Sportsline: Matured T-Mac shedding negative label with Rockets

TMac gets mucho love from CBS Sportsline:
(Lock if already posted ... I searched and didn't see it)

Matured T-Mac shedding negative label with Rockets
By Tony Mejia - CBS SportsLine.com Staff Writer

HOUSTON -- Two years ago Wednesday, Tracy McGrady's last playoff dream ended with a resounding thud. Detroit, in the infancy stages of its juggernaut, bounced back from a 3-1 deficit against his Orlando Magic.

The unfair "loser" label was bestowed by the cruel.

On Thursday night, backed by the support of a fan base that reveres him, McGrady shed that tag, carrying the Houston Rockets to a 101-83 win and forcing a Game 7 in Dallas on Saturday night.

It doesn't matter what happens there. If McGrady hasn't proved his merit, you're not worth arguing with. Playing like a veteran leader, the 25-year-old superstar got himself going and got teammates involved in the biggest game of his career, finishing with 37 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Why so big you ask? Well, because McGrady loves the situation he's in. He loves the fact that he has a home crowd that has an adulation for him that fans of his previous teams grew out of -- and he couldn't let the honeymoon end on a sour note. Not with everyone counting on him.

This is a new, more mature McGrady, one that accepts challenges rather than bemoans them. What has happened in the past is understandable. In Toronto, he had cousin Vince to start up with, but there wasn't enough maturity or shots to go around for that to last. In Orlando, the love affair ended after the Magic traded the only teammate he felt he could count on to help him score when John Gabriel shipped off Mike Miller.

In Houston, he has support -- from fans, teammates and a coach who thinks the world of him. He couldn't let that go, and that's why you've seen this intense fire from him the moment the playoffs began. Despite averaging 30 points per game and going all out for 43 minutes a contest, his team was down. So coach Jeff Van Gundy asked that he give even more in this elimination game.

Perhaps the McGrady from two years ago would've cried, "What more can I give?" His response on this occasion was far different.

"I accepted the challenge. He's asking me to defend Dirk Nowitzki and that's already a tough challenge. He's 7-foot and the guy can just shoot right over you. He's kind of wearing me down, putting me on the post ... Just banging with him, just bringing it on the offensive end as well, getting some guys involved, making plays when plays are needed to be made and just scoring and being that presence the right way."

In short, he was practically asked to be perfect, and he came pretty darn close.

So what's different, man? Is it just the age thing? What changed between the McGrady of yesterday, the one who was mocked for going 27-for-72 in the final three games of that Detroit series, and the one who so beautifully led his team with the end in sight?

"I just trust my teammates more," he said. "A lot of times I used to force things, but here I play with a great supporting cast I can really believe in."

That's what many, including ungrateful Orlando fans, conveniently forget. McGrady's Magic were the No. 8 seed, playing a top-seeded Pistons squad that went on to great things.

That Game 7 in which McGrady shot 7-of-24 was a coming-out party for then-rookie Tayshaun Prince, who scored 20 points and played that drape-you defense we've grown accustomed to seeing from him. Chauncey Billups dropped 37 points, while Richard Hamilton, also experiencing his first playoffs, was growing into a comfort zone. McGrady had an exhausted Darrell Armstrong, Gordan Giricek and an unpredictable Drew Gooden to rely on. That's it. Grant Hill, as usual in those days, could only sit by and watch.

Still, because he was the focal point, he took all the blame. It caused last season's 21-61 disaster and created the animosity Magic fans hold against him to this day. It created this reputation that will still lurk in the minds of some, of him being a perennial underachiever.

Had he lost this game, you would have heard the whispers. Why can't he escape the first round? A player supposedly so great? Why can't he lead his team to a simple seven-game series? If you read or hear that anywhere after Saturday night, do yourself a favor and tune out. Frankly, win or lose, that's utter bull.

McGrady throwing an errant pass on a drive doesn't mean he lacks the heart of a champion. Neither does having an open jumper rim out or having the ball knocked out of his hands as it was in Game 2. Him scoring 30 can't offset a teammate missing a defensive assignment, or having Yao Ming or Ryan Bowen get a case of butterfingers with one of his bullet passes on a break. It also can't help the fact that sometimes, he and his guys are going to run into a better team.

All he can do is continue to improve, mature and for the first time, trust.

"He's leading by example, and even though he's probably as vocal as he was before, the difference is he knows how and when to do it now. Guys respect him," former teammate Armstrong, now with Dallas, said after the Game 6 loss. "They see him making things happen for them and they believe in him.

"He was learning how to be a leader when I was with him. Now he's got it."

As a result, McGrady has Houston's heart. Even the contingent that follows Yao's every move speaks of him with reverence. T-Mac this and T-Mac that ... losers don't get that type of love.

 

The forum folks are in full muddafuggin' effect today; I posted that article and it had 10 views in like 30 seconds.

GOROXX!!!!

 

Dude, I threw you a lob for the 10,000-post slam in the Game 7 thread right after you mentioned you were on 9999. Miscue, I guess.

Link: http://www.sportsline.com/nba/story/8448166