http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=stein_marc#20070117 T-Mac tweaks back; enter Novak by: Marc Stein posted: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 | Feedback | Print Entry filed under: NBA, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, Tracy McGrady, Steve Novak DALLAS -- Even as president of Steve Novak's fan club, I was rooting against this. Even though I claimed Novak as my own during summer league last July -- before anyone in Clutch City, I assure you -- I never wanted to see my favorite rook getting into a game because Tracy McGrady's back seized up. Yet that's basically what happened here Tuesday night. An evening that began so magically for T-Mac, looking a lot like McGrady did in that unforgettable 53-to-48 scoring duel Dirk Nowitzki won on this very same floor back in December 2004, ended with Houston in surrender mode. McGrady scored 16 of Houston's first 18 points and had 29 of his eventual 45 by halftime. But his back stiffened in the final few minutes of the Mavericks' 109-96 comeback triumph, after a second half that saw T-Mac hounded all over the floor by trapping, switching, denying Dallas defenders who either forced the ball out of his hands, wouldn't let him catch it or made him take increasingly tougher shots after a 12-for-15 start from the floor. The lasting image of his outing, sadly, turned out to be McGrady getting pulled from a lost cause with 2:14 to play and trudging to the visitors' locker room for treatment shortly thereafter. Novak, John Lucas and Kirk Snyder promptly took the floor to play out the clock, with Nowitzki's Mavs having erased Houston's 65-52 lead to comfortably claim their 18th victory in 19 games. Fresh cause for concern? McGrady scoffed at the mere suggestion. He called this first real setback in his latest comeback "nothing major" and insisted that it was increased defensive attention from Dallas -- not his back or fatigue from carrying an offense that was getting scoring from almost nowhere else -- that prevented his being in a "zone like that" from producing, say, 60 points. However ... Jeff Van Gundy left little doubt that the club, or at least the coach, has not stopped worrying about McGrady's health just because he's been so spry lately, ever since discovering Waco-based rehab specialist John Patterson. "With his situation," Van Gundy said of McGrady and his chronic back woes, "I always consider it day-to-day." Oh. I didn't particularly enjoy hearing the Novak update, either, but there's a crucial difference. That's a disappointment I was expecting. Van Gundy permitted himself a pregame chuckle when informed that I'm yet another one of those Novak guys convinced that the marksman from Marquette should be playing more often. A shooter with the sweetest stroke in his rookie class to loosen things up for McGrady might have been particularly helpful in the second half against the Mavs ... and a tasty subplot since Dallas considered drafting Novak at No. 28 in the first round before going for Maurice Ager and leaving Houston to snare him at No. 32. But Novak, not exactly lighting it up when he does play at 7-for-24 (.292) on 3s, is the first to acknowledge (with me not far behind) that he's going to have to improve his defense and rebounding if he wants to make the leap from second-round selection to rotation regular. "We've got a great group of veterans and we're winning," Novak said. "I'm just taking it all in and learning and trying to do whatever I've got to do to get on the floor. From what Coach Crean [of Marquette] had told me Coach Van Gundy was going to be like, I knew it was going to be a defensive mindset and that it's going to be about perfection when you're out there. He told me, 'You're going to get what you deserve [in terms of minutes].' He was right about everything he told me." Said Van Gundy: "If you're just talking about an individual guy like Ager, he'd be better served if he was on a lottery-bound [or] injured team. Then he'd get to play and everybody would say, 'Great pick.' If you have a guy like Steve who's a second-round pick and you're trying to win and you have guys that I feel give us a better chance to win that are in front of him, then he doesn't get as many chances. "He has one great skill. He's trying to add dimensions to his game. Over time, we'll find out if he can do that. ... If you could pick and choose the best parts of each guy's game, everybody could get on the floor. [Novak] had a very good preseason, [but] as we all know, preseason and regular season are different just as regular season and postseason are different. I think at times people can get carried away with their expectations of young players based on preseason."
Seems par for the course these days and he said it wasn't a big deal, so I will try to not make it one. *shrug* I guess I just don't know what to believe anymore. If I see him on the court playing well, that's great. If not, that's not great. But I won't worry about it in between games anymore...too stressful.
eh, if he says it stiffened up, then it stiffened up. i'd like to see him more conditioned though, he's always tired at the end of games. at least it wasnt one of those world ending back spasms.
JVG has to go easy on T-Mac and play him less minutes, otherwise T-Mac will break down again and you won't see him in the playoffs.
Problem is if you take Tracy out the whole team crumbles.. We try to get offensive plays to work but it doesn't happen, are defensive schemes break down like crazy... We are SOL until Yao gets back...
Thanks for the insider! I'm a little worried about Tmac's back.. and last night was a sucky loss. Would've been a different story had we played as a full squad. I don't think Novak is gonna show up this season and I doubt his minutes are gonna improve much. I'm shooting for next year tho, when Padget is gone (hopefully).
Problem is ...if you DON'T take out TMac,...his back crumbles and the Rockets SEASON crumbles. You HAVE TO TAKE HIM OUT !!! JVG is too fixated on one game......he needs to be playing for the WHOLE season. Which is why I have been clamoring for him to develop some younger players in order to help out when Tmac goes down again...which is inevitable. DD
T-mac seems fine, if it was serious he wouldn't be walking I reckon. Another sesh with Patterson should fix it. I mean the therapy his undergoing does require additional sessions anyway,
totally agree with this you have snyder dressed out why not let him play and bonzi says he is ready and has been practicing van gundy has stop being so stubborn because it may hurt us in the long run
I don't Tracy wanted to come out. Dude was shooting lights out, you saw his face. He wanted to be out there, he wanted to win. He was the one guy who even made the game a contest. My opinion is developing people is for the D-League and/or garbage time. If you can't perform against other scrubs, how are you going to perform against starters? Just my take. I would have however, assuming they are healthy enough to make a difference, seen if Bonzi or Synder would have made any difference. That is one thing i noticed right away (and usually all the time) is that Jeff is awfully slow to make adjustments. I mean look at Avery. TMac hit his first few shots, SUB. He's still hitting, SUB. Still, SUB. Now, I'm not saying throw 4 people at one guy, but try something. Either way, I enjoyed watching the game, it was a hell of a game.
Damnit how can you rely on Tmac if something like this happens all the time? Just imagine how he'll be come playoff time. I'm really hoping he's okay and I hope it's mental as well.
i dont think its too bad. I saw the play where he got hurt and he still continued to play and even guard dirk for awhile.
what you are basically saying is, the rockets are going to lose any way, why not develop other players? so vg develops the rookies, such as vspan and novak, and come playoff time THIS YEAR against the mavs, and tmac goes down, which is INEVITABLE, vspan and novak will bring the goods home? how are they going to help tmac out, when he goes down?
bring in our sixth man of the year ..big deal...enter John patterson hopefully everything will be all rite =/
To some extent, the best intrests of JVG is not completely in line with the intrests of rockets team in the long term. Yes, we should have a "win-now" attitude. But JVG is trying too hard sometimes disregard of the health issue of Tmac. With a bad season last year, he desperately needs this season to retain his job. In my opinion, it is important to win every game, but it is more important to limit T-mac's minutes in regular season to keep him healthy. We are 10 games above .500, and is about to pass through the toughest schedule of season. Yao will be back in a month and half. The prospect to come into playoff is bright, and it is hard for us to get a very high position anyway. What is most important to us is a healthy and energized Yao/Mac combo into the playoff. Please, JVG, let T-mac rest a bit more.
