I've missed the last couple games travelling for business, but it sounds like TMAC has turned it on in preparation for the playoffs. Specifically, I hear he's been attacking the basket more than ever? Is this accurate? If true, I truly believe this has been THE missing piece in the ROX advancing deep in the playoffs. An aggressive, driving TMAC opens everything up for our offense. Our defense is what it is (mostly solid), Rafer is what he is (great ball handler, unreliable shooter), Yao is what he is (the greatest inside force in the game), and so on. But if TMAC can sustain an aggressive, attack the basket attitude, we will have opponents' on their heels the entire game. So is this new Mac Attack for real or was it just an isolated 2 or 3 game fluke?
did you not watch the 05 playoffs? its not tmac but his cast (including yao to some extent) who came up short
TMac was Jordanesque in the first half against the Suns. He could not sustain it in the second, but it was a phenomenal performance. He is no doubt elevating his game, but must pace himself. TMac is streaky as a jumpshooter, but when he is hot, he is on fire. When he drives, he is a 80% shooter, virtually unstoppable.
The supporting cast did fail in Game 7, but without their contributions before, it would have been over sooner. That series the Rockets as a team shot 43-44% from three-point range ... this year, they're going to need sharp shooting from Head, Rafer and Battier to beat the best teams.
very true. i just hope if rafer misses a few early, stop shooting or don't shoot so much. we need at least 2 of those guys to be on from 3 every night. i htink head will devlier. but battier hasn't been very good in the playoffs and sometimes goes games w/o contributing much offensively. we need to post him up v. anyone the jazz put on him some.
it was Tmac who fell short in the 05 playoffs... he came out shooting blanks in game 7 and we never recovered... but without Tmac heroics in game 6 we never would have made game 7 did we forget so soon? just look at how many shots he took and how many he made... why are we letting Tmac off? he was the leader of the team then and his still is now... I expect him to impose his will in everygame... we play... and im not prepared to let him off the hook if he dosent... he needs to have that mentality if he wants to be considered among the greatest
you said it, tmac did his best games 1,2 and 6.. game 7 he fell short,, noone picked up the slack for him.. but my point is tmac in on attack mode for sure in the playoffs.. he will give his best.. but it may not be enought because he might run out of gas in the later games so other have to step up big time..
your right... I havent forgotten Tmac had to cover Dirk too.. on the Defensive end... I think this years team is better than our 05 squad... Yao wasnt even dominant back then... some were still wondering if he was a bust... granted our role players may not be as potent shooting the 3's but they make up for it on defense... back then I think Tmac would have had to impose his will 48 minutes of a game... now it seems like he just has to do it the last 5 minutes... if our role players play hard and are smart about the shots they take... if Yao plays aggressive in the paint even in foul trouble Tmac attacks the basket but paces himself and turns on the jets when we need him too.. dare to think!!
He is even pulling out some nasty dunks lately in his tuneups which he hasn't done in a long while. I would really like to see T-Mac "Bradleyize" Boozer early in the series to set the tone.
I think Tmac has alot more around him this year too. Significantly more so is how much Yao has developed. He made both his playoff appearances before his real breakout year. His first playoffs he averaged just 15.0 points and 7.4 rebounds a game shooting 45.6% The next year in the 7 game series against Dallas he played significantly better averaging 21.4 points and 7.7 rebounds a game shooting 65% but only taking 12 shots a game. Yao has made astronomical improvements since the 04-05 season there is no way he takes that few shots in a series now. I think these playoffs, and especially this first round against Utah where they have no one to guard him will be his coming out party (yes yao is gay) just kidding, all joking aside i think Yao will be so unstoppable against utah that he could easily go for 30 a night. Battier i think could also make a difference, if you troll on Utah jizzboards u see that they feel their biggest weakness in their defense is defending the corner 3. That sounds like Shane going insane. Also Shane has never won a playoff game, much less a series, he has career playoff average of 6 points a game, i see a huge surge.
It is not too late, you will see a lot in playoff. After i saw what he did in recent games, i believe he put a lot into his savings account in order to do something big in playoff.
I been trolling lately and I agree with you; all of the Jazz fans agree that defending the corner 3 is a defensive team liability. I expect Shane to step up big and be that 3rd scoring punch in the Utah series.
TMac is going to be averaging near a triple-double during the playoffs, and he's going to be getting to the line. I'm going to watch his dunk on Bradley five or six times now.
tmac also seems quicker. he's gained confidence in his athletic ability gradually since that witch doctor in january. I'm very excited.
he's averaging 33, 8, 8 the last 5 games. which is basically his playoff stats if u take out his toronto year. v. utah, i expect 31, 8, 7 v. dallas, i expect 34, 7, 7 v. spurs, i expect 28, 7, 8 v. miami, i expect 35, 9, 8
how is getting 27, 7, 7 through three quarters falling short in game 7 against the mavs??????? go look at the boxscore....no one could score EXCEPT for tmac...
he did start 1-7, but we were still in the game in the 3rd. no one else stepped up outside of yao and yao scored most of his pts in the 4th when the game was over. i dont care if tmac started bad, he still did very good in ONLY 3 quarters. role players scored what? 7 pts?
