You mean, in that time, Yao was the no.1 center already?! Did you actually watch that series?! Aslo, you mean Utah is an underdog? Do you know they made to the WC finals?!
You have homecourt advantage for a reason. And who's better than Yao at center last year? You think Kobe wouldn't be able to pass first round if you switch him with Tmac last year? Stop finding the excuse. Utah overachieved because Houston underachieved, it's that simple.
man don't bring numbers, facts and stats in here, only talk about heart Yea thats what the haters would say... coz honestly thats all they can argue about against TMac. If you look at the facts and numbers, TMac is the only one who showed up this series. Just like he did against Dallas in 2005 and last year against Jazz, where Yao got owned by Okur on offense and Boozer when defending. TMac has been the only constant in all of our playoff series. The sad part is, he is not enough. If Kobe can't carry Lakers alone, how can TMac carry us??? End of argument. You can talk about Q4 all you want, but he is just one guy who performed, the rest of team just did not show up. Number don't lie no matter how hard you try to twist it. You can't expect one guy to win against a team like Jazz.
It is!! I still can't believe people blame Tracy for the game 7 loss!! Forget that Yao got owned by Boozer (on defense) and Okur (on offense) the whole series! Check his TOs because I personally lost count how many times Okur stripped and blocked him the whole series. Anyways, I blame Yao because we gave up 5 OFFENSIVE rebounds in the last 3 minutes of game 7!! And he had 6 FRIGGING REBOUNDS THAT WHOLE GAME! We lost the series right there.
Hey OP, how about start a Dwight vs Yao in playoffs thread? At least even TMac fans like me would acknowledge that Kobe is better so this thread is kinda moot. Since Yao fans on the other hand would still argue Yao is better than Dwight, that thread would actually be more interesting.
what is this thing you have with yao? what does yao always have to do with a mcgrady thread? and yao may be below many's expectations last year. but 25/10 for the whole series - one month after coming back from a major injury - is what you call "owned" by okur? you sure know a lot bball.
Honestly, I think the loss of the rockets last year should be 20% on Yao, 20% on Tmac, 20% on JGD, 20% on other players, and 20% on the rockets organagation.
Tracy McGrady was tired. He came into the post-game press conference smiling and making funny faces at the cameras, but then proceeded to talk about how he was so exhausted after his team's Game 2 loss to the Utah Jazz that he could barely move his legs. It really wasn't fair. The Jazz used double-teams, fresh defenders, and all kinds of tactics to wear Tracy down before the fourth quarter. It's not like Kobe Bryant has to face that kind of trickery, is it? Oh, wait . . .yes, he does. In fact, Bryant gets everything under the sun thrown at him and simply shrugs it off en route to another Laker win. But Tracy McGrady is not Kobe Bryant. Repeat after me – come on, it's therapeutic: "Tracy McGrady is not Kobe Bryant." "Tracy McGrady is not Kobe Bryant." For some reason McGrady gets painted with the same brush as Kobe most of the time. People talk about the premier guards in the NBA and they mention Kobe and McGrady right at the top of the list. Now stop for a second and ask yourself why they mention Kobe with McGrady. How similar are they, really? Kobe takes over games as a matter of course. It's an odd night when there isn't some 30+ point night from Kobe to talk about. The Lakers were down six, but Kobe scored 15 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter and the Lakers came from behind to win. How often do you hear the same story line about McGrady? What you usually hear about is the game where he went off against the Spurs, scoring 12 points in less than a minute to being the Rockets back and beat San Antonio. That was one game – and it wasn't even a playoff game. When do we ever hear that Tracy made some miraculous play or series of plays to lift the Rockets to a win? It's fewer than three times a season, and it's never in April. "Tracy McGrady is not Kobe Bryant." Frankly, I often wonder why he makes the All-Star team almost every season. Sure, he led the league in scoring a couple of times when he was on terrible teams – teams that were terrible in part because when he forced trades he also cost the receiving team a lot in terms of players and cap space and made it that much difficult for them to put top notch personnel around him. He demands top-dollar, of course, but doesn't yield the same numbers that many other top-dollar players around the NBA put up night in and night out. The Rockets understand that. That's why they have Yao Ming. Except Yao gets hurt all the time. The one thing we all have to wrap our minds around – fans and media alike – is that McGrady simply is not the guy who wins games for you every night. He represents the threat of taking over a game, and that's often enough for Houston. He demands double-teams and consumes the defense because the other team can't tell if tonight is going to be one of those nights. They have to guard against it, just in case the stars aligned themselves in whichever way they align when Tracy does have one of those big nights. But if you're waiting for him to do it against the Jazz you're dreaming. He might do it once, but for the Rockets to win a playoff series without Yao they would need Tracy to do it four times. That's simply not his game. Never has been. So, you see, it's not Tracy's fault that the Rockets are losing in the first round yet again. Once you understand that he's not all he's been marketed to be, you'll understand that fact. He's tired. He's being treated like Kobe – and he's not.
