Do people understand the high post offense? They give T-Mac the ball on the high post, and thats where they run the offense. Similar to what they do with Yao, except Yao is on this low post. Yeah, it looks like hes a ball stopper but our guys and plays are being run off him. Watch the old Kings and they do the same thing. They'll give the ball to Webber or Divac on the high post, everybody else moves around/cuts as Web or Divac "hold the ball" until something develops and make the pass. I will agree he still took tough jumpshots when he could have attacked the rim and had a few isos. Not so much on the isos. You watch great players like Kobe, Wade, LeBron, Pierce, and others, you'll see that they run as many "isos" as T-Mac. Now, they've probably been more efficient this season than Mac, but you get the point. As for rating Mac, he can still do much better. He's always done a good job of finding his teammates but hes also out there to score the ball and put pressure on the defense. He's making it easy to guard him by not attacking the rim as much. Although I liked in the final minutes where he missed consecutive jumpers in a row and then he finally drove and got a bucket to score. We need more of that.
He will never be what he used to be. He looks like hes about back to being the same as he was last season.
I give him a 7/10. Can't believe the people attempting to gush over him. I was happy to see him playing with acceptable energy and effort. I was happy to see that he was at full speed (relative term) I was happy to see him play average defense I was discouraged to see so many of his bad habits on offense: The paint allergies The ball stopping The disinclination to set others up The notion that McGrady is a playmaker is woefully outdated. You don't create for others with a dance around the arc, tip toeing in only as much as the 20 foot distance. Reggie Miller wasn't much of a playmaker for a reason. I was very happy to see him late slash to the rim. If he is willing to go inside, he can collapse defenses and make things happen. If he refuses to go more than 4 feet away from the 3 pt line, it kills any hope for a team offense. Guys clear out to give him room to drive, but he doesn't. You've got inside-outside game. You've got outside-inside game. There's no such thing as an outside-outside game, but too often, that's what McGrady wants to play. It's got to change. Evan
I am sure TMac will be given the benefit of the doubt and get another few games in before he can be fully judged. Let us see how is after 6 good games of action. As for last night 7/10.
For the people bringing up T-mac's ball stoppage. Are you also disappointing in Ron Artest then? They both basically played the same offensively outside of a few drives by Artest. The difference is T-mac was getting Artest open jumpers or Artest was just making his contested jumpers.
I really do think McGrady (and/or Artest) was the difference in a legit 6 point win or without him maybe a 6 point loss that would have still counted as a "moral victory" cuz oooh man LOOK AT Von Wafer stepping it up and Scollandry hustling. Gimme the gimpy leg guy who'll improve the team in addtition to what we already have. We've accepted Battier's softness on offense this long havent we.
tracy should drive more obviously. he needed his shot to be stuffed back by prince to have the nerve to drive.
Bottom line, T-Mac needs to pass the ball. The last few games before he came back Yao was passing the ball immediately after he caught if he didn't like his position, regardless of whether he was in the low post or not. The ball kept moving. That's the biggest issue with T-Mac, he gets the ball and he hangs onto it. If he can't play the offense the Rockets are going to struggle in the playoffs and he needs to go before next year.
He came out pretty good making some shots. I wasn't expecting that much from him in his first game back but he had a good overall game. The good thing is he didn't go 8 for 18 or something.
When T-Mac came in late in the game we blew a 13 point lead and made it out by the skin of our teeth.
Stuckey was scoring over Brooks and he got YANKED out by Rick. Alston was choking as well. Tmac wasn't the main reason for the blown lead. He took some bad shots but made up for it with a basket.
The whole notion of "making up" for bad shots is a poor one. A low percentage shot (whether it goes in or not) is still a low percentage shot; it should never be taken when a better shot is possible. TSlack often doesn't give the offense a chance to develop by holding the ball 18 feet from the basket for a quarter of the shot clock or more. That's just dumb basketball. His drive in the fourth was a high percentage play (basket or foul or both). We need to see more of that.
7 in the 1st half and 6 in the 2nd.... so i guess 6.5 overall. I have a strong feeling he'll get a 5 rating tonight since he racked in almost 40 min last night. Dont expect much from tmac against the knicks basically.
