I don't know.. All I know is I find myself getting nervous everytime T-mac goes into ISO mode.. You can almost always tell when he's going for a jumpshot.. you'll see him dribble fake towards the lane to bait his man into giving him space.. because his intention is the jumpshot.. when it should be the other way around.. Then the anxiety kicks, " don't heat check.. don't heat check!" Because.. it's 50/50 that if he makes one.. even on a bad shooting night..on the next ISO play or just while bringing up the ball on the next play.. he'll do an automatic 'heat check'.. Hell I didn't even want him to shoot the game winner in the Wolves game.. until it went in.. I don't think think I'd be feeling this way if T-mac had his killer instinct back.. I used to have complete confidence in the guy.. but now.. it's just too damn hard to tell which T-mac is going to show up ..
my thoughts of t-mac getting his killer instinct back. 1)if the rockets can play well without t-mac having to dominate the ball for the 1st 3 quarters then i think when the fourth quarters comes around t-mac will have enough gas in his tank to be clutch for the rockets......only if the rockets come to play. 2)i think t-mac should run point through out much of the game a set up his team mates.......but thats only when the rockets are knocking down their shots...if not then that is the only reason mac has to start chucking up shots to get the team back in the game......if didnt have do that then i think mac would have enough energy to finish strong for the rockets. 3)t-mac does have good numbers in the playoffs? we does show up but the rest of the team is sleepin on him........cant blame t-mac for our looses its a team effort! quoting t-mac "this team goes as far as i take them" but i think the team has to live up to the other half of that deal. 4)last year i knew when we played the jazz in the first round i knew that the jazz had a better team then us.......but i was still rooting for rockets even though the jazz were a better team then us.....we took them to game 7. 5)if kobe were to get replaced with t-mac when the lakers i think that t-mac would have the same amount of rings that kobe has right now.......maybe even more because mac is not selfish and mac a shaq would be a great one two punch. 6)lastly i would like to say to all the t-mac haters and the people who have hopped of the t-mac bandwagon is that imo i think that t-mac in the nba has the most talent of any player........yeah u guys might think im on drugs or what not......but if it wasnt for his injuries this guy would be dominating the nba but he is lazy........im not hating on other player in the nba but i think t-mac would take anybody in the league.
Its not irrational. Let me try to explain it to you. Generally, in the 4th quarters of games, Tmac will try to take over if its a close game. Most of the time, he'll settle for the jump shot. Occasionally, he'll drive, but the majority are jumpers. In the past few games, he's hit some clutch jumpers. But the problem is, they're still long distance jumpers. He hasnt changed his game at all. The made jumpers have been the exception, not the norm. I'm sure everyone has been happy with the recent results, but they take it with a grain of salt. Anyways, if all else remains the same and the only difference is the ball going in the basket, does that mean the shooter has a "killer instinct"? If rafer alston start hitting late, crucial 3's at the end of games, does that mean he has a killer instinct?
T-Mac has taken 30 shots in the 4th quarters of the last 5 games he has played. He has made 15 of them. He has been fresh in those 4th quarters due to not having to do it all early in the game. Actually I would be more worried about exceptions vs norms if T-mac was driving all the time. He has confidence in his jumpshot. That is very important.
30 shots...how many have been jumpshots? how many of those jumpshots have come in the last 2 minutes of a game? I would rather he didnt have confidence in his jumper. Then he'd be forced to drive.
Was any of the game since he is back an easy win or a convincing win for Rox? I am wondering why almost all the games since he was back were pretty close games.
T-mac has always only had the ability to go into beast mode for 6 to 8 minutes in a game on a consistent basis. The question is when does that beast mode click in. If he wastes it in the first to keep the rockets competitive early he doesn't have anything left in the 4th. I agree, a better team means he can save his beast mode for when it matters most. That's what's been happening and I and happy for it.
Tmac has killer instinct back or not is unimportant now. this is not playoff, you win or lose not live or die. Now rockets playoff chance is at most 50%, west is upgraded to super west. Wow, this is exciting.
I laugh when people like you say T-Mac can't play team ball. I guess that why he avg. 6.5 dimes last year and over 5 dimes this year. If you get open while T-Mac is on the floor he will get you the ball no matter what. As a matter of fact sometimes he might try to hard to get the ball to the open man and thats what lead to some bad TO's. And yea hes never gotten out of the first round, but he will this year. Just sit back and wait you will see.
I don't think you on drugs man. T-Mac does have the most talent of any player in the game today. But what stop him from being the best player in the game is his work ethic.
just watch kobe and then complain about tmac driving or not. kobe always goes to his patented fallaway jumpers down the stretch. i'm watching the hawks game right now and he's taking ALL jumpers down the stretch despite shooting 3-13. except for wade and lebron, most take jumpers. iverson hit the game winning shot v. the blazers on a JUMPER.
Kobe was 3-13 yesterday with no free thows at all. He went 4-16 today and had a turnover at the end, which led to their loss.
i'm not trying to diss kobe or anything. people just need to know A LOT of players go to their jumpshot when the games wind down b/c refs RARELY call fouls b/c they don't want to be the ones determining the game.
nah i respect him a lot. he's the 2nd best player right now after lebron. we'll see how far tmac has returned in terms of health/mentality... when he goes up against lebron. i just hope by season's end as we open the playoffs, tmac will be the top 5 player that we all want him to be, playing along with the best center in the L.
Dude, I don't want to live and die by the Tmac jumper more than the next guy but to put down tmac for his recent 4th quarter success is beyond me. He helps this club win games. He is a much better option with the ball in his hands than Yao in the last 2 or 3 minutes. Want proof? Look at our losses to New Orleans and Philly at home recently. We lost both of those games with the same players in the same way because we didn't have a player who could create their own shot when the defense was playing Yao tight. Bullard said it right the other night. Having Tmac on your team is a luxury. It was not so recently that the Rockets were losing games and people were complaining about Luther Head making mistake after mistake. Now, Tmac is back winning games and people are trashing him. That is what is irrational.
some people must think 'killer instinct' means driving the ball and dunking it. if it were that simple and that easy im pretty sure we'd be seeing more nba players doing it. its not. in fact, all great nba players have to hit big jumpshots at some points. lebron has been shooting jumpshots in this hotstreak he's got going with the cavs and nobody is going to be stupid enough to say he isn't showing a killer instinct. killer instinct to me is just having the desire to take the big shots, whether that's a jumper or a drive to the hoop, and the talent to make them when it matters most. tmac has shown that in spades.
