Good article. I think this whole Mcgrady debate just depends on your perspective. I agree that T-mac seems to be the victim of some bad circumstances here and there. But in the same token, great players should be able to overcome at least some of those bad circumstances. Obviously, the Rockets are completely overmatched this series, but McGrady's had 3 legitimate shots against the Pistons, Mavs, and Jazz last year. We can go in circles with this, but I'm still maintaining my position that McGrady should have found some way to get it done in at least 1 of his 3 legitimate playoff opportunities.
I believe all rockets' players including Tmac believe that is not Scola's fault, they all say that foul is a flopping. No one wants Scola to be the scapegoat! I think that author didn't intend to do that either. As he said, he is not a rockets' fan, and I think he probably didn't watch rockets' regular seasons' games. So, he might not know Scola at all. His comments on Scola might be only on the basis of that one game. Actually, this is the exactly same thing that you are trying to do right now.
audio http://blogs.chron.com/sportsjustice/archives/2008/04/mcgrady_worn_do_1.html text McGrady worn down and shut out (w/audio) This post is a defense of Tracy McGrady. Rather, it's an attempt to explain what has happened in this series. If you're inclined to blame it all on him, stop reading now. Your blood pressure will thank you later. Maybe you've heard that McGrady hasn't scored a single field goal in the fourth quarter of this playoff series. Maybe you've heard some reasons for this. Maybe you've heard that McGrady lacks heart or stamina or guts. Maybe you've heard that McGrady simply is a loser. If you listen to sports talk, you may have heard a lot of screaming. These people want McGrady to score and they don't want to know anything about the details. Hey, that's fine. I spoke privately to both McGrady and Rick Adelman Tuesday afternoon about all of this. I wanted to know if McGrady should be more selfish. I wanted to know if his problems were something the Utah Jazz were doing or something his teammates were doing or some combination. I've found it's a combination of things. It's funny how things work out. Before this series even began, the Rockets worried that they didn't have enough offense outside of McGrady. In the other locker room, they believed if they stopped McGrady the Rockets couldn't win. Bingo. Check out the substitution that Jerry Sloan made with 6:39 left in the game. He sent Andrei Kirilenko into the game for Matt Harpring. Kirilenko had been on the bench since the 2:59 mark of the third quarter. He was rested and ready for McGrady and spent the final 6 1/2 minutes chasing a tired player. Smart, huh? Indeed. Ronny Brewer, Paul Millsap, Kirilenko and Harpring took turns defending McGrady. McGrady got almost no single defensive coverage, but Sloan made sure he always had a fresh body on him. The Jazz also played the pick-and-roll differently in the fourth quarter. They mugged McGrady and forced him to give the ball up. Could McGrady do more? Possibly. Should he force some shots? Maybe. But he has seldom done this in his time in Houston. He has always tried to get everyone involved. It'll be interesting to see how the Rockets adjust in Game 3. They want McGrady more involved, but they also know that they've got a big disadvantage in size and scoring depth. man listening to tmac u can tell his really down
Not true. We won the first two on their home court. They came to Houston and won the next 2. We won game 5 at dallas and had a chance to close it out game 6 at home. That is the game when Finley was out of bounds. We blew game 6. Dallas forced the game 7 and we got blown out.
No doubting TMac's great skills, at times he is absolutely Jordanesque, BUT all the DRAMA that is team TMac is due an intermission or maybe a final curtain call, at least in Rocketland. It is time for him to move on. Enough. TOO MUCH DRAMA. Someone please turn the page. Please. Time for the first chapter of Yao, plan B.
I love Scola, and if Yao we're here he'd be making such a huge impact and we'd all love him. However, I realize now he can't be our primary go to scorer in the post or our #2 scorer. Nobody on this team can. And that's why tmac is screwed this year.
maybe what you said is true. maybe. i don't know. kinda got a feeling that morey will give this combo one last try. and "plan b"? any details?
the funny thing is everyone is comparing tmac with lebron cmon tmac is not 22, would you seriously take lebron over the orlando tmac or 05 playoffs tmac?? i doubt it
The key is keeping your expectations low under the circumstances. People on this board hyped this team up too much after Yao went down and won an additional 10 games. They didn't even bat an eye when we were 9-18 since the Laker game. We were already struggling without Yao before the playoffs but no one wanted to see. And now people are reacting to the realization that Utah is not as good a matchup without Yao as they thought. There is no point in getting mad about McGrady not scoring in the fourth quarter. Shoot I didn't even realize it until I got home from both games and got on the garm. I mean come on, yes he could do better. But it doesn't matter, Utah had an answer for everything. I sure never got the feeling that we would grab ahold of the game from Utah in game 2.
