T-Mac grade himself a C (Quote)

ROCKETS HEAD COACH JEFF VAN GUNDY

(on the differences between maintaining and increasing the lead tonight and squandering the lead on Sunday) "We were slow to the ball in the 3rd quarter; they got it back to 9 (points), but we kept scoring. I think Dikembe (Mutombo) came in and gave us a little bit of a presence in the paint...good help."

(on the play of Tracy McGrady) "He (Tracy McGrady) played a really good home game and I think he's been the most dominant perimeter player in the league on the road and we need that same thing at home and he was great tonight."

(on whether this has been the best game both offensively and defensively this season) "I say certainly, offensively it was terrific and they're
(Washington) a hard team for us to guard. They're quick, and, obviously,
(Gilbert) Arenas didn't have exactly the same juice (as he had last night), but I like how (David) Wesley defends people and we have things we need to improve on against quickness. They got a lot of lay-ups and dunks with their 5-men, and our 5-men came to help. Seattle (SuperSonics) will pose those same issues."

TRACY McGRADY

(on the team coming together during their current 8-game winning streak) "Everybody is pretty comfortable with their roles, playing together as a team. Guys are playing with a great deal of confidence. I think the intensity has picked up and guys are playing smarter basketball. We're doing a great job of out-rebounding our opponents and getting out in the open floor to get some easy buckets."

(on how he would grade his first-half of season performance) "I would give it a grade 'C'. I feel like there are a lot of things that I can improve on individually and I think that our team can also be better. There are some areas that we can improve on."

(on whether the team has mentioned the streak amongst themselves) "Not at all. That hasn't been a topic of discussion."

DAVID WESLEY

(on the importance of extending the winning streak heading into the All-Star
break) "Sometimes teams start looking into that All-Star break and letting a game like this slip. We had a good approach to the game, we came out and we played well, we shot the ball well, we defended...it was a good win. It was a good way to finish off going into the break."

(on the key to the win tonight) "I think that from the beginning of the game, we kind of set the tempo and really got to it. When they scored, we scored. We found a way to get stops...it was fun, everybody got a chance to play. It was the kind of game you want to end on."

(on the play of Gilbert Arenas) "Our team defense was pretty good. If you saw the iso (isolation play), there's no way that you can stay in front of that guy, he is that quick. When he comes down on the break, he needs to see
4 other guys and we did a good job guarding him when he had the ball. Your team defense stops a guy like that, not one individual."

JON BARRY

(on the Rockets's progress during the current 8-game winning streak) "We've just developed a great chemistry among us. We're having fun on the offensive end and, fortunately, in the 4th quarter, we tightened up our defense and played much better. Out of the 8 games, this is probably the most consistent we played on both ends of the floor."

(on the Rockets getting other players involved in the offense other than Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady) "You want to be multi-dimensional certainly. You can't just come down and pound the ball to Yao (Ming). Once every other guy gets involved, it becomes even easier to go where you really want to go. We really want to go to Yao (Ming), obviously, because he's an unbelievable offensive player. When he gets the ball inside, he can score and it just collapses the whole defense."

http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/021505_Post_Game_Quotes-132475-822.html