T-Mac on Back: This is different than what I've been dealing with in the past

Didn't Tmac say the exact same thing early last season?

 

I think last year was different...

IMHO, he misses about 10 games a year with back problems on average...and these new pains are just the same as the ones that he has been dealing with his whole career.

DD

 

Tmac and "depth" does not mix in the same sentence. Unless you can convince Les to open up his vault, we'll never have depth on our team because Tmac's contract takes the place of 3 very good players. I started a thread about this a while back, but the TOF's trashed my post and won't listen to logic. If the Rockets wants to be a true contender in the West, then Tmac's production better darn well be worth that of 3 very good players. Tmac is awesome and an all around talent, but it's more economical and efficient to disperse his skills in a few specialized players, like a starting-calibre PG for assists, a rebounding PF, and a slashing SG.

The main problem with Tmac is that in order to prolong his health, you MUST limit his productivity. To preserve his back, Tmac is not on par with his peers (Lebron, Kobe, Wade, etc...) at aggressively attacking the basket and drawing fouls on a consistent basis. He'd rather settle on jumpers. He had 5 terrific games where he was aggressive and shouldered the team, and the result...? Come playoff time, I can't think of what'd suck more than having close to half your team's cap space tied to the bench at one or more particular games due to injuries. I have no doubt in my mind that Tmac will be big and aggressive come the Playoffs, but for how long...?

 

if JVG did all the coaching except... who to put in and when... and left that to me..

man oh man.. we would be a good team.

 

i was screaming at the tv for JVG to put in bonzi and lucas at the 630 mark of the 3rd.. he didn't do that until the 230 mark. =/....

another thing... in the 4th... when we were down 3.... shoulda called timeout and went with mutombo along with lucas head alston battier..... but he let the game continue until the lead was 10.. greAT!

other than that.. great job by JVG

 

I'm pretty sure sitting out tonight's game is just precautionary. The last time was when he had a visible spasm. From the reports that we've read, this time it's more of the back tightening up on him. Vast difference there.

Spasms can put you out for good, tightness just makes it very uncomfortable and difficult to play through while maintaining a high level of explosiveness. And with Tmac, I'm sure it's just precautionary that they're letting him sit out with tightness.

 

Don't forget about Yao...when he comes back he will take some of the scoring load from T-mac. Then T-mac can concentrate on the other things he does so well. Look we all want T-mac to attack the ring like a D-Wade but that's not his game anymore.

I'd rather have T-mac play 60-70 games at 70-80% than go all out then miss the rest of the season because of a foul that re-aggravates his back problem.

Yao will be averaging 30 ppg soon enough because he's an MDE who can shoot FT's.

 

This kind of thinking bothers me.
Operation Shut Down?

Rocket River

 

these are not back spasms, it just stiffened up on him, thats ok, and theres a huge diference.

 

Except that it walks down the same path.
Tightness = Inflammation --> Nerve Pinch --> Back Spasms

He's okay right now, but he's pushing his body to its limit. His back will never be "fine" again. I'm glad he sat out last night.

Evan