[CHRON] McGrady knows better now

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3143898

McGrady knows better now
Unlike last time, T-Mac won't put cart ahead of horse in the playoffs



Tracy McGrady pretended he had forgot. He pretended he had never said anything stupid or controversial during his last trip to the playoffs.

But Jon Barry wouldn't let him get off that easy. Barry was more than willing to remind everyone how McGrady announced he had reached the second round of the 2002-03 playoffs despite still being one victory away.

Barry was with Detroit at the time and said McGrady's words were quickly passed around the Pistons' locker room.

"(Orlando) got up 3-1, and he said, 'It feels good to get in the second round,' " Barry said. "And it was a seven-game series. They proceeded to lose by 20 in the last three games, and we moved on. He's heard about it from me a few times."

Maybe that's why McGrady was hesitant to mention the word "Dallas" after the Rockets' practice Tuesday. While even Barry called tonight's game "a glorified practice," McGrady actually acted concerned about playing Seattle.

Win or lose tonight, the Rockets will play at Dallas in the first round of the playoffs Saturday at 4:30 p.m. McGrady didn't want to branch off into playoff talk until the regular season officially ended, though.

Maybe he does remember past mistakes after all.

"I was young," he said with a laugh. "I was so excited, because I'd been put out of the playoffs the three previous years. I was just so excited to be the eighth seed, and we were playing the No. 1 seed.

"We went up three games to one, and I felt like the series was pretty much done. And I learned my lesson. ... That mistake will never happen again."

McGrady had a phenomenal series, averaging a league-best 31.7 points. But the eighth-seeded Magic started to crumble after McGrady's remarks firedup the Pistons' defense. In the first game after the comments, Detroit won by 31 points. The Pistons won by 15 in each of the last two games, making Orlando just the seventh team in playoff history to lose a seven-game series after building a 3-1 lead.

"It lit a little bit of a fire," Barry said. "You never want to give the opposition anything to feed off of. It's a battle as it is. It's a mental grind and stuff, and you don't need any little extra edge to get the other team over the hump."

That's why Barry said he told the Rockets' media relations department to follow McGrady everywhere this week. He doesn't want to see McGrady looking ahead again.

McGrady assured everyone he was the last player they needed to worry about.

"I didn't know any better. You live and learn in this league," he said. "Now that I look back on that, yeah, I'm embarrassed. At the time, I didn't care. I really didn't."

Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy is hardly worried about McGrady making any bold statements this year. McGrady has yet to get out of the first round in four tries, and he missed the postseason entirely last year. Those two points have hardly been forgotten. They are what drive McGrady these days.

"Tracy made a young player's mistake," Van Gundy said. "And he's found out how difficult it is — one, to get into the playoffs and two, to have success. Think about it: A player of McGrady's magnitude and greatness has never been out of the first round. It just shows you how hard it is and how much of a team thing it is. Because if it was just on Tracy, I'd bet on him against anybody in this league."

Even as McGrady, now older and wiser at 25, tried to talk about Seattle, it was impossible for him to contain his enthusiasm for being just days away from the playoffs.

"It's going to be a great show, a great show," he said. "That's what separates the great players from the good players from the average players from the mediocre.

"You have to elevate your game. ... Dallas is a strong team. They have a lot of depth. It's going to be a great, exciting series."

megan.manfull@chron.com


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Rockets Summary
It's on for Saturday
The Rockets and Dallas Mavericks will open their first-round playoff series Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at American Airlines Center in Dallas. The game will be broadcast on FSNH and ESPN.

The time of the second game will be released today.


Birthday at the ballpark
Scott Padgett loves baseball and with his 29th birthday falling on a day off Tuesday, the Rockets power forward invited his teammates to celebrate at a suite in Minute Maid Park as the Astros played Atlanta.

"It doesn't matter how rich you are, nobody turns down free food and free tickets," said Padgett with a laugh. "Unfortunately, it isn't Tracy (McGrady's) birthday and then I wouldn't have had to pay for anything."

Padgett, like McGrady, is a big New York Yankees fan, but he said the Astros are his second-favorite team. A number of the Rockets lamented the fact that they missed Roger Clemens' start by just one night.

Former Yankees were still on Padgett's mind, though. The favorite player of his wife, Cynthia, with the Yankees used to be Andy Pettitte. He said she likes how he puts his glove over his face and peers over it with just his eyes right before a pitch. Since joining the Astros, she has tried to find a new favorite Yankee.

"I told her Randy Johnson does that now, but he's not as cute," Padgett said.

When told of Padgett's birthday party at Minute Maid, Pettitte said he hopes to make an appearance at Toyota Center one of these days.

"I like Padgett. I really like the Rockets," Pettitte said. "I wish I was able to go to more games."


Still playing to win
Seattle coach Nate McMillan plans to restrict the minutes his key players are on the floor tonight, but Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy has yet to make such a declaration.

The Rockets bring a six-game winning streak going into tonight's game. Even though his starters could use rest, Van Gundy doesn't want to chance losing any momentum.

"I can't tell you who's going to play and how much," Van Gundy said. "It depends on the game. The game is about timing and rhythm and intensity and confidence. We're going to try to sustain that through (tonight) and on into the weekend."

Van Gundy said the main objective tonight is to win. And even though the game has no bearing on the postseason, Van Gundy said he won't rest players simply to keep them from getting hurt.

"If you're so concerned with injury, you would never play your guys," he said. "You would never practice. So, I don't think you can coach fearfully."

-- MEGAN MANFULL