I'm just trying to figure out how Tracy got the label of "Closer" all of the sudden. He's never been a closer, even when he was healthy. Oh, and don't give me that 13 in 35 seconds crap! That was a once in a decade event.
How about some of those shots that he made in 04-05 playoffs? He has had other moments but at the time my memory is fuzzy. He might not be the best closer in the game but he has delivered a lot of times for the Rockets. The hate is just making a lot of fans forget how much T-mac has helped this team, despite him taking a lot of shots. By the way, I have disliked T-mac since the Toronto game and all his crap in February but he is still a Rocket and I only wish for the Rockets to do good. I defend him because I'm sick and tired of all the fallacies that have come up from some fans since they started hating on him.
Maybe not a buzzer beater, but he has been able to score numerous times when it counted. Or at least was able to get it to the right person. Tracy is a much better passer than anyone on this team, like by leaps and bounds, he's not on the same graphical chart, they had to print two more pages to include his data point in the graph man. Possibly a little facetious. With guys like landry, chuck hayes, ariza, budinger, maybe even scola, these guys are perfect for tmac, good hands, chuck can't finish above the rim, but he usually gets wide open, everyone else has athleticism, or other interesting skills (Scola). Like i previously said, if he comes back healthy we'll be good.
PLAYOFFS? You want to talk about the PLAYOFFS? Tell me, how many playoff series did the Rockets win under the TMac era?
I would have to check, but i am quite sure he has never benn a top 5 or top 10 clutch performer, at least by stats in 82games.com that is the only site i remember to track that. The usually clutchest players are Ginobili, LeBron, Wade, Bryant, Duncan and Nash. Those are the ones that come to my mind when remembering that ranking.
since when is t-mac clutch? all i remember is him passing to chuck hayes to heave a last second shot in the playoffs.
That was 5 years ago. Game 7 against the Jazz, where was he in the 4th quarter? Is McGrady going to make this team score more? They're scoring more than they have in years. Is he going to improve their defense? He doesn't play defense. What is he going to do then exactly? He doesn't want the ball at the end of the game, that's a myth (see aforementioned Utah series, game 7). He doesn't want to be in the position to have to go to the FT line, where he's terrible.
No apparently he changed the date, because Morey and rick Adelman think that he is not in NBA shape yet, even though i know he is 100% he is ready, but it seems that the rockets don't want him to be in that red uniform anymore, and waiving pops was the biggest proof that his trade is coming.....
You were disputing that he was a closer and the point was disproved that he has been in games and made valuable plays to help us win. Next time, will you give us a time frame for when examples are valid? For example if I say Jordan is the greatest closer of all time, you can let me know if I can only use example from his last game, last full season, last 2 season.
-Considering this is no longer a half court offense and rather a run and gun team, it makes sense why we are scoring more. The pace is much quicker, so of course we are scoring more than we have in recent years. Also, this is the first year in a long time that we actually have pretty good shooters out on the three point line. -I don't think he'll improve our defense, but we definitely can't do any worst than what is going on right now. Ariza defense has not been all that great. He loses cutters way too often and doesn't fight through picks sometimes. He definitely gets in the passing lanes, but often when it doesn't work out a man is left wide open. Another thing is that since we are packing the paint, it is becoming very difficult to cover the perimeter. Tonight the Suns were getting anything they wanted on the perimeter since the Rockets were wasting a lot of energy trying to recover on open shooters. Although T-mac isn't a great defender, I doubt he can do any worst out there considering we don't have a big man presence that makes perimeter players job much easier. Hayes can only do so much. He is going to get us open shots. I don't know if anyone remembers, but T-mac is a great pick and roll player. I guess no one remembers anymore the pick and roll during the playoffs when JVG was still coaching with Yao. I'm assuming everyone forgot how good Chuck Hayes was with T-mac running the pick and roll when he got open layups. I'm pretty sure T-mac running the pick and roll with Luis and Landry, players who can actually finish very well is going to help this team out even more. T-mac can also play the high post well considering his great vision. All we need T-mac to do is to get some attention so he can pass it off. We have very capable shooters in Brooks, Ariza, Landry, and Battier which can all be relied on at the end of quarters. Also, Brooks job is going to be much easier since he'll be able to play off the ball more. Ariza will no longer have to handle the ball therefore allowing him to be a cutter, slasher and spot up for threes rather than trying to create his own shot which we know he fails at. I truly believe a HEALTHY T-mac is going to make this team that much better. I mean how much worst can we possibly be at closing a game anyways (since this seems to be everyone gripe about T-mac).
You may need to rewatch that 4th qtr. We lost because we couldn't grab a damn rebound . We can't score when it matters. We have nobody on this team that commands a double team and can create for others. Brooks will drive in, get stopped, and pass it out to Ariza who will do the exact same thing. The clock gets low and we have to put up a bad shot. He plays defense in the playoffs. Regular season he's just plain lazy on D. Again, look at that game.
I never check those stats but I'm sure he isn't a top 10 clutch performer myself, regardless he is better than Ariza going one on one and Aaron Brooks getting trapped at the end of games.
That last point is the key. It gives us flexibility. He is a great passer, and makes it easier on offense. We don't have to push the ball all the time, Brooks can play off the ball. People forget about how good Tracy was before the injuries. If he can get back to even 50% of the old Tracy we will be a better team.
Right, and all of those playoff losses were his fault? Every single game huh? If your going to criticize Tracy at least make it legit.
I'll give everyone the 06-07 playoffs when we were a few rebounds from winning, T-mac should have stepped up and put everything he had plus more out there. Now moving on. 04-05 playoffs, our role players played out of their minds most of the series but failed to show up on game 7. Also, if anyone remembers, I believe it was game 3 when we should have won but the refs were horrible at the end of the game. I remember Finley stepped out of bounds when saving a ball and they let the play go which ended up being a dagger for Houston. If anyone remembers, game 7 Yao and T-mac did their part, but all the other role players did jack. It was embarrassing. 07-08 playoffs, half our roster was injured, Yao was out. 3/5 of our starting line up were hobbling on the court, Rafer didn't even play the first two games. The Jazz were the favorites and they won. 08-09 playoffs, unlike many others I believe the Rockets would have won with T-mac. Portland was inexperienced and the Rockets had a very good team. It's too bad he didn't play and he will always be mocked for this unless he manages to make it out of the first round sometime in the near future.
This is a dumb argument. go watch the 07-08 playoffs where he was playing on one knee and soulder. despite that, he averaged 27-8-7. in the last 2 games of that series he averaged 35 points 10 boards 6 assists on 55% FG. he tried he's guts out. Put the 08 payoffs team even without yao and they will take care of the blazers. put the 05 rockets and they will demolish the blazers.
06-07 Our lineup was Alston, T-Mac, Battier, Hayes, Yao with Deke, Howard, Head, and a couple games Snyder coming off the bench. Terrible.
