http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterockets/2009/01/mcgrady-mopes-then-he-and-the-rockets-surrender/ McGrady mopes, then he and the Rockets surrender Now, who says Tracy McGrady isn’t a leader? He quit on Friday. The Rockets followed. There was a lot of surrender, albeit in different forms, wherever you looked. In their own ways, Ron Artest and Yao Ming gave in, too. But McGrady’s quit came in the form of a lack of effort and that impacts everyone. Everything looks worse when the shots don’t go in and it did not help that Luther Head, Carl Landry, Aaron Brooks and Brent Barry went a combined 3-of-26. They, however, are not the problem. They can make things better or worse, but with the Rockets, problems and solutions, success and failure begin with Yao, Artest and especially McGrady. Artest quit on the Rockets’ offense. He was completely out of control, running his own offense while everyone else had to stop and watch. His only way to succeed was to catch and shoot 3s. Other than that, he missed all four of his shots inside the 3-point arc and had six turnovers in 24 minutes. This has become a frequent occurrence, but even if he did abandon the plan again, he did play hard. He played as if he cared, and was furious to be taken out of the game with the fourth quarter still to be played, even though the Rockets trailed by 19 and were a few hours away from playing the Hawks. Yao could not make shots. He missed 7 of 12 attempts, and many of the misses were layups. He did not come close to stopping Andrea Bargnani, who made 8 of 12 shots for his 19 points. But mostly, Yao just missed. He still must learn to battle through bad nights rather than let them get worse. But he does that because he cares so deeply. And if he sometimes moves slowly, he does move. At least physically, he gives what he’s got. McGrady didn’t. I actually thought in the past two games since the Saturday night off against the Jazz, McGrady moved more and better than he had been. He was aggressive. He played with energy, even defensively. He missed shots, but that can be excused if they are good shots. It happens. On Friday, however, he started with another poor shooting game and quit. That is inexcusable. He moped around the floor most of the night. In the third quarter, he stood at the top of the 3-point arc (when he got that far) and just moved the ball, abdicating any responsibility in the Rockets’ offense. He said later that he grew frustrated that he did not get enough shots to get in a rhythm. He said the spacing was bad. He said there was poor execution. Perhaps that was his way of taking responsibility for his poor play – he let others’ mistakes frustrate him. That is sort of like the celebrity apology, “If someone was offended, I apologize.” Even if we accept that explanation, as excuses go, it’s pathetic. If the spacing is bad, play hard. If you are not getting enough shots, play hard. If the execution is poor, play hard. That was the deal. McGrady would play only one game in back-to-backs to keep his sore knee from getting worse, but when he played, he would play hard. On Friday, he didn’t. Others followed his lead. It is a long season, however. He can lead the other way, too. He can tell Rick Adelman that he wants to play Saturday in Atlanta. He can demand, request, plead for playing time against the Hawks, and then play hard. He might not play well. He might not even play long. But he can play hard. His teammates would notice. There’s no doubt they noticed on Friday, and they followed his lead. They gave up on Friday’s game. It remains to be seen if they will give up on the season.
so all of a sudden bleacher report is the new golden standard of journalism? at some time even you have to make your peace with history. This is a team sport, a failure or success is on the team and management no matter what one member said. You move on from failure and learn from it. Harden and Howard are no guarantee for anything. Not when better players are there (Durant, Paul, Bron, George, Curry) it will always be more than competitive. Other GMs will continue try to cockblock any moves of Morey going for cheap talent. That is the reality. One way, the Hinkie way we missed was to build on young superstars that are cheap and affordable and round out the roster with more than minimum signings. Also the OKC, Spurs way.
hahahahaha. I love t-mac so I disagree with what you're saying but I gotta give you props for shouting out to Marvel Comics. I love Marvel Comics!!! I have like 20 longboxes full of 'em lol
The fantastic four is the rockets heroes that defeated Portland after tmac left the team. Tmac was doctor doom for the rockets chances of ever advancing
Sure, if you ignore all context. I guess the results are the same for all teams but the one that wins the chip.... some of us like more insight to the game. Tmac's teams overachieved I remember you being the type of guy to casually dismiss all accolades, statistics and any sort of objective analysis.
Tmac never took any team anywhere. Oh wait, his teams always took early vacations compared to the other teams in the playoffs. If you are on tmacs playoff teams you are guaranteed to go on a fishing trip
Hahaha this *****ing idiot Tinman is still posting this pathetic dribble? Jesus Christ. Tmac is pathetic. 99ers are apparently a more exclusive club then that which frontline infantryman find themselves in. Rinse and repeat. This guy is truly pathetic.
