That's my point. The best way to avoid getting doubled on the perimeter is having a low post game and without Yao we don't have that anymore. The Lakers have Gasol, The Suns have Shaq, The Mavs have dirk, The spurs have duncan, The jazz have boozer, the hornets have west, and we have??? This team is way too dependent on the perimeter game.
Without a good low post game we can still beat double team by motion offense, everyone moving and attacking until we get the shot we want, and that's what we've done in the 10 games since Yao went out. And believe me only a few teams is capable of defending like the Celtics did last night, double teaming Tmac AND left almost no holes elsewhere with great rotation.
Maybe we can do it against the lesser teams in the NBA, but probably not against the good ones. I agree. The Celtics were awesome on defense, and that is why they're the best team in the league.
I don't think this thread is geared towards the "I don't like what I have been seeing lately" fans. DaDa said it best. Win as a team, lose as a team. You can't be praising ONLY McGrady during this streak because it's not ONLY him who's winning games. When the team loses you can't ONLY be blaming T-Mac. First of all, last time I checked, LeBron, Kobe, CP3, PP, and Michael freakin' Jordan lost games... it happens. Hopefully we can get out of the first round to shut up some haters but it will be a daunting task without the big fella down low.
Dude that's a r****ded argument. T-Mac doesn't have that extra gear? You have to stop holding him to a double standard. Sometimes it's not always good to put it in that extra gear. He's not playing the individual game anymore. You saw what happened when Kobe put it in that extra gear? He lost the game for his team against us. If he had just gone to Lamar Odom, they would have won that game, easy. T-Mac could have tried putting in that extra gear but it wouldn't have helped. Off every screen he was doubled, the paint was CLOGGED with a guy named KG waiting down there. And you have to take some things as they come: T-Mac IS tired. They guy needed a frickin' IV after the Bobcats game! He IS going to play a bit sluggish until playoff time. He is playing bad lately but we're still finding a way to win. He's not an ironman like Kobe and he has to carry a load PP doesn't this season. If you see this kind of effort in the postseason, then we can talk. (I will be pissed beyond belief too, for the record)
That's why losing Yao cost us the hope for a Championship. It is in games like this that we miss Yao the most, someone we can just dump the ball to and let him go to work. I am praying everyday that next season Yao will come back stronger than ever and not having anymore injuries. Then All Your Championship Are Belong To Us.
True, and agreed. but... jVgOwnsYou, you seem to be looking for targets to argue with here and are being awfully black and white. You're also maybe not giving enough due to the fact that McGrady has been playing overly passive the last few games, double-teams or no. Every team's star faces defenses geared toward stopping them night in and night out. McGrady has seen plenty of collapsing defenses as of late, designed to discourage him from going to the hole. But he has NOT been doubled upon catching the ball or before receiving the ball very often, something you seem to be suggesting. IMO, you have a very dim opinion of McGrady's ability as a player if you feel his 11 and 8 point outings are a simple product of defenses paying attention to him. He's better than that, and I believe most of this BBS would agree. Also, you aren't acknowledging the fact that McGrady has not called for the ball very much, has not looked to attack when facing lesser defenders such as Matt Carrol, and has often passed up his own shot to deliver the ball to someone with a much lower percentage shot available. He seems awfully complacent with the ball being taken out of his hands on offense. I was watching him off the ball while attending the games last night and Friday (and as well as I could Sunday at home) - his body language kept saying to me that he didn't want the ball (this changed in the 4th quarter vs Bobcats). It's disturbing to me to see him take himself out of plays. The defenses have been marking him - they obviously will, just like we mark Kobe or LeBron, just like teams marked Yao in Dec. McGrady won't have easy nights, but no star out there does (Redd, Bosh, Paul, Dirk...anyone). I'm not blaming McGrady for the loss. I'm not bashing him or calling him a loser. But to think that we will do well behind him with play like the last 3 games is beyond dubious. I didn't see anything abnormal in the play of Scola, Battier, or others. Alston and Hayes started taking bad shots because they were pressing with us behind. You keep making it a choice between McGrady taking a large volume of bad shots vs being a willing passer, but that's far too extreme and black and white. He can be a willing passer without being an overeager one (making an overly difficult pass to Mutombo in traffic instead of finishing, causing a turnover). He can press the action more without being an Antoine Walker (20 shots isn't volume shooting). Evan
You are overreaching saying TMac was playing at an MVP level. He was not. When facing real challenge from real tough defenders in Kobe or the double team from Celtics, he disappeared. MVP candidates like Kobe, C Paul, LBJ step up when teammates struggle. Even Steve Nash shoots more scores more when the Suns are trailing or playing a tough opponent.
I'm not saying we can do well with him playing the way he has the past 3 games. I'm just saying that I think we all need to take a step back from the streak and realize that when Tmac doesn't have a huge night we are losers against the best teams at full strength, and I'm sorry, but that just doesn't work in the playoffs. The regular season, maybe, but not the playoffs. And to blame Tracy for why we're not an elite team is ludicrous.
Steve Nash steps up because defenses have to respect the talent around him and he is able to step up. The same can not be said for Mcgrady.
I don't know how anyone can fault Tmac after a Rocket's first loss in 23 games. They had a poor game and was beaten by the best team in the NBA. Now they know what they need to do to improve. A loss can also help a team grow. I am very tired of people blaming Tmac, Rafer, etc. They played their asses out there, and as a fan that's all I can ask of them.
Is it wrong of me to believe that most of the name calling fans that want to see Tmac fail and name calling him are from China?
Lol. I for one am not chinese. I do however support the rockets. Tracy Mcgrady is just a player in this league and the rockets will still be the rockets after this guy retires. If anything, he needs to just ball up and stop talking every damn time. Think about this, this guy always has some kind of excuse so why cant I criticize him? I'm tired, I suck at homecourt, I'm going through an emotional letdown, My back hurts.
While I personally feel that your thread telling folks to get off the bandwagon is silly, what you posted here is indeed a good observation. Folks aren't giving Boston their due: they doubled and tripled Tmac last night specifically to get the ball out of his hands. I'm as hard on MeMac as anyone but last night, he did exactly what he had to do which was pass the ball to the open man. He never got into a rythmn and that was due to the Celtics defensive strategy more than anything else. Without Yao on the court, they didn't have to worry about Mutumbo scoring serious points on them so KG was shading TMac to block penetration into the lane. They exploited the Rockets' lack of size on the frontline and that ain't TMac's fault - it's the fault of those who put this team together. If I was an opposing coach looking to defense the Rockets, I would adopt the same strategy the Celtics employed last night.
i wonder if t-mac's fatigue was an issue on his effectivness. one of the things that could have been a solution for last night was running tmac through screens for jumpers last night. given how the celtics covered the PnR, i thought tmac would've been more effective coming off of screens for jumpers. but i really think his fatigue had something to do with his ability to be aggressive and rise up. sadly, i think that this team is on the downward trend and was overachieving the last month and a half. tmac sorely needs some rest....too bad he can't afford to have any.
