again ppl kept saying tmac didn't want to take over, his shot just didn't go in. see the 3rd quarter. u saw that fire. i believe b/c of that, he didn't want to jeopardize the team and continued to go instead. he was 2-4 in the 4th and didn't take more shots while yao was tired. i think he felt him shooting would hurt more than help the team. he needs to get over that of deferring to yao. he's their guy. he needs to be aggressive at all times. in the playoffs where the magnifying glass is brighter, he'll deliver. all i know is he'll play more reckless and more energy. HIS LEGACY WILL BE SHAPED IN THIS PLAYOFFS. he has to.
the thing is, he DOES drive to the lane and get fouls, we just choose to selectively tune that out. he has always taken a crap load of jumpers and he drives to the basket plenty during the game. now one argument you may make is that he hasn't been finishing quite as well on layups. that has been frustrating the hell out of me. he gets so close, does the patented tmac "AHHHH" and it barely rims out. if he can start to finish those a bit better, more greatness will come.
I haven't look at it statistically, but my impression is that he takes almost 90% of shots in the perimeter. I would gladly change my opinion if you could provide me with his shot chart that says otherwise. It feels like to me even when T-mac drives, he's so eager to avoid contact that he doesn't focus on making the shot.
It mattered a GREAT deal in Sundays game against Utah. The statistics show that since the league went to the seven game series in the first round the odds are HEAVILY in favor of the home team. With games most likely to be close against Utah, that doesn't bode well for "our" home team.
Please see 1995. Two of our last 3 regular season games were against Utah and we lost both. We also faced them in the first round of the playoffs on the road and won. Sunday's loss was bad but we should be able to take the Jazz in the 1st round anyway. If not, we're just a pretender.
Well, according to that shot chart, tmac shoots from what i would deem the non-perimeter 41% of the time, while shooting perimeter shots 59% of the time. Whether or not you think this is satisfactory, he has been steadily increasing his "tmac to the rack-ness" over the season, so I would be willing to say the number may be even closer to 45% inside and 55% percent outside. That ratio is not terrible and certainly could go up (and probably will during the playoffs), but it also seems that he makes a reasonable percentage of these outside jumpers hovering around 45% (with most of them being extremely contested). so all in all, lay off tmac, he will prove all of the haters wrong and finally bust out of his first round curse.
id say the biggest concern with t-mac is having a big game when yao has a big game. they've both never had big games when they're playing at the same time. if that isnt a growing concern then i dont know what is. im just hoping t-mac is still coasting and rises up in the playoffs. we defintely cant win with this poor jump shooting t-mac.
Tracy has always been an underrated playmaker, but this year, he's really looking to play that facilitator role more than ever. Tracy McGrady is the best passing NON-PG in the entire NBA... Yes, that includes Lebron James.
Not according to Hollinger, but I'm with you as well. This is one stat they always post on ESPN.com each year with lebron and tmac leading the way at the SF position.
I agree, he is an unbelievable playmaker and too few people on this board give him credit for that. They solely recognize his inability to hit jumpers (which is definitely debatable except for the past several games) and forget the multitude of things he does otherwise (great defense, running the offense, etc.).
As far as McGrady's individual scoring ability goes, I think it's fairly obvious that he's in an "I'm here if you need me" mode and is saving himself right now. Look at his performance sans Yao. If he is still shooting at this clip, and doesn't start taking it STRONG to the basket in April, May... and June *cough*, then I will be shocked. (Hell, he's already started doing posters again the past few games). McGrady has a history of stepping it up in the playoffs, and I have every bit of confidence he'll do it again. He is the third leading scorer in terms of PPG in NBA playoff history right now, afterall. I don't think McGrady cares about the regular season right now, and honestly, neither do I. We know who we're going to play, and really homecourt is overrated in the playoffs. That is one thing I agree with Charles Barkley about. If we can't beat the Jazz without homecourt, we never had much of a prayer against the Spurs or Mavs. McGrady and the Rockets are going to remind everyone why we were all so excited in November '05. Count on it.
Here's a post I made a few weeks ago that I felt was fitting here... Tracy is a great player, but there are things he can improve upon, and finishing at the basket is one of them. If you deny that, you're a blind homer and/or an idiot. Especially when you look at where he falls on this list of player's %'s when shooting in the basket area. I left big men out for obvious reasons. Tracy McGrady: 52.3% Tony Parker: 63.2% Gerald Wallace: 56.1% Michael Redd: 60.1% Kirk Hinrich: 59.6% Paul Pierce: 52.1% Corey Maggette: 55.8% Mike Miller: 61.8% Joe Johnson: 57.4% Ron Artest: 53.8% Stephon Marbury: 54.0% LeBron James: 55.3% Dwyane Wade: 65.7% Kobe Bryant: 58.8% Ray Allen: 59.9% Richard Jefferson: 57.6% Allen Iverson: 53.3% Mike Dunleavy: 63.2% Danny Granger: 59.7% Richard Hamilton: 52.5% Andre Iguodala: 59.1% Caron Butler: 53.4% Ricky Davis: 59.0% Brandon Roy: 51.6% Monta Ellis: 61.6% Gilbert Arenas: 53.5% Josh Howard: 57.7% Vince Carter: 57.3% Carmelo Anthony: 62.7% Manu Ginobili: 56.0% I bolded the only two guys on that list who he actually finishes better than at the rim, and even then both of those guys shoot better than Tracy overall and from 3. Don't try and make special excuses for Tracy either, because that list is diversified in every significant way. PG's, SG's, SF's, tall players, short players, younger players, older players, athletic, non-athletic, those with a clean bill of health, and those with injury histories. There are no 2 ways about it. Tracy is NOT a good finisher by NBA standards.
We haven't proven that we are a contender yet other than a better record than last year. And yeah the glory of 95 was amazing, but that doesn't mean it will happen again.
It's hard to deny those raw facts, but I just wonder how he was relative to everyone else in 04-05. if anyone had those stats that would be great.
That season we awakened after the all-star break and made an impressive run. We took out top teams along the way and you really felt they were hot enough to do some damage. Almost thought we would too... 2 years later we are back where we were. Lesser T-Mac, new improved Yao and similar supporting cast that we can't rely on in the clutch. Either way its leagues above the crap we had to endure last year.
What 1995 proves is that Sunday's loss probably doesn't mean a thing in the 1st round against Utah. Many of us have been saying for a while that home court will not determine who wins in the 1st round. If the Utah series goes 7 games and they win, I'll admit being wrong. But I have a feeling whoever wins will do it in 5 or 6 games and will clearly be the better team. My opinion at this time is it will be us.