I just replied to someone's post. I didn't bring this thread back . I want the poster to be informed that Tracy outside his career with the rockets did not lead his team to any playoff success. That includes china, where Marbury is the MVP
Almost correct but wrong.....A foreign player cannot be crowned MVP no matter how valuable. This is reserved for local players. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-b...bronze-statue-thanks-1-million-154039582.html Both were selected 1st ballot to the Allstar game though
He took them beyond what their talent level dictated, that is all you can ask of a single player in a TEAM sport. Not at all, this is a sport where the best player in the league can miss the playoffs, a sport where you can be a player as talented as Hakeem and see your team do better in your absence, thus forcing the ignorant to call your impact into question. KG went from missing the playoffs entirely, to winning it all with no changes in his game, just his system/teammates. We've already seen cancers like Elvin Hayes win championships as his teams lone All-Stars, you really have no idea how much of a team game this is.
Did the Rockets ever win the NBA Finals without Hakeem Olajuwon? I know that the Rockets played much better without McGrady because he wa s a bad leader and was selfish. That's why a Ron Artest and Yao Ming, Scola, Brooks team could take the Lakers to 7 games . Don't you think it was one of the greatest days in Rockets history, when Daryl Morey shipped his ass out to the Knicks?
Nope, they played better in his absence that one year tho. Way to dodge that point. Way to ignore the other comps as well. KG was the same guy the years he went from missing the playoffs to winning it all. False, one of the most unselfish superstars of his generation. And if the Rox played better without Tmac, explain their piss poor record in his absence throughout his prime..... Ill be waiting, hopefully you dont dodge that fact. Actually they had a losing record with Yao (1-2) and went .500 without him . And I love how you bring up an old/injured Tmac who was obviously hurting the Rox yet completely ignore the more relevant performance of a closer to his prime Tmac. Is this seriously the best you got? Ignoring context is never a good thing breh. Not as great as the day they acquired him.
rockets fans (not mcgrady fans) <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/tuMm0a5amo0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> orlando fans (not mcgrady fans) <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/T-Ekfbt8aew" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> toronto fans (not mcgrady fans) <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/5JAnJIxkIMY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
That was a day full of hope. They day they got rid of him was a day full of REALITY. REALITY = <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3z083MBE8i0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
chronz. there's no point in arguing with tinman. he'll ignore the points you make and point the same video or argument every time. there's no way he can explain why the rockets sucked without him from 05-07. or he'll refuse to admit that he averaged 22/5/6 during the 22 game win streak. there's no context or reason with him. he's only here to troll and repeat the same things over again. even when nobody else is talking about it anymore. hes a **** moron.
did he play in all of the 22 game winning streak? what was his average in the 2nd round ? western conference finals? nba finals? I won't stop telling the truth about McGrady. Because the truth is forever. And McGrady fans are liars why did the Rockets fan boo him? when he returned as a Hawk? when he returned as a Piston? why did the keep giving the #1 number to scrubs like Terence Williams while #11 , nobody gets? why are Tracy McGrady fans so damn jealous of Kobe Bryant? Lebron James? Why are the Tracy Fans irrelevant in today's Clutchfans?
did he play in all of the 22 game winning streak? what was his average in the 2nd round ? western conference finals? nba finals? why did the Rockets fan boo him? when he returned as a Hawk? when he returned as a Piston? why did the keep giving the #1 number to scrubs like Terence Williams while #11 , nobody gets? why are Tracy McGrady fans so damn jealous of Kobe Bryant? Lebron James? Why are the Tracy Fans irrelevant in today's Clutchfans? I won't stop telling the truth, because McGrady fans are liars
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2013/09/tracy-mcgrady-says-he-should-have-stayed-in-toronto/ Tracy McGrady Says He Should Have Stayed in Toronto Now retired and reflecting openly on his career, T-Mac says he regrets his decision to take his talents to Orlando in 2000. Per the Toronto Star: “More than 13 years later, in the days since he announced his retirement from the NBA last month at age 34, McGrady has been looking back fondly on his time in the NBA’s Canadian outpost. ‘In hindsight, looking back, obviously I wish I had stayed in Toronto,’ McGrady was saying in a recent telephone interview from his home in the Houston area. ‘There’s no doubt we could have contended for a championship. I think about that often. But if ‘if’ was a fifth, you know?’
http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/83694-has-mcgrady-quit-on-rockets Has McGrady quit on Rockets? 09:06 AM ET 01.03 | Mark it down. It was Jan. 2, 2009, 1:16 left in the third quarter, when there was a seismic shift in the Rockets' world, when the tectonic plates opened up and swallowed an era. The official play-by-play sheet simply says: Jamario Moon slam dunk. Anybody who was watching at the Air Canada Centre or on TV knows it was the precise moment that Tracy McGrady quit on the Rockets. Yao Ming knows it. You could read it all over his scowling face as he sat on the bench through the final embarrassing minutes of horrid game. Rick Adelman knows it. You could read it between the lines of his post-game comments when he said he would not talk about any individual performances. Ron Artest knows it. You could tell that a week ago when Artest dragged his sore and ballooning right ankle onto the court to gut out an overtime win against the Jazz when McGrady made himself a late scratch during the post parade.
