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[CHRONIC] T-Mac, Artest keep it interesting for Rockets

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Rockets34Legend, Mar 15, 2009.

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rocketsregle Member

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roksoer said:

why not? there is no proof at all that there were locker room issues or problems between tracy and ron, people just made that up
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suuuure

#21 rocketsregle, Mar 15, 2009

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jlwee said:

So Artest was feuding with Alston? Was that the reason Alston get traded?
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The funny thing is when we got Artest the one guy that everyone thought would be able to relate to him most was Rafer Alston.

#22 Shaud, Mar 15, 2009
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what was justice (a baseball guy) trying to say in his column this time around? as always i don't get it.

#23 ibm, Mar 15, 2009
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killer instinct said:

Tracy sucks hurt and in the playoffs and Ron sucks at decision making on and off the court. How interesting?
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tracy has been amazing int he playoffs. are you kidding?

#24 Nice Rollin, Mar 15, 2009
napalm06 Huge Flopping Fan

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NotInMyHouse said:

Shh. Don't be bringing up Tracy's dissapearances for stretches of games where he was imposing his will on the other teams.
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God, I swear it's always groundhog day around here.

Tracy got swarmed by a good defense when he was completely gassed mentally and physically from carrying the team on his shoulders. That's just an excuse, but that is what it is. It doesn't discount what he did for a team that was otherwise terrible. Juwan Howard? Bobby Jackson? Please.

#25 napalm06, Mar 15, 2009
leonking Rookie

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nWo34Life said:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6311840.html

Daryl Morey and Tracy McGrady had a long lunch the other day and appear to have made their peace.

“I truly believe it was a misunderstanding,” Morey said.

McGrady couldn’t be reached for comment, but he apparently believes he did inform the Rockets before deciding to have season-ending surgery on his left knee.

The Rockets may not buy it, but odd circumstances can make for odd alliances. Don’t be surprised if McGrady is back in uniform for the Rockets at some point next season.

To come back and show he can still be an impact player might make him millions in free agency, and McGrady playing at a high level is still better than every other reasonable option the Rockets have.

He won’t be back without the kind of commitment to the rehabilitation process some think he doesn’t have.

Ron Artest likely will be back, too. At least the Rockets would like to have him back. They’re willing to accept his moments of weirdness in exchange for his toughness and production.

Both sides have agreed to table negotiations until after the season, but the Rockets seem to be his best option.

These are the subplots in a week in which the Rockets played five games in seven days in three different cities. They survived, winning three out of five, losing only to the Lakers and Spurs.

They were in both games until the end, including Saturday’s 88-85 loss to the Spurs at Toyota Center. Kobe Bryant took over one of the games, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan the other.

“It’s devastating because we were in position to win this game,” Aaron Brooks said.

There’s no shame in losing to these teams. The Rockets knew this stretch would tell them how far they’ve come without McGrady.

Far, but not far enough

The answer is they’ve come far enough to make the playoffs, probably to open the first round with home-court advantage. They’re not yet as good as the Lakers and Spurs, but they already knew that.

They’re still growing. They’d better be, because they’ve got trips to New Orleans, San Antonio and Utah in the next 10 days, and road games against the Suns and Lakers early next month. Stay tuned for more updates.

“I think our best basketball is still ahead of us,” Shane Battier said. “Last year, we peaked during the streak. The emotional toll it took on us was pretty significant. By the time April rolled around, we were tired. We were spent by the time the playoffs came. I still feel we haven’t peaked emotionally, which is almost as important as the physical part of it.”

Artest has been looser and more productive since McGrady departed, but he swears that’s only a coincidence.

“I miss Tracy,” he said. “I liked playing with Tracy. The problem was that he was hurt and not playing hard, and that I was hurt and not playing hard.”

Artest is a challenge to coach. He freelances too much at times and can test the fabric of the locker room.

He apparently had issues with Rafer Alston, who wouldn’t hide his annoyance that Artest isn’t always fanatical about running the play that has been called.

