It's time to give McGrady a little bit of credit

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It's time to give McGrady a little bit of credit
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Try not to take this personally, but Tracy McGrady hates you.

All right, maybe not you specifically, but what you think. He knows you never thought much of him as a leader, even though it's pretty clear it was never really in his serene personality. He knows you think he is soft, a critique left over from those nights you begged him to drive the ball and take the hit with a bulging disk. And he knows you think he is -- for lack of a better term -- a loser, because he has never sniffed the second round of the postseason.

Picky, picky, picky.

So how do you like him now? How do you like him since he has the Houston Rockets on the verge of piercing the top of the Western Conference? How do you like him since he is on the verge of carrying this team into history, without the 22 points and 11 boards Yao Ming has to contribute, just when everyone expected McGrady to turn tail and run?

Doesn't matter, keep your opinion to yourself.

It's too late to make nice.

"My thing is, I don't worry about shutting people up," McGrady said, a few days before the Rockets' win streak hit 17. "My drive is to take this team as far as possible. I think my teammates really believe I want to accomplish that. I think they want to do that for me. They know all the heat that I've been taking over the years. I'm motivated.

"The only way you shut people up like that is you go out and you win ballgames. This is a game, right? I love this game. I love competing with my guys. If it doesn't happen for me, it doesn't define who I am and I'm not going to let it. Despite what anybody says about me, the criticism about how I can't get out of the first round, that doesn't define who I am."

Okay, but we'll define him anyway.

Start with this: It's easy to forget that just three years ago, a question often debated was "T-Mac or Kobe?" Bryant has gunned past him since then, mostly because of McGrady's back issues and his inability to win a series.

But you almost have to include T-Mac in the MVP discussion if this extraordinary Houston run continues much longer, because his supporting cast doesn't come close to matching that of Bryant.

Look at what he has done: Last night, McGrady scored 41 points as the Rockets beat New Orleans, 106-96, to get to No. 18, the fourth-longest winning streak in NBA history. They go for No. 19 tomorrow at home against the Nets, which would be the third-best in history.

Think about that. They've won 17 straight, five straight without Yao, and they're 26-3 since losing by four (without T-Mac) at Boston way back on Jan. 2. You say the schedule has been soft -- only six of the 17 opponents during the streak are playoff locks -- but they're also handling the good teams pretty easily, and their high-octane blowout of Dallas Thursday night on TNT was a pretty good example of what's happening here.

This is one of those amazing NBA stories, about the team that should be dead but can't be killed.

Yet they have persevered. They got through the Yao injury thunderbolt, and they've won their past eight by double digits, by an average of nearly 18 per. Since Yao went down, they are averaging 108.6 points -- including 45 points in the paint -- on 50 percent shooting. This is not supposed to happen when you have a 7-foot-6 hole in your lineup. This is not supposed to happen when you have to replace the best offensive center in the game.

You already knew this was a great defensive team -- fourth-ranked scoring defense, second-ranked field-goal defense -- and much of the credit still belongs to the foundation laid down by Jeff Van Gundy. But replacing him with Rick Adelman was absolutely the right move, and the streak justifies it, because they developed the offensive confidence to play at double-speed since losing their best halfcourt player.

And every last guy believes, judging by how well they all fill their roles. Rafer Alston, who some had dismissed as an uncontrollable wingnut (hello), is having his best year and is comfortable as the new second scorer. Shane Battier remains a rock, their best 3-point shooter, and probably the best all-around defender in the business. Luis Scola, whose promotion to the starting lineup coincided with the streak, has turned out to be a terrific grunt. Fellow rookie Carl Landry -- a 6-7 power forward who didn't play until mid-January -- looks like this year's Paul Millsap, only this version shoots 63 percent from the floor. Dikembe Mutombo is giving them one good game out of three, and at 41, is rethinking his retirement plans.

Not exactly Murderer's Row, agreed. And without Yao, realistically, this is no better than a second-round team. But it has a superstar who can still can fill up the boxscore with anybody, and he has never looked happier or more motivated. His relentless assault on Dallas -- 31 points, nine assists, one turnover -- was a masterpiece of the art.

"A big part of it was when Tracy was out, guys really stepped up," said Adelman, referring to T-Mac's 11-game absence (Dec. 28-Jan. 15). "You could look at all of them, Rafer to Shane to the two young power forwards. Everybody kind of found their groove."

Some groove.

"We're still a good team, man," McGrady said. "What more (have) we got to show you all? We know how good we are, and we're showing it. We're a focused group, a group that understands how to win ballgames (and is) playing great defensively. What more do we got to do?"

Not much, other than win a playoff series. But for now, we'll shut up