Show me a T-Mac fan that has tried to defend his poor FT shooting. And saying he is getting fouled on alot of his missed layups and close range shots is reducing his FG% seems like a solid counterargument to his FG woes. Its only 2 or 3 makes per game that make the difference, and he is fouled attacking the basket 4 or 5 times per game that isnt called. He isnt taking a ton of bad shots. But yes, his jumpshot has been flat. I think its in his legs myself. When his elevation is good, his shot goes in much more. And even his misses have alot of in-and-outs. As to the so-called laziness, lack of hustle, defensive lapses, and general slow movement?? Its overblown. Folks start with their animosity towards the guy, then anything not polar opposite of their perceptions only fuel said perceptions. Not getting out of the first round?? Overblown. Even the national media critics can see this.
I don't disagree that some fans are critical rather than just hate. But at the end of your post here, you make it sound like he goes out just not trying. Tracy saying he wanted to send a message was in reference to him being roughed up. What was his message? I doubt it was to guarantee a win or anything. The guy has tried in every game. Remember the whole, incredible for 3 quarters and out of steam in the 4th of Game 2? Of course he's going to dig even deeper when their "backs are against the wall." What did you expect to happen? Backs against the wall, so let's not try anything different, let's not try harder, etc. Honestly, I think RickA has been giving Tracy more rest after the bad outcome of Tracy being tired in Game 2. It's on Tracy to perform or not, given he's got the energy. So Rick is going to make sure he's got that rest before the close of a game. I think it's Rick saying, "ok, now you can't say your tired. It's up to you now."
On the other hand there are people on this board (I won't name names) who freak out at even perceived criticisms of McGrady. For instance, I've said time and time again that I don't think McGrady's a leader. Who really cares though? There are a ton of top notch NBA players who really aren't leaders. The closest thing the Rockets have to a floor general is Alston, and they still won 55 games on the season and put together the second longest win streak in league history. Say that McGrady's not a leader though and his fan club goes ballistic. So far as genuine criticisms of the guy go my number one problem with him is his shot selection. Yes, maybe he's getting fouled, maybe he's hurt. But I notice that in the last game he shot over 50% for the first time in forever and from what I understand he played most of the game in the high post, rather than hovering out at the three point line. I don't think it's Rocket science to understand that if the shot's not falling it might be a good idea to just move closer to the basket. The biggest problem though with being unable to accept any criticism of the guy is that if you ignore the problem you're incapable of coming up with a solution. T-Mac's not a leader? That's not really a problem, but you have to be aware that if the team requires leadership you're going to have to bring somebody in or stock the team with savvy vets who are capable of motivating themselves. His jump shot's declining? How about playing him closer to the basket then?
What I'm saying is that if the Rockets lose the series then the Jazz will be able to say "We got your message. Who cares?" Sending a message for just one game in the playoffs is useless. Sending a message by winning the series isn't. If McGrady's talking about sending a message to the Jazz by elevating his play then he should have done that before the Rockets came to be one game away from elimination. The best time to send a message like "You can't stop me" would have been game 1.
Hopefully he meant "I'll send a message by leading my team to a series victory in game 7 after trailing 3-1." Friday
Just wanted to chime in, since I've been pretty rough on McGrady this past week (month). I want to say that his Game 5 performance was great to see, and I would never say (negative) word one about him if he played that way most nights. More than just shooting a good percentage, he looked to take the ball and make things happen, including a consistent effort to get tot the lane and the rim. Very appreciative of what I saw. Those showings will absolutely shut me up. Evan
I agree with your assessment. I think if he consistently delivers those things, that would pretty much shut every TMac critic up. The problem however has always been consistency.
I hear where you are coming from. I think, which I think you are alluding to, is just like any controversy/criticisms that McGrady is involved in can be summed up as simply as: "Nothing matters if you don't win." Unfortunately OR fortunately, that's what it boils down to. If he loses again, it'll be the same old thing. If he wins a series, a lot (not all) of the criticisms will start to stop. I mean if he can help this current beat up squad get past the Jazz...that's a big deal.
Exactly. It truly disgusts me what kind of people here call themselves Rockets "fans". You cannot say the kinds of things people say about McGrady or the Rockets in this thread and still call yourself a fan. No, I'm not asking you to be a "cheerleader" or whatever, but why the hell would you act like this when the season was/is still very much alive? This team still needs your support. Where's the faith? Where's the love? Regardless of how bad you think McGrady is, he's still a Rocket, and he still wants to win, and until he disgraces the city in some way, you need to support him if you're a fan. Besides, the way the team has played in the last few games still very much deserves our respect. When I went to game one, there were ROCKETS FANS cheering for Utah at the end of the game, and booing McGrady, yelling out taunts to him, and I can easily imagine them being some of the classless acts on this board.
Wow, thats just horrible. Cheering FOR the Jazz and booing T-Mac? I'm getting so sick of Houston fans. They're bandwagon hoppers when we won 22 straight, but once the Rockets aren't doing good, they kick them while they're down. Then they want to show up at Game 7 like they been along the ride for the whole time.
ugh. I like Tmac and all.. but talk **** after you advance. That way we don't have to worry about a jinx let's hope he imposes his will the next couple of games and don't take stupid shoots.
Am i the only one who thinks that wasn't tmac's best performance this series? He has played better. I think that was probably in the lower half of all of his playoff performances in his career, also. He was average on the boards and he dumb turnovers. His jumper was just falling. This series i've seen him have really good playmaking, defensive, and rebounding games. This wasn't one of those games. I seriously think that alot of the people in Houston would rather Tmac be a high percentage shooter who provided nothing else than a multitalented player who can affect the game while having one of his worst shooting stretches. Most houstonians would be perfectly happy with Ray Allen. Someone who shoots 60% in a game and 90% from the line and we lose. Then they would say he gave it his all despite not doing anything but shooting.
I'm with you. All he did was shooting at a better FG% and everyone acted like it was his best game ever. How ironic is that. It also shows that how little some people know about basketball.
Man nobody can say nothin to please yall. thats sad. yall need to just be supportive fans cause right now all i see is whiners.
What's important is the team winning, not T-Mac's individual performance. I don't think T-Mac has to play the role of play maker unless the Rockets lack a credible option at the point guard slot. T-Mac shooting at a higher percentage means the other team is going to key on him defensively, which means more opportunities for the other Rockets. That's critical on a team which is offensively handicapped. I have to wonder if it's any coincidence that the first blowout of the series comes in a game where T-Mac finally breaks .500 on his fga. One more thing: Adelman stated when he took over as coach that one of his goals was to take the ball out of T-Mac's hands--to make him less of a playmaker and more of a scorer. That's obviously gone out the window to some extent with Yao being out but I'd imagine that next season with everyone fully healthy the team would go back to trying to implement Adelman's offense.
