Give him time. He's clearly working to plug into the offense right now, limiting his shots, making sure his teammates get the ball and looking to pass. The team as a whole has benefitted hugely even if T-Mac's scoring is down. The last few games have featured a T-Mac looking to play team ball and the Rockets have racked up some impressive wins. They had three double digit wins in a row going into tonight and they probably would have had another if Rafer wasn't going over his vacation itinerary during the fourth quarter.
Agree, I think Mac has had some ups and downs fitting in, but I really liked the way he pushed the ball in the first half. But the last couple of games, Mac has played the entire second half. That's absolutely insane. RA has to do a better job at least giving him a couple minutes here and there.
Agree. One thing that can be improved is that TMac needs to find a balance between team ball and selection of his own shots. He tends to shoot very poorly when he tries to involve the whole. I know it's very hard do everything well in one game. But he has ability to do so.
i could understand it's great pain to invert role after he got success. but it's on his own and he must do it to keep win. nobody would be generous in the post season and we got no chance to win.
T-Mac made a clutch play at the end of the game. He drove into the lane, got triple teamed and kicked the ball out to a wide open Novak. Can't draw it up any better than that. That boys and girls is what you call a clutch play. Who cares whether he shoots and finishes as long as we score and win!
its true though isn't it? his sharing the ball shooting less then 15 shots a game, getting assists and rebounds each game. Getting steals playing average D. I don't know what else is he not doing. He runs endless pick and rolls as the coach calls it. I mean what else?
We win, people nitpick at the little things. We lose, and it's an all out assault on this forum. 17 of the last 20, 8 straight. Sure this team has it's flaws and concerns, but, let's try living in the moment.
Honestly, I think it's just his injury. I think he really wants to win, and he's just tired of battling this injury - it's got to take it's toll. To play through an injury for now 3 months after first trying to figure out what's wrong and then learning that there's nothing he can do to make it heal until the summer. That sucks. I'd rather him take it easy the first half and push in the second half.
I think you guys are misinterpreting the intentions of my post. People will tell you I am one of the biggest T-Mac fans on this board, and this certainly isn't to bash him or whatever. But Adelman came here and one of his major points was to make things for T-Mac as a scorer....he has totally gone away from this, and the previous few yars proved that the team won't get over the hump with T-Mac doing so much playmaking and so little pure scoring (aka getting actual lays called where he is expected to finish the play than start it). The ignorance to not even allow him to do this at the end of today's game almost lost us a huge win.
mcgrady is a myth to me at times, 'cause i can never figure out what he is thinking or how he is feeling. there is no way his level play can drop this far, even though his physical ability may have started to decline a bit. p&r or iso, my gut feeling tells me he's got something in his head. what it is, i don't know. hope he gets it out of his mind quickly no matter what it is. the allstar break can be a good time for him (being away in mexico and all that). this team needs mcgrady to do well in order to go far. if mcgrady can't up his level of play after the break, i'd be very worried.
i don't know - tmac said he was going to try to fit in and not break-up the chemistry of the other guys. maybe that's all that's happening - he's sacraficing his game for the betterment of the team. Maybe the guy isn't as selfish as people have painted him as.
i sure hope that is the case. but there is a fine line b/w not break the chemistry or trying to fit in and being aggressive. mcgrady is such a unique player and character. he's got all the talent in the world, but a little thing (remember the girlfriend thing that made him depressed for quite some time?) can sway his mind so far off sometimes. and the way he talks really makes me worry. you'd think he's an arrogant a-hole, but his play on the court and things he's done off the court tell you otherwise... he is never selfish though.
Dating all the way back to the days of JVG I have simply been unable to comprehend why any coach would put a prolific scorer like mac in a p and 30 ft from the basket. Just makes absolutely no sense to me at all, all it serves to do is bring a second defender to him, usually a big which results in him getting trapped and having to pick up his dribble and make a forced pass under duress. Don't understand the objective, it seldom frees him up for an open lane or jump shot because the majority of defenses "blitz" him off the pick and roll, and he can't slip between 2 defenders like d wade and aggressively attack the rim anymore. To agree w/ the op would much rather see him coming off screens and cuts and finishing plays, not in p and rolls 30 ft out.
The pick and roll is arguably the most difficult play to run in all basketball, so with someone like yao and mcgrady, you can't eliminate that.
When running a pick and roll, the defense usually has to switch, which will most likely create a mismatch, or cause the help side of the defense to help on the player rolling after setting the screen, which usually opens up the lane for yao to post up, which is what is his strong suit.
I really don't know. Give artest credit - especially since we know t-mac is not 100%, and give t-mac credit for not making excuses or talking about his knee. There's nothing he can do about it and he's going out there and playing. I think he's really trying to do the right thing. I think he actually is trying to play with energy - and sometimes he doesn't move. It's almost at times if he is in a different world. Somehow distracted or something heavy on his mind. But i think it's dangerous to speculate - until after the all-star break. But I do see that there is something passionless about him. Maybe he's wondering if he really wants to be a basketball player anymore.
First of all, who cares if McGrady scores 50 or 0, as long as the Rockets win. On that note, my problem with McGrady like Novak is that they are 1 dimensional players. If McGrady is not explosive on the offensive side of the ball, then he's useless because like tonight, he gets taken advantage of on the defensive end. All the TOFs are making all these excuses for their hero, but they can't hide the fact that he is not a MAX player anymore. I would say he's worth like a $8m to $9m player right now. Newsflash to McGrady - If you're only average on offense then AT LEAST TRY to be an average player on defense as well. Right now, as Artest has shown tonight, McGrady can't guard TOUGH the real 2 Guards in the L. Kobe, Manu, Melo, all these guys are gonna eat McGrady ALIVE in the playoffs since he can't even compensate for his lack of defense anymore since his he left his offense back last year. Morey- Trade this guy before he is worth less than Devean George
