that won't happen......i remember that series, after they went down 3-1 detroit finally woke up and realized one player is doing all the damage, if utah tries that scola, landry, harris and battier will burn the hell out of them.....utah typically does not double team anyway, I think they want to let mcgrady try and beat them.....my thing with tmac is......he HAS to step up, there is NO way he can just stand around behind the 3 point line and pull up as soon as it is passed to him........ I have been telling myself that mac doesn't care about these last 3-4 regular season games.......i think he wanted UTAH and wasn't going to risk being fouled hard and have to sit out with a nagging injury while his team gets steam rolled and his "playoff slump" continues. I think mac will be driving to rack like a madman, i think we are going to see a fire in his eyes that we haven't seen since the first 2 games of the 05-06 dallas series.......well, at least I am hoping.......i am a mcgrady fan, i am a rocket fan, i want the rockets to do well and advance therefore i want tmac to do well and advance, but gosh dammit, if that guy is just hanging out behind the perimeter and pulling up j's all night.......i'm gonna be officially off the tmac wagon. too much is at stake this time and everyone has to want it.......
He is a monster in the playoffs. His first year here all my doubts were ended when he obviously turned it up in the postseason.
did the doubts resurface when he didn't turn it up last year? t-mac was the best player i ever saw in that 05 series, but this isn't the same t-mac. dont get your hopes up and you'll be less dissapointed that way.
I meant the ability to defer to his teammates unlike last year's playoffs. Geeze whats your problem, getting all defensive.
I am more concerned about this happening. http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200305040DET.html
Why do haters keep bringing this thing up? Why do we have to go through the bad history when the playoffs starts this week? Damn many of you guys a pathetic. Playoff time instead of cheering for the team and making USEFUL post you guys continue to bash T-mac. Seth, you better be concerned about the rockets choking more than T-mac. T-mac has never choked before in playoffs, his teammates did. So you better have a point in showing this link, or else you should keep your mouth shut and cheer for the team on Sat. ITS PLAYOFF TIME, DROP THE HATE. START SUPPORTING YOUR TEAM. I have never seen anything worse than this in my life. We did what NOBODY THOUGHT WE COULD EVER DO. After all these things, can you please give him a break??
My only comment would be that one of the reasons Tracy has been settling the past 5 games is b/c he doesn't want to sprain an ankle or, hurt his knee, or back or whatever... I think you'll see some more intensity during these playoffs for sure.
His decline in closeout games is important when the goal is to close out a team. It's better to confront a problem instead of ignoring it and allowing it to repeat over and over again, no?
I just posted one boxscore to show the poster that many points of view can be taken out of one boxscore, i assure you some players won´t fail this PO. Mainly Battier and Scola will bring it for sure and i think so will Mutombo (3 days between games will help him) and Hayes. The guys i see as "doubtfull" are Bobby Jackson, Rafer Alston, Brooks, Head and Landry. Anyway, you cannot say "stop the hate" just because i bring a boxscore where T-Mac shots below 30%, i just hope him to shoot over 45% and if he is not capable to do that i expect him to realize it and get the ball to someone able to do it. And it´s not hate, i say any time that i like how T-Mac is both evolving as a player into buying into the system and i likes his latest interviews, the fact that hi gives his teammates respect is a great sign from my point of view.
im the biggest tmac fan outthere but im really worried about tmac man seriously the way he's been playin lately even when played the lakers 0 points at half or last year game1, 1 point at half cmon that's really hard to swallow for a die hard tmac fan i remember when he played for orlando or his first year as rocket i was never worried about tmac's gettin his points but now my heart stops everytime he goes up for a shot, the difference between the orlando tmac is he wanted to be best player in the world but now he only cares about winning which is great but seeing other players like kobe,lebron,melo,iverson doing so well and no one talking about tmac is hard to take
People who look at last year's playoff stats and say McGrady has declined forget about how good he was playing at the beginning of this season. In the first 15 games, he averaged 25/5.5/5.5 per game shooting .450. Forget about his past playoff stats. I'd take what he could do in November.
i was really impressed with way tmac started this season he was fantastic he really looked like the 04-05 tmac he even had some great dunks this season the the thing with tmac is injury's like elbow,shoulder can change tmac's whole game he lookes so different on the court looks slow or like he doesnt wanna play
I think he's lost elevation from the early year knee injuries. He just doesn't get the elevation on his jump shot that he used to and it has affected his shooting. The flaw is that he doesn't need that elevation to attack the basket. He can still get to the basket and because he's so long, he can get the ball up. He doesn't need to dunk it and jump 40 inches. He just needs to take it at the defense and draw fouls or open up teamates. Settling for Js when they are not falling is the mental part of his game that he needs to overcome. He seems to play better when he gets a few days rest, so maybe he'll come out aggresive. Injuries might be the way it is for the rest of his career, but he really looked healthy early this year and was looking like a top 5 player in the league. After his injuries, he looks like what he is: A player that relies on his explosiveness battling through multiple injuries and a lot of NBA mileage. I STILL think that one year he's going to get lucky and make it through without any injuries, and he'll show he's still capable of being a top 5 player. The thing is, he probably has only 3, MAYBE 4 years to do that before he is ACTUALLY old and not just playing like it. In the past age 28-32 is the prime of a NBA career. He is technically still early in his prime.
All I care about is Tmac giving us what we need when the going gets tough. A defensive play, big rebound, key assist, tough jumper, and1 layup or dunk, and please make your free throws.