Morey doesn’t agree with those who have wondered whether McGrady thought adding Artest to the mix was a mistake.

“Not true,” he said. “Not true at all. Tracy was genuinely excited when I told him we’d gotten Ron. He knew Ron gave us a better chance of winning a championship.”

Artest is good enough to put a team on his back in the playoffs. That’s the good Artest.

There’s also the bad Artest. That’s the one who takes strange shots, commits silly fouls and puts his team in a hole.

For instance, Saturday night. He helped lift the Rockets from an 11-point deficit in the third quarter into a two-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.

He then missed four straight shots down the stretch. Still, his toughness and resolve are a bonus for a team that sometimes has been lacking those ingredients.

“He’s got an edge to him,” Battier said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a malicious edge. He wants to do everything in his power to help his team win the game. If that doesn’t happen, he doesn’t react well. Most competitors don’t take losing well.”

Nothing has changed much since the first time Battier laid eyes on Ron Artest.

“We were both 14 years old and playing at the George Washington Invitational,” Battier said. “He played for a team that had him, Elton Brand and Lamar Odom. Imagine those guys together. He was probably about 6-4, 225 pounds. I remember this guy with massive long arms and just a tough kid, a tough competitor.”

Depth and toughness

Battier watched as McGrady and Artest struggled with playing with each other in the first half of the season.

“We were all having a hard time earlier this year,” he said. “We didn’t know how Ron would fit in. We didn’t know Tracy’s role. We were floating for about two and a half months. Unfortunately, we lost a lot of games we shouldn’t have.”

Despite those losses, the Rockets will be in the playoffs for the third straight season. They don’t have McGrady’s occasional greatness, but they have depth and toughness.

All in all, that’s a pretty good exchange. In other words, they still could make things interesting. Come to think of it, they already have.
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Good, so the real problem was between Ron and Alston? lol

#26 leonking, Mar 15, 2009
rockbox Around before clutchcity.com

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jlwee said:

So Artest was feuding with Alston? Was that the reason Alston get traded?
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Alston got traded because he sucked. I don't think jacking up as many shots as Yao when your career average is less than 40 percent is running plays as designed either.

#27 rockbox, Mar 15, 2009

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so it was artest who really didn't want to run some plays and feuded with teammates?

tracy's problems all along was he couldn't deal with injuries and thus sucked. artest actually "feuded" with alston.

wow.

now that i look back at it. artest last night got a pass from yao and 2 guys converged on him for rotation and he jacked up a 3 (and made it) while aaron brooks was wide open at the top of the key. after the play, aaron looked pissed. o well. the bad and good artest.

#28 t_mac1, Mar 15, 2009
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t_mac1 said:

so it was artest who really didn't want to run some plays and feuded with teammates?

tracy's problems all along was he couldn't deal with injuries and thus sucked. artest actually "feuded" with alston.

wow.

now that i look back at it. artest last night got a pass from yao and 2 guys converged on him for rotation and he jacked up a 3 (and made it) while aaron brooks was wide open at the top of the key. after the play, aaron looked pissed. o well. the bad and good artest.
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McGrady is still a p***y who quit on the team.

Artest and Alston's arguments don't make Jamario Moon's fastbreak dunk go away.

#29 Carl Herrera, Mar 15, 2009
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Why does McGrady have to play for this team next season. This guy is clearly Over the hill, and this is not the same as calling the Spurs over the hill.

McGrady has already been declining these past 2 years and he's not going to look any better with micro-fracture knee surgery. He's lost about his athleticism before the surgery, the surgery will only make it worse. He has no passion for basketball like Grant Hill does. He's done. Trade him before it's too late Morey.

#30 OlajuwonShake34, Mar 15, 2009
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OlajuwonShake34 said:

Why does McGrady have to play for this team next season. This guy is clearly Over the hill, and this is not the same as calling the Spurs over the hill.

