1) If T-Mac's shot selection was completely normal for a "star" then why would Oscar Robertson call him out? In fact Robertson called him out because he has crappy shot selection. 2) How dare you diss the Big O? 3) Seriously, how dare you diss the Big O? Robertson, Smith and Barkley have probably forgotten more about basketball than 99% of the posters on this board will ever know. 4) Finally, I didn't say that T-Mac only improves the team "a little". Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley said that. Let me say one last thing: people are drawing a false dichotomy when they say T-Mac has to be either a passer or a shooter. He should definitely be looking to pass first. But he did that in this game and he still ended up taking the second most FGA's of anybody on the team, in limited minutes. The reason he didn't score a lot is that he kept shooting with a hand in his face. So my vote for how Tracy should model his game goes something like: play exactly like tonight, but try and be smarter about taking your shot.
i don't think we've ever seen such a crazily tight conf. i haven't looked at the remaining schedules of all teams, but i can't help but think this is going to loosen up a bit when it comes march and april. some teams are gonna fall off. i still can't believe a 50-win season can only get you a 6th, 7th or 8th seed. that will be truly insane...
I'm with you here. We are 10 games above .500, out of the playoffs (for now) and within 5 games of first place. Incredible season.
seriously, did u even read the ENTIRE oscar robertson article? SLAM: Can you name some guys from today that you enjoy watching? Big O: Oh, there are a lot of guys I like to watch play. I still like to see Kobe. LeBron, Wade, Duncan, I like that backcourt Detroit has. There are a lot of players I like. Then there’s some I’d like to see play smarter. There’s too much one-on-one play, where guys just come down and shoot like it’s a playground game. You know who does that? I hope it works out for him, because he promised Houston would get out of the first round. I’m talking about Tracy McGrady. He just shoots the ball from anywhere. If he’s making them, that’s fine, but he ain’t gonna’ make them forever. how the hell is he going to say that tmac is a player that does only one-on-one play and then he says kobe is his favorite player kobe doesn't do the same thing (albeit he makes them at a more frequent rate?). oscar is jealous of athletes nowadays and he has made it known. everybody knows the biggest ballhog in the world (kobe has been much better this yr) was kobe and he's going to call out ONLY tmac??? c'mon now, take it with a grain of salt. that should tell u how much he watches basketball. and i told u, tmac takes 3-4 bad shots per game most nights. but he's a star. stars take bad shots b/c they can. even yao does it. i'm agreeing with you my friend. and yes u did say that tmac improves the team only by a "little" b/c you AGREE with what kenny and charles said in the previous post. so if you agree with another guy's opinions, you have that same opinion. kenny and barkley may KNOW HOW TO PLAY the game of basketball, that does not mean he understands the game of basketball. why aren't there superstars acting as coaches huh? why is michael jordan, the GOAT, one of the worst GMs out there? why is isiah thomas one of the worst coaches out there and he's one of the top 5 best PGs of all time. kenny and charles don't watch the rockets all the time. they base it off what they hear. last yr they said it was tmac's team when yao was playing superb. but b/c yao was injured, and the hot thing in houston was tmac, they said tmac. this yr tmac's injured, they are saying good things about yao and bashing tmac. u should know that. any educated man would know that. so do u agree with barkley that houston wont make the playoffs? ANSWER THAT. tracy will play the way the defense dictates it and how his teammates play. if his teammates play well, obviously he's going to look to pass first. but if yao struggles like he did on the road in the last road trip, he's going to take over that #1 option. but he's still going to get the others involved (hence the high assist #s on the road). but in the first 3 quarters, tracy has often looked to pass since he has been back and only really be ULTRA aggressive in the 4th. that's what he should do. but again, please don't bring up what kenny and charles say. u should know better than that.
You didn't watch the game? MJ played like a clown whenever he touched ball, hog, turn over, and owned by Hawk guards. He is old, can not find his rythm caus he hasn't played for so long, pathetic. This is not MJ's mistake, Morey should be criticized.
