To be fair, Yao shot 44% against Carlos Loozer, too, which is no more excusable (less so, if anything)... And Fisher was barely guarding McGrady. They threw different guys at him constantly. Harpring, Kirilenko, etc. That disappointment was a combination of mediocre offensive coaching (as much as I love JVG), a criminally weak supporting cast offensively (Luther Head was our third option), and BS hack-attack defense by the Jazz.
T-mac and yao are cursed for each other. Whenever one of them is healthy, the other one gets injured but when they are both on court together it's a thing of beauty. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eNVNgGZ_9oE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VastXQ_hPb0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Stop acting like JVG has no fault in this either. His faith in an offense dominated by 2 players was his downfall. All those Ex-Knicks and defensive role players were the ones he wanted. Rafer was a completely different PG under Rick then JVG.
For the sake of spilling milk, I do happen to believe we would have won that series in 08 if Rafer Freakin' Alston didn't get hurt. For the sake of spilt milk I wonder: has it ever been debated if Tracy Mcgrady broke down because he was giving it his all in 08? A team without Yao for the rest of year that obviously was going nowhere. I think I remember him being bothered by his knee before Yao went down, and he played on. Come playoff time he was getting shots to the knee and shoulder, also draining liquid from the knee, it was even acknowledged that Stacy's knee needed surgery and they were just doing that for him to finish the season. I don't know if this is the reason but I can't forget what he did that year and I respect him for that. The debacle that came afterwards is just sad stuff, the guy was spiritually broken down by the Toronto game, but I can't be harsh on him knowing that the cause of that was health. He was done way before that, right after giving it his all to challenge the Jazz but lose again, we and him more than us, just didn't know it.
Huh? I mentioned the poor offensive coaching, did I not? I don't think JVG is/was that bad, but I know his offense (and possibly his recruiting) left something to be desired. Rafer was always streaky, though. Some of us remember him more fondly under Adelman because one of his good streaks coincided with our 22-game win streak, but he was still garbage under Adelman. His production was not any non-negligible amount better.
There is nothing wrong with Tracy's comment here, move on folks. Just paying respects to the big guy.
I know you mean to say he broke down physically, but I've always thought that part of the reason McGrady fell apart was that he truly seemed to be cursed (or whatever the non-superstitious version of that word is). I mean first the years in Orlando with Hill's constant injuries, then he comes to Houston, and it happens to Yao (even in 05, a couple starters were hurt or sick by the playoffs), then it happens to him when it's not Yao. Every year it looked like he was going to be on a better and better team, but worse and worse injuries kept tearing it down. Honestly, no matter how much money you make and no matter how much fame you have, those things are going to start to take their toll on you mentally. No matter who you are. I'm not trying to excuse him. I know he did some shady things and didn't always put in the effort he should have... but I'm just saying... There's two sides to every coin. I don't think McGrady is a bad guy or a loser. He has a questionable work ethic, but he's mostly a guy who had a lot of bad luck and seemed to sort of lose hope. He wanted to win, though, and he tried.
Did you not watch the Rockets dude? JVG use to coach the KNICKS. Therefore he recruited a bunch of KNICKS. Here's another one. Rick Adelman coached the Kings, guess who he brought to the Rockets? game over dude. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zTHhwvTJyMU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
yeah i don;t fully understand why either...the constant bit*hing between tofs and tmac haters.... anyway, i really do miss those couple of years when the two was healthy. loved the yao hitting a cutting tmac for a dunk or ridiculous layups. I miss the tmac to yao lobs, missed that magical game vs the spurs. missed the tmac pull up jumpers, missed having a reliable (damn good one as well) big guy to pass to set up an offense. only if we had better luck and a better supporting cast. imagine if we had scola, battier, AB, lowry...against the mavs that year.
Nice to see them get connected because if we had a PG, Rockets would be doing more than their past history with those the duo. I do not believe during the Yao/TMac era, we had a PG with over 7 assists, or even top 10 despite playing with two scorers. If the duo played with Lowry, or Dragic, their success in the playoffs would be astronimical.
Can't believe people would find ways to bash him over that grateful comment, but who am I kidding, this board is full of hate, it's a real shame. What the hell is wrong with you people that you still hate him, move on with your god damn lives and stop writing these pathetic comments.
Only reason I read them is to see when the turn happens, like watching a werewolf convert and it's alway the usual suspects......simple bit of advice to both sides, <a target='_blank' title='ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting' href='http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/198/il570xn187309541.jpg/'><img src='http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/5659/il570xn187309541.jpg' border='0'/></a>
Dude... who are you arguing with? Do you not understand the words that I'm typing? I mean seriously... WTF? I JUST SAID that his recruiting seemed to be a problem sometimes...
Yao shot 44% against Carlos Loozer, that part is so fanny, just rewatch the game to see who was guarding who?
How lame that it's a game for you to hate McGrady. As a fan who wanted this team to win, I never wished ill on McGrady or focused on only the negatives. This isn't the full "truth", only yours and Tinman's favorite parts of it. God forbid that he would get outplayed by Kobe Bryant, the fact that someone's matchup scores more points than them is only one facet of a complex sport. But we've all been down this road. I'm sure we'll be here again.