McGrady has already been declining these past 2 years and he's not going to look any better with micro-fracture knee surgery. He's lost about his athleticism before the surgery, the surgery will only make it worse. He has no passion for basketball like Grant Hill does. He's done. Trade him before it's too late Morey.
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i prefer we'd trade him so the drama is officially over.

but seriously, if tracy can come back and play like this year "without the pain" he's still clearly better than any perimeter player we have to offer.

#31 t_mac1, Mar 15, 2009
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The writer didnt specify if Morey or anyone else from the team stated the part about rafer and Ron. Notice how he worded it, he's not saying they had beef, just an issue about play calling. That's far from having problems with each other and Rafer's not going to be traded to make one player happy that wasn't a lock to come back at that point, or even at this point.

#32 RV6, Mar 15, 2009
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“I think our best basketball is still ahead of us,” Shane Battier said. “Last year, we peaked during the streak. The emotional toll it took on us was pretty significant. By the time April rolled around, we were tired. We were spent by the time the playoffs came. I still feel we haven’t peaked emotionally, which is almost as important as the physical part of it.”

this is the best part.
everything else can wait.

...

#33 Electro, Mar 15, 2009

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Shane Battier said:

"We were floating for about two and a half months. Unfortunately, we lost a lot of games we shouldn’t have.”
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This is the part that kills me more than anything. Despite all our problems, if only we could have pulled out some of those gimme's earlier in the season. Now here we are: fighting desperately for homecourt and playing the seedings battle. It certainly would have made that battle a lot easier had we taken care of business earlier in the season against some teams we had no business losing to.

#34 baller4life315, Mar 15, 2009
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cool - return of the Mac & opt-out of Yao era!

#35 carryunderskirt, Mar 15, 2009
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Angkor Wat said:

Probably because nobody will believe it either way.
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Why is that? I think that's Battier speaking his true mind. When Tmac was around, Shane was still involved in offense. Now, with AB and Ron in charge of the ball, high efficiency guys like Yao and Scola have to wait for their touches. There is simply no play left for Shane. When a guy is not involved offensively, his defensive energy will drop, even if he's a defensive specialist. That's why Big Ben gets a few plays called for him; that's why Hayes gets a few layups from TMac; that's also why Bruce Bowen gets some plays designed for him.

What does Shane get nowadays?

#36 real_egal, Mar 15, 2009
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Fran just put up a good point in a question I asked him in is blog

http://blogs.chron.com/franblinebury/2009/03/take_it_to_the_limit_spurs_88.html
Hello Fran, What are the chances that T-Mac stays on the Houston Rockets or leaves to another team for next season?

[He'll be a Rocket when training camp starts next season. Who'll want to take a flyer over the summer on someone coming off microfracture knee surgery who's owed $23 million next season? --Fran]
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Posted by: OlajuwonShake34 at March 15, 2009 01:09 PM

#37 OlajuwonShake34, Mar 15, 2009
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Electro said:

“I think our best basketball is still ahead of us,” Shane Battier said. “Last year, we peaked during the streak. The emotional toll it took on us was pretty significant. By the time April rolled around, we were tired. We were spent by the time the playoffs came. I still feel we haven’t peaked emotionally, which is almost as important as the physical part of it.”

this is the best part.
everything else can wait.

...
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tmac and scola didn't peak during that streak. they played hard in the playoffs. that was a copout. we just were injured. thats all.

#38 t_mac1, Mar 15, 2009

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Carl Herrera said:

McGrady is still a p***y who quit on the team.

Artest and Alston's arguments don't make Jamario Moon's fastbreak dunk go away.
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Try playing with a knee that needs microfracture knee surgery. You would cry to your mother...

#39 TheGreat, Mar 15, 2009
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TheGreat said:

Try playing with a knee that needs microfracture knee surgery. You would cry to your mother...
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Ok then so let's trade him. McGrady is done..... He'll never be back.

#40 OlajuwonShake34, Mar 15, 2009

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