[CNNSI] Judging T-Mac: McGrady is no loser despite lack of playoff success

couldn't have said it better myself. the loser label has always been an unfair description of tracy mcgrady. anyone who watches the games instead of looking at flat statistics like "0-6 in first round series" can see that mcgrady elevates his game in the playoffs like few others can claim to have done. even if mcgrady doesn't get out of the first round this year (lest people forget in the midst of this remarkable run, the rockets lost their franchise center, dominant low post threat, and best free throw shooter, so the odds of success are stacked heavily against the rockets), i won't view him as a loser, or someone incapable of winning. the honest truth is that anyone who has watched this man play basketball simply couldn't come to that conclusion, because he does everything a great player should do on the court.

 

Kevin Garnett got out of the 1st round ONCE right? No one talks about that, and he's Mr. Instant Hall of Fame best all around blah blah suck my nuts KG? Maybe he got out of the first round twice, who knows.

 

technically, he advanced twice in the same year. he got out of the first round, out of the second round, and lost in the western conference finals.
he has never had any other success besides those two series that season.

meanwhile, Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson and the Lakers have missed the playoffs once and bounced out of the first round twice since shaq and company lost in the 2004 Finals.

what have you done for me lately?

 

Tmac and the rockets are making history. Nobady can disrespect history!

 

love what dupree has to say about tmac...glad to see someone not bashing him and actually telling it like it is.

 

I agree. And it's disheartening to know that some of our own fans don't feel the same way.

Oh well.

 

You know the media conveniently ignores or forgets all these facts.
The Lakers and the Celtics are media darlings now, so Kobe and KG will be spared from most critics

Just like how NONE of them have mentioned how well Tmac and the Rockets did without Yao last year when they went 20-10 for that stretch where Yao was out.

 

I think the criticism is based more on things he has said in the past rather than the fact that he has never smelled the second round. Kobe and Garnett are known as the ultimate competitors, gym rats and guys who would sell their mother for a chance at a ring. They are considered "winners" who only lose because of their team mates lack of skills. Tmac is known as the guy who quit on his team, gets injured a lot and counted his chickens before they hatched while up on Detroit 3-1 back in the day.

Some of the criticism is fair and some isn't. I do know that he could have won game 7 last year if he had played with more aggression but other than that I don't see what the guy could do in the playoffs that he hasn't already done. Honestly, I'll take Kobe or Garnett over Tmac in the regular season but I pick Tmac when the playoffs roll around because when he is focused and gives 100% I don't think any player is better. Of course, that is why watching him during his regular season lulls can be so painful.

 

I think when you talk about the best players in the league advancing in the playoffs it is more about the other players on the other team and what they do or don't do.

Being a fan of his I have watched every series and saying he stepped it up is an understatement. He has guarded bigs, guards, attacked the basket (the things he shy's away from doing now in the regular season so he doesn't get hurt and ruin his career like Dwayne Wade will probably do) and showed a willingness to create for his teammates no matter how bad they are (think tyrone lue, tony battie, pat garrity).

In orlando and toronto they had no chance and shouldn't have even made the playoffs. Since he's been in houston, him and yao were kinda making the team look alot better than what they are. They made old J Ho, Wesley, J Barry, and even Ryan Bowen look much better than what they were. It's not a conincedence that most of those guys either retire or suck when they leave houston.

Wherever you are stand up and applaud Tmac, applaud Yao, applaud The Streak, and most importantly applaud the Rockets. They deserve it.

 

well said, I love TMac and Yao. It sucks that Yao is not playing with the Rockets and enjoy this "journey". I hope they win a championship together someday!

 

i don't think any perimeter player has played at the level that tmac has displayed in the PLAYOFFS in the last decade. sure iverson may have a better scoring average, lebron may have a better rebounding average, nash may have a better assist average, but tmac is doing it ALL.

if the role players continue to play at the level they are playing in the playoffs, we'll have a good chance of advancing. i have zero doubt tmac will play at that dallas level in the playoffs.

a sign of a different tmac was last night. he started out shooting bad. yet he still defended, hustled, talked to his teammates, smiled on the court, cheered his teammates on... and got his in the 3rd. he's a different player, a happier and more motivated player.

 

Next year has to be the year. Tmac and Yao are at their peak. Yao's peak may continue longer than Tmac's

BTW, what Tmac did in the 05 series against the Mavs was Jordanesque. He defended Nowitzki about as well as you can, spending ridiculous energy on both ends of the court.

If Yao and Mac had this group of players around them in 05, they would have won. As far as last year, Tmac could have done better. What I was shocked by was how neither Tmac nor Battier could slow Harpring down. He was the difference in that series.

 

battier, alston, head, howard were absolute garbage in that playoff series. battier couldn't defend anybody.

 

it's about time someone in the media says what i have said before.

it's ignorant and incredibly stupid to judge one player on his teams effort. that is a very narrow-minded perspective and has no place in sports journalism or any other medium except maybe on a public restroom wall.

 

yeah the funny thing is yao and battier seem to be immune from that kind of criticism. it's like people forget that yao hasn't advanced past the first round either and before coming to the rockets battier had never won a playoff GAME, forget series. they are still considered winners. i don't disagree with that, but if they are winners then t-mac certainly is.

 

believe it or not, yao hasn't achieved the type of individual success that tracy had. he has never won an individual title in anything; never made first-team all-nba, and has never truly had his own team where everything revolves around him.

that's why even if this has been yao's team this year, the media will criticize tmac before anybody. he's the most celebrated player on this team. you can list his individual achievements and if you had not known his playoff failures, you'd think he's an AUTOMATIC HOF.

and battier is a role player. c'mon now.

 

It's Incredible how the media can manipulate stats and make people forget KG's failures; or how they call yao 'injury prone' when in reality, he has played more career games than amare.

I loved the article, thanks for posting it.

 

Tmac and Yao are both brilliant players. I really hope they can win a ring together.

BTW, if I had to choose a mvp for this winning streak, I would choose Battier!

 

David DuPree is a huge Rockets Fan, he always say something good about Rockets when he worked for USA Today. I like him!