1) The Big O never said that Kobe doesn't jack up contested shots. He just said that he liked to watch him play. He might like to watch him play despite the fact that he jacks up contested shots. You're putting words into his mouth. 2) Just because some superstars don't make good coaches/analysts you can't then say that all superstars are crappy coaches/analysts. That's obviously not true. 3) Smith and Barkley were obviously watching the Cavs game. You're in the uncomfortable position of having to kill the messenger because you don't like the message. The problem is the messengers. With Smith you've got a guy with two rings and with Barkley you've got a Hall of Famer. They have more basketball knowledge in their little fingers than 99% of the people on this forum. Yeah they're not perfect, but who is? 4) I do agree with Smith and Barkley that T-Mac doesn't elevate the Rockets enough to justify his being the highest paid guy on the team. The wonderful thing about human beings though is that they can change. T-Mac can change his game to fit the system and take the Rockets to the next level. I'd say the only problem with his game tonight was his shot selection. Otherwise he and the Rockets played beautiful, beautiful basketball. I get the feeling that a lot of T-Mac's fans on this board think he's perfect and that he shouldn't change his game in any way. I've got to wonder if T-Mac feels the same way. Here's what he said tonight: "This is a very unselfish ball club," McGrady said. "The way the guys were playing while I was out, that's how they were playing. Moving the ball. When I came back, I didn't want to take that away. I wanted to add to it. My scoring is down, but I'm playing winning basketball right now and we're all playing winning basketball now. When we're moving the ball like that and playing unselfishly and getting everybody involved, we're pretty damned good." http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Rockets_streak_past_Hawks_for_-257185-34.html It sounds to me like he realizes that when he looks to pass first and shoot second that the Rockets are a much better team. So in answer to your question I'm high on the Rockets since it looks like T-Mac gets it. I'm guessing they'll make the playoffs.
i've always advocated and believed tmac's and yao's scoring will be down b/c our team is much deeper than ever before. that's not b/c tmac is looking to pass more b/c he ALWAYS HAS LOOKED TO PASS FIRST. this is not something that just happened today or once in a blue moon. he'll only be aggressive when yao starts out a game bad (like the road trip) or when its' the 4th quarter. he has been playing like he has since he's been back. this is not the first time that he's magically looking to pass first. i guarantee you if yao struggles in the first in the next game per se, tmac WILL be looking for his shot. if he's rolling, he won't. point blank.
To heck with that. If Yao's having a bad game PASS THE BALL TO SCOLA. Or Wells. Or Landry. Establish that presence in the paint. If Yao's having a bad night use him as a giant decoy and get the role players rolling. Then go back to Yao for easy, quick buckets right under the basket. Don't forsake the inside part of the inside-out game. You're still thinking superstar basketball. Frankly, I think superstar basketball is so much bulls***, especially in Adelman's system. What I want to see is a balanced attack and a team game. I'm a Role Players Only Fan.
Yao hit 12-17, but I think it is not not good. If you checked the video, you will find Yao got lots of chances in the paint with only one scrub defender face to face, WHY DIDN'T HE TRY DUNKING???? If he think the opponent is scrubs, not deserved to be dunk, it's acceptable.In playoff, he will face shark, stoudamire..... everyone of them will dunk on yao whenever got a chance. Before Yao tries to dunk every time in playoffs, Houston has no chance to get a ring. I doubt whether Yao is a calibre NBA star player or not in mentality. Shark is great just because he knows how to destroy the heart of the opponents. Landry is much better than Yao in dunking.
2 pt is 2 pt. NBA players dunk a lot when they go to FIBA games, yet they can't win a damn champaignship in many years. So you are among those guys who will think DH or AS is better than Yao as a center. What a superfacial bball fan.
Nice posts, guys! But the argument about the Tmac's bad shotting selection could be ceased. Both of you have made some legit points. IMO, we can't really judge on Tmac's contested shots in the past because he's the type of stars like Kobe, who can dominate the game on their own when they play really aggressive. During the years Tmac played in Orlando, he was the only guy the team could go for if they want to win games. He didn't get the luxuries of sound team defense and balance attacking or what so ever. The situation hadn't change much since he played in Houston with YAO because of JVG's coaching style and our poor bench power. In many games, he needs to take contested shots to find his rhythm and that's the best way he could help his team when not many role players around him he could trust in. But this season could be a turning point in Tmac's career after we got a couch with advanced offensive basketball philosophy and bench powers who're able to alleviate the pressures off our superstars. Tmac has proved he could make the team better by adding the play maker's role to himself. He doesn't have to take as many contested shots in the future games under the current offensive system and meanwhile he could still provide his talent at offensive end.
Great Win and we are 10 games above 0.5. It's pity though we did not gain any positioning improving as GSW also won . I was hoping the Adelman old team, Sacramento who stop the Utah recently can do us a favour. I just wish some team could beat these guys (GSW, Denver, Utah, SAS and Lakers).
Oh my .. thanks Clutch for upgrading me to a member. It's a been pleasure joining this board and this board has been fantastic.
