wrong, i hope so.
How can anyone question McGrady's heart after watching him go 7 games against a superior Dallas team and single handedly guard Nowitzki the whole series on top of all his offensive responsibilities.
LOL- He SHOULD do that, do you think Jordan or Bird ever shirked from a defensive assignment? Did we put Chucky Brown on Patrick Ewing or David Robinson? Expectations are too low these days. Yes his whole career, his motivation has been in question his entire career, and rightfully so, the guy is an amazing talent but seems to lack that "win at all costs" mentality that seperates the Vince Carter's from the Michael Jordans. DD
Battier generally takes the tougher defensive assignment from Tmac. Look Tmac is the best defensive player on the Rockets when he wants to be.....the problem is he coasts on defense and sometimes on offense. JVG is trying to get him to realize that if he played hard all the time, then results would be even better. JVG is 100% right. DD
No but we put Robert Horry on Charles Barkley and Karl Malone, that seemed to work out pretty well for us.
At the end of the game, when the team needed a stop, who was on Barkley and Malone? Yep, that's right...the dream ! DD
"Heart" or "no heart" is a subjective term. For most of his career, McGrady has stepped up when he needed to. He's just that type of guy, he needs extra motivation and when he gets it (i.e. the playoffs), he's one of the best to ever play the game. That's just who he is. Lebron is the same way, Melo is the same way, most of the NBA stars are the same way. The only guys that keep at it are Wade and Kobe. But the rest are in the same league as McGrady, and it's not really that big of a deal. People wouldn't question his heart if he had a playoff series win under his belt. But what happens is that people extrapolate from his team's failure to advance past the first round -- thus far -- to mean that it must be him that's the issue, not any outside factor. We will see, I don't think most Houston fans appreciate this guy and his uniqueness and what he brings to the table. They equate his offensive struggles with "lack of heart", which I don't necessarily agree with, but it's too easy to fall into that trap, and I think Will and others have. But it's what it is, I don't mind it one bit because I would like for him to have all the motivation he needs to finally answer his critics and bring about some form of postseason success. So keep at it, hopefully it will get to him.
Who cares if you were the underdog Tracy? You should have won that series with Dallas. Every year he always says the same thing. That he finally has the supporting cast. He said that in the 2nd part of the season when we lost to Dallas in the playoffs. I am tired of the excuses. Just go out and beat the Jazz.
It depends on your definition of heart. Francis has heart. But he'd rather go to the Superbowl than go with the team. Jordan had heart. But he quit on his team, twice, to do what? baseball? Also, I like how people label players "losers" just because their teams haven't won big. Yeah right, Steve Kerr is one of the biggest "winners" in league history. And Dan Marino was a loser. It's more about what kind of teams you are on than what kind of player you are.
No one should be surprised by tmac's responses. One thing I've noticed about his interviews since being in houston is he takes credits when things go well, but makes excuses when things go bad. If he plays good, it's I imposed my will on the game. If he plays bad, it's we didn't play good enough today. He never says he plays bad without some excuse behind it.
This article has nothing to do with heart, it has to do with his arrogance. Hopefully he steps it up in the playoffs because he was a definite bust in the Jazz game.
