I'm all about criticizing T-Mac... the guy plays soft. But you're honestly saying that you want the coach running to the media and saying "T-Mac plays soft, he should stop being such a wuss?" I don't doubt he talked/talks to T-Mac plenty face-to-face, like a man about these things. Why should he say those things to the press? How is that constructive? Who do you want, Mark Cuban? Just because you don't hear about JVG talking to T-Mac about this stuff doesn't mean it doesn't happen. There's no reason it has to be public. The guy was hired to coach, not to do right by Joe Messageboard.
I remeber posting the stats in another thread (I think something about Cassell would've never gotten playing time under JVG) that basically showed how much superior Luther and Sam were in their first few oppurtunities, not to mention those oppurtunities were also limited. I don't feel like digging up the stats again, but the point is, when Luther and Sam were on the floor, they took it as seriously as possible and showed good things in limited time early on, that earned them the spots.
Hell no one wants to enter the dog house - you never leave- ask Steve Francis or Bonzi- if you fick up one time- that's it!!!!
Agreed- Kirilenko had been ridiculed by the media after the 1st game. He came back and really hurt us with defense and crucial scores later in the series. You take that help where you can find it- we were so close. We Were so close to getting past Utah- it does not matter now.....
Also, I don't see how TMac played soft. He shot some Js, but only because the paint is so congested due to the way Utah played D. If anything, he forced drives into the congested paint multiple times and got hammered often. In fact, guess who are #1 and #7 in most FTs attempted per game during the playoffs so far? Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. But of course, facts shouldn't get in the way of people who just want to rant and throw out sports talk radio cliches rather than actually watch what happens.
The whole "soft" term is so stupid. Explain to me what that means. KG is labeled as soft, but would you not want to bring him in. He has about 10 years in the league and has been out of the first round all of one time more then Tmac and Yao. Tim Duncan is labeled as soft. He never pushes people around or fouls anyone hard. He never attacks others through the media, doesnt crush people with massive dunks. Yet he has three titles. Dirk was a stud last year. He shed his soft label by killing the Suns and Spurs in playoff series. Then he has a horrible series this year and suddenly he is a non superstar and soft all over again. D-wade sucked this playoffs against the bulls. He was outplayed by Gordon and Heinrich. He must be soft, even though he basically won the title last year by himself. Let me just ask one thing? Say Tmac and Yao come back next year and go deep in the playoffs. Does that mean they are suddenly tough as nails superstars?
T-Mac did say that he was nervous in the first half and didn't play well (remember the "sweaty hands" comment?). That's pretty much saying that "I choked." Anyways, I agree that T-Mac isn't the smartest in terms of what to say to the media. Sometimes, he seems too honest in admitting his struggles (the "lost a step" comment). Sometimes he seems to try to be tough and say things like "it's on me." Funny thing is, Barkley said a lot of dumb things in his playing time and people loved that.
They should be numbers 1 and 2 with the way Utah plays the game, they fould ALL THE TIME......and Tmac, if he had a tethered sack at all should have been number 1 by a big margin.... Game 7.....8 minutes to go in the penalty, and Tmac starts shooting jumpers. The guy is softer than Jon Koncak. DD
He also shoots stuipid jumpers. How many times has he come running down the court just when they are about to take the lead and jack up a 3 while his team hasn't cross halfcourt yet. Of course he usually misses kills all momentum and they lose.
Once again, don't let facts stand in the way of your parroting of sports talk 12-year-old tough guy cliche: A bunch of people have now been b****ing about how TMac doesn't have heart like Baron Davis... that Baron Davis is the paragon of what the Rockets lacked while TMac is too "SOFT" (whatever the **** that means)... but guess how many FTs Baron Davis averages against the same foul happy Utah team that was not called? 7.67 per game. Slightly below Tracy's 8.1 FTs attempted per game. But Tracy should have averaged 20 FTS a game... or else he's "soft."
You all are giving Tmac too much credit. He doesn't have the ability to say the PC sort of thing. He just says whatever is on his mind that second and then looks like an idiot after. "I didn't play my hardest in Orlando." "It's on me" "This isn't the most important game of my career." You get the idea.
Too honest in admitting stuff? I don't want it to seem like I hate Tracy or anything but... Before the game, didn't he deny this particular game 7 was any more important than prior ones? He stuck to his guns when he saw everyone's reaction. Then AFTER the loss he changed his story. You could argue the impact didn't hit him until they lost but I don't believe he was sincere when answering the first time. Before the series started, Tracy said something to the effect that this was the first time he felt his team could win against the other team. Why say that? If he didn't think his earlier teams could win, why did he play like a man possessed in the losing effort? Please don't think I've become a Tracy hater. I've just lost a lot of respect for what he says in public because most of it is chatter blatter. There are some players that speak from the heart when interviewed and I enjoy them, even if I don't like the player. Others just make me roll my eyes , which is where Tracy fits. None of this subtracts from the fact he is an extremely talented player.
He did say that he sucked in the first half but regained his nerves and dominated the second half to win the game. It is in print somewhere where he said his nerves got to him in the first half. TMac does speak pretty honestly and that is what gets him in trouble. I agree he needs to keep his mouth shut because he speaks the truth way to much before that "truth" has even occured. However, in his mind he believes it is true at the time.
If Tracy hadn't bricked enough jumpshots to build a mansion (39% FG, 25% from long range) or if BD wasn't hitting 56% & 37% against the Jazz, you would have a point. When Tracy shoots the ball like Rybo he needs to junk the jumper and get more FTs. When his jumper is on nobody will complain.
Damn that was pretty good. lol. But don't tell me we couldn't use Vince Carter over here. Then we just need to magically fix up Bob Sura and get one more enforcer to come off the bench and BOOM I smell a 7peat.
You act like he is the only player on the floor. Im pretty sure Sloan watched Tmac clang jumper after jumper. Isnt it possible he set up his D with the premise of keeping McGrady out of the lane? Told whoever was defending him to take a half step back, stay in front of him and force him to beat them with a jump shot instead of layups and free throws. This isnt a black and white game, its not always what you want to do on offense, maybe he was just taking what the defense was giving him (a good luck he couldnt convert).
