You know it is really disappointing to hear T-Mac when he gets hurt. I’ve watched other players on the team play through injuries and not complain or use it as an excuse to their ineffectiveness on the court. This guy is the highest paid player on the team and every time he gets a bump or bruise he walks around in agony like he is about to die or something. The sad part of it is that by listening to the commentators on TV, they see the same thing. How can you have a “strong” team when the best player on the team is “weak”? Now I’m not saying that a player should play injured, but I do expect a “max” player to play hurt. Look at Shane in the last game, he played hurt and didn’t b**** about it. He has had a hurt shoulder, stitches in his head, and I’m sure other injuries that we don’t even know about, but all he said was “it’s a little sore, but I’ll be fine”. He didn’t go into “well… if I had to play today.. I guess I could play… I don’t know though… maybe I’ll get an X-Ray.” Quite frankly, this team deserves more from T-Mac. Not more points, but more heart from this guy. Watching him allow John Salmons attack the basket, last game, time after time put it all in perspective for me. He just doesn’t have the heart for it. Leading by example is going to be big down the stretch and in the playoffs. With out Yao, who is the hardest working player on the team, it’s time for the T-Mac to suck it up and play!
Here's the funny thing...T-Mac has been playing hurt. He's played with more than one injury this year - he attempted to play through the bone bruise earlier this year (which the training staff couldn't find initially), and an injured finger on his shooting hand he didn't talk about until asked. T-Mac's general issue is that he is far too forthright with the media. Talking about his injuries makes him sound soft, even if he is playing through injuries. T-Mac didn't say he wasn't going to play. He just said he was hurting. Matter of fact, after the last game, he attempted to downplay his ankle injury. Does T-Mac talk about his injuries too much? Perhaps. But that's a general function of T-Mac being too honest for his own good, and saying what's on his mind when perhaps he should keep it to himself. Here's something else to consider - despite T-Mac jacking up his ankle, he played through it. Ankle sprains will sit down many a player, even NBA caliber talents. It's been said a bad sprain is worse to have than a broken ankle sometimes. If someone like, say, VInce Carter had the same injury, they would be done for the night.
Remember, some of us said Yao needed to "suck it up" a couple of days before he was done for the season. Tracy isn't the toughest guy in the world but the Rockets better hope his shoulder pain isn't significant.
tmac is not weak just because he says he is in pain every now and then; all nba players suffer injuries. but he does need to do a better job of downplaying injuries at least publicly, while making sure to alert medical staff of anything serious. bill worrell and bullard mentioned it in a broadcast, you don't want to show your opponent that you're hurting because it will only elevate their aggression and highlight your deficiency. i even recall tmac saying this in that video of him speaking to the chinese high school team, so it surprises me that he's continually open about how he's "feeling." i don't fault him for having pain or wanting to sit out when it gets to be too much, but he definitely needs to stop being so public and demonstrative of it when he does decide to play as it just gives the opponent the edge over him.
T-Mac gets a bad rap for being honest in his interviews. I guess most fans rather hear him sugar coat everything and say what they want to hear. He's played through injuries this year already. Remember he came back to come off the bench and everyone kept b****ing about if he isn't healthy, he should wait until he is fully ready to play. T-Mac could find the cure for AIDS and all everyone would be talking about is how he is taking jobs away from all the researchers.
Don't forget the elbow he was playing through, and the wrapped up left wrist/thumb or whatever. The guy plays with multiple injuries and people still find a way to b****. Why some people can't deal with the fact that Tracy is just honest and speaks the truth. He shows he's human, but does some incredible things. To guys like me, it makes it all real. He's just a regular guy with unique gifts and a blessed lifestyle b/c of those gifts. I guess as Dave Chappelle said, "Haters wanna hate."
Yeah.. I bet when you are looking about it as a T-Mac fan. Look I'm a fan of T-Mac and the whole Rockets team, I just never seen a "Superstar" get so taken out of his game with bumps and bruises. Name me one. You can say he is just too outspoken about his injuries, but damn as a teammate you have to get tired of hearing it everytime something comes up. I'm sure he is not the only one with something hurting. Call it what you want, but as a player it is called being soft. Just shut up and play if you can play and stop b****ing. If you can't then sit out, but you don't want to be on the court hobbling and making faces. To me its like he want to show people that he is hurt, so if he sucks that night they will know the reason why.
couldn't have said it better myself Sometimes I wonder how much extra time he wastes talking to reporters because you never have to guess how he's feeling or what he thinks about something. You don't have to speculate with him because he will come right out and say it instead of trying to hide it like every other athelete.
If he can't lift his arm up without severe pain, there's not point playing him as he won't be playing well.It can only aggravate his injury and we need a healthy Tmac more in the next game.
No this thread sucks because A: it could have been posted in the "Tmac is Ailing thread" B: every player has injuries and posting that he needs to "suck it up" is immature C: there is nothing of value in what the OP said. I could come up with more but I have wasted enough time on this thread thinking that someone could possibly have something intelligent to say in it.
I agree with OP.... I find tmac's dramatization to be annoying. Even the commentators, especially Clyde continually hinted at this
