By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle HOWARD'S HURTING Rockets forward Juwan Howard, who struggled with a bruised abdominal muscle on Saturday before leaving the game in the second quarter, went through only the shooting portion of Monday's practice and is questionable to play Tuesday. With Kirk Snyder (broken hand) and Bob Sura (knee rehab) inactive, Bonzi Wells could make an appearance on the active roster tonight, but that does not mean he would be active. He worked out Monday, but coach Jeff Van Gundy said Wells' status has not changed. ``If Juwan says he can't go in a game, you know he's hurting,'' Van Gundy said. ``He's been very durable here. I don't take it lightly that he missed the second half (on Saturday).'' If only Tracy McGrady and Kevin Garnett had that team in the commercials, with Tim Duncan in the middle and Gilbert Arenas and Chauncey Billups in the backcourt. If you put that fantasy team together for even one season, how different would their careers look? How different would their reputations be? "That's an unbelievable team," McGrady said. "Imagine if we were all on the same team." If they were, McGrady might not be labeled by his years as the league's most prolific scorer. Garnett would likely not be hearing the talk that he should find a way out of Minnesota to a team that could help him become a champion. Two playoff series wins McGrady and Garnett, meeting tonight with Garnett's Timberwolves in town for the last game of the Rockets' homestand, are perhaps the league's most celebrated active players to have never taken teams to the NBA Finals. They have won two playoff series between them, both when Garnett and the Timberwolves went to the Western Conference finals in 2003-04. McGrady, a six-time All-Star, has won two scoring championships. Garnett, a nine-time All-Star, has been the league MVP. Yet they are often labeled, even defined by some, for what they have not done. McGrady, however, sounds in awe of what Garnett, in his 12th NBA season, still does, particularly since McGrady had his time carrying that load with the Orlando Magic. "It's exactly the same thing," McGrady said. "He's just been doing it for a longer time than I have. It's tough, and it's frustrating. People looking on us or on him don't understand how tough it really is when a guy has to carry so much on his shoulders. "He's got to carry the city. He's got to carry the franchise. He's got to make his teammates better. He's got to put up 25, 30 points for his team to win. When you play 82 games in a regular season, it takes a toll on your body. If you have to do that night in and night out, it's really tough, man. But he's not complaining. He's not griping. He's being a true professional going out and doing his job. "Thank God I don't have to do that anymore." McGrady doesn't have to carry that load because he was traded to a team with Yao Ming inside. In what became a bitter, public divorce, McGrady was dealt to the Rockets when he would not pledge to remain in Orlando. While many have suggested Garnett should similarly force his way out of Minnesota, McGrady said Garnett never will. "Me knowing KG, I know how loyal he is," McGrady said. "He's been there so long, he's stuck through everything that's been going on there. Everybody is talking about how he should demand things and get out, but he's a loyal guy." Draws criticism Yet Garnett has been criticized for Minnesota's postseason failings, though rarely in his career have the Timberwolves been expected to do more than they have. "I just think that Garnett's a tremendous player and competitor and seemingly handles himself extremely well," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "He's only been favored in that year, in those two series. In every other year he's been in the playoffs, he's not been favored. And if you're not favored, it's usually because you're not as good a team." McGrady knows how his fantasy teammate feels, but when he thought of facing the Timberwolves, the fantasy was over. "It's a huge challenge for us," he said. "We have the Big Ticket coming in here." http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4363906.html
I am tired of hearing Tmac whine. You never hear the greats of the game complain because they have to “carry so much on their shoulders”. You will never hear players like Jordon, Bird, Chamberlain, or Jabbar, complain that they had to carry the load. Even when these guys played with bad teams they had no problems carrying their team on their shoulders. That’s what separates Tracy from the elite.
He's whining because he's saying he understands how Kevin Garnett feels? The greats are generally acknowledged as the greats because they won...and many times, they won because they had good teammates. Before coming to the Rockets, as a main option, T-Mac had one good second banana, Grant Hill, who ended up getting injured right away. Do you see T-Mac whining now?
While I agree that TMac shouldn't keep "whining", I don't think any of the players you mentioned had the same burden that TMac or KG have. Jordan had Pippen, Rodman, and a bevy of excellent role players (Kukoc, Kerr, etc.). Bird had, well, the Celtics. Jabbar had Magic and the rest of Lakers. Maybe Chamberlain had to carry a load, but the league had fewer teams and thus a higher concentration of good players on each team. It's just not the same situation that TMac or KG has had, where they were truly the only reliable scoring option on the team. I've always thought that the NBA has too many teams. By having so many teams, you really dilute the talent, which creates for worse basketball on a night-in/night-out basis. We will most likely never again see the kind of epic clashes that the Lakers-Celtics had.
I seen the game last night Garnett still looks like he just joined the NBA I love his attitude, but he has nothing to look for in Minny I hope he gets traded to LA...Kobe and him would be a crazy duo
Yeah, I hate kobe and the damn lakers with a passion. Besides KG/MJ is already the best duo in the league by far.
I would really hate that, Garnett is one of my favorite players, i cannot stand seeing him play for the lakers.(the only non-rocket that would be worse is Brand).
How many times have you seen Tmac talked about that in the last 3 years? I saw the media and the basketball fans whine all the time about his miserable situation in Orlando, not Tmac himeslef. And you also conveniently omitted that Tmac has said "Thank God I don't have to do that anymore" in the interview.
Today the league is different from that old one. Suppose we take out Yao and Tmac and put any of the greats you named in it, I seriously doubt Rox will be a winning team. Without Shaq, both Lakers and Heats struggled, so Kobe and Wade aren't elites.
I LOVE Garnett. I've met him several times when I used to hold a job where I met about half of the NBA. He is one of the nicest, classiest guys I encountered in that job and I've always rooted for him because of it. HOWEVER, how the hell can you wish him onto the Lakers? As if the Western Conference isn't tough enough now! KG is from Chicago and the Bulls would be a fantastic team if you added KG to their roster. So would the Pistons, the Heat, the Cavs and the Bucks. The Celtics and the Wizards could possibly even be great teams if they acquired KG for the right package. This could be a stretch, but maybe even the Sixers and the Knicks would be good teams with KG added to their roster. In conclusion, I'm all for KG being traded to a team where he has help and a shot at winning, BUT NOT IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE!
I do hate Kobe too, but seriously, the best overall player in the NBA is Kobe....Garnett can only be traded to LA since noone else can offer players that LA can....
Well of course without T-Mac and Yao and putting in Jordan, Magic or any of the other legends NOW the Rox would struggle. Afterall there's a reason they retired. You substitute those legends in their prime for Yao and T-Mac and I don't think the Rox would struggle. Zones or not players like Bird, Jordan and Magic would adjust since they were not just great individual scorers but great ball handlers and good court vision will defeat a zone. Also without Shaq the Heat still got to the Eastern Conference finals.
a true rockets fan roots for the rockets best interest before kg's. and kg to la is not in the rockets best interest. there are some weird rockets fans posting around here lately.
I'd like to point out that as amazing as Jordan was, he didn't win big until he got Pippen. One more thing...you don't think that T-Mac is a great ball handler with good court vision?
Jordan was absolutely whiny his last couple of seasons in Washington. Hakeem wasn't given to whining but even he got pretty fed up with the organization during the old "Akeem the Team" days. It's easy to carry yourself well when you're in a good situation but there really aren't very many players that continue to do so when they're stuck in purgatory, not even HOF level players.