Same "thing" you have with TMac. Isn't TMac leading in every stats except in blocks this series for us?? So why are you blaming TMac again? TMac had phenomenol numbers against Dallas and Jazz as well, yet you blame him? At least I am pointing exact situations where I feel we lost that series. The fact is if your center gets only 6 rebounds and we give up 5 offensive rebounds last few minutes in a close game, you just cant win.
my thing with #1 is this. i used to be a big fan of his, long before yao came. over the years after he's been a rocket, i figured he's not mentally strong enuogh to take this team to anywhere. i stopped being his fan. and he's declining, too. i said this yesterday. all the great things you cited to back up whatever you're claiming happened in the past. the fact remains that for any team if your #1 guy can only score a total of one freaking point in 2 4th quarters, you just can't win. and very few are pinning the losses on him or him alone. his performance is fine with me (for who he is now and what he can do now). his issue is always mental.
you mean on #1? yeah, you can say that again. i've quit being his fan for some time now. and i hope many of you also quit the illusion that he's still amongst the top dogs within the elite guards.
Hey, Kobe is better than T-Mac, no doubt. He still has an explosive first step, he has a better jumper and he isn't as passive. Kobe is a beast (my dad calls him "Kobeast"…that's almost as good as his "Meow" for Yao). With all that being said, he still had the same team success in T-Mac's situation. Missed playoffs, blown 3-1 lead, and another first round butt kicking. Put him on this team and we still lose, period. Yeah, he has 3 rings…but another guard also won a ring and got an ECF trip with Shaq, and another one got a Finals trip and another ECF trip with him (Penny). So forgive me if I conclude that having the best center in basketball to play off of had something to do with your championships.
First, getting rebounds does not equal scoring tons of points in Q4. A team is expected to secure defensive rebounds thats why offensive rebounds are so rare. Second, no one is saying TMac is dominant as Kobe, and sure he has probably declined, but do you see the irony of your statements? If he dominates and scores a bunch, people who say he is a ball hogger and should distribute more. If he distributes, scores less and gets teammates involved then he has no heart! He doesn't take over! He is playing well this year, but not dominating because he is getting his teammates involved. We have been winning so he didn't have to turn it on the way he did last year when Yao went down. This playoffs his numbers has been very very good all around, just not in ppg. But wait don't you TMac haters used to complain that he should not dominate but get his teammates more involved??
Is that why Kobe couldn't win once Shaq left his prime? Wade won with a Shaq past his prime. In fact Wade was able to get to round 2 with Odom and Butler. When Kobe had Odom and Butler he failed to make the playoffs.
This is completely false...Marbury, both O'Neal's, Rashard....of the top 20 players who make the most money in the league, I counted only 4-5 guys that I would consider putting above T-Mac. Only a handful of guys will give you the yearly 23/6/5-ish numbers that T-Mac does, and even less guys statistically impact their team as much as T-Mac does when he does and doesn't play.
