Dude, i'm saying he needs to try. he needs to attack the basket, result be damned. I'm saying he needs to hoist up some shots. go down shooting. Go down going to the basket. Don't go down with I'm tired. Don't go down with end of the shot clock passes to teammates. Try to consider my original post. We're out manned. we probably lose to Utah anyway. The point is, I want my best player to go down shooting, to lose going hard to the hole.
Ummm.. hello? T-Mac is just now finding himself down 0-2. Let the man have another game, dude. He's got at least two coming to him, ya' know? "Rileydog Opened up a can of Whack-reasoning by the 2nd page"
I think it's fair that T-Mac deserves some criticism. Why not? But instead of talking about how T-Mac "quit", which is something everyone can judge themselves, why not make a solution? What are you going to do? Trade T-mac? I doubt the team is going to seeing as we didn't have Yao. Play Yao? You can't if he's injured. Depend on the team? No talent. Or not enough. So what is there to do about it? He's the best we've got and I personally don't think he quit, he just didn't have enough. Take that for what it's worht. There's nothing to be done about it. The Utah Jazz are a vastly superior team to ours without Yao Ming in every category or conceivable area of basketball, especially come playoff time. They have too much talent, too much size, too much athleticism, etc. etc. I don't think he stopped trying personally, but you can't tell me he quit. We just don't have enough to get it done. If you're going to talk about lowering or raising standards, maybe you should realize what we have and what we're upa against. Oh and by the way no he is NOT Hakeem or Jordan, neither are very many players EVER, so that's a moot point.
You can't attack the basket with 4 guys riding you and the paint is shut down. Ask Scola how that went. You just wanted Tmac to shoot for the heck of it, but that's not smart ball at all. He passed off to B Jax for a made 3 but the refs called a flop. They let that play go (which they should have in the playoffs) and the Rox likely win, and this discussion is moot.
I'm saying that Game 2 was winnable. 6 mins left. Or 4 mins left. It was winnable. Perhaps not the series, but that game was there for the taking. We needed a few plays by our best player. he didn't come get the ball. When he had it, he just kicked it out, even before a double team. he's just not tough enough.
rileydog, you're a bit off. I don't care if you were there. We all saw the game. McGrady cannot do it alone.
i agree. to the o.p., just do what i do. just accept he's not the player he used to be. when you want him to "force the issue", you prolly had mj or dream in your mind. mcgrady is not at that level. to me he played an excellent game and did all he could. but 1pt combined for 2 4th quarters just gives you a typical picture of the mcgrady today. mj or dream (along with a lot other great players) would never have said "i was tired" in a press conf. after the game - even if they didn't do anything in the game. but hey, that's just mcgrady. come to accept who he is and take the good with the bad. it takes a while, but that's what i did. did i talk you out of it, at least half way?
when did MJ ever do it alone?? Didn't he have Pippen, Rodman, Harper, Kerr, Tony K, etc.... Now compare - brooks, jackson, scola, hayes, etc... And no, I am not stupid enough to compare MJ to TMAC.
Word around the internet is that [we] Rockets fans should feel stupid about not having Rudy Gay...I kinda have mixed feelings about that.
I'm saying that stating this over and over again is not going to change anything. Find a way around it. tmac1 had a good point: Kobe was 5-19 through 3 quarters yesterday and his team was up 19. T-Mac had whatever it was 20 points 9 assists whatever rebounds and his team was down I think 3 or so. There's a huge difference right there. Kobe is tougher than T-Mac, that's not where i'm trying to go, but he also had his teammates pull him through that crappy stretch. T-Mac had to play phenomenal through 3 quarters and they were still down. So T-Mac burned out. He barely hit rim on that 3 because he had no legs. I think T-Mac knows whether or not he can shoot or drive to the hoop under those conditions, especialy with the entire Jazz team shading him. T-Mac can not push through anything like MJ or Hakeem or Kobe or whoever legendary or near legendary players you want to throw out there. It's what seperates the best of the best from the legends, the all-time greats. So what if he doesn't have it, not everyone does. What all the greats have had, however, is great teammates. MJ? Another top50 player in Scottie youknowwho and arguably the best rebounder ever in Dennis Rodman, not to mention probably the best or second best coach of all-time. Kobe? Shaq. Good role players. Same great coach. We have Luis Scola, Carl Landry, Bobby Jackson, Aaron Brooks, etc. etc. etc. Are they good players? Of course. Good enough? Not quite.
I don't understand. You want him to shoot jumpers and drive to the rim when he had no leg left? I'd rather him continue to make plays for his teammates. Dang, the games was winnable. If Scola made a few more fts. If Bobby didn't jack up some dumb shots. If the stupid ref didn't fooled by AK's flop...
I seriously don't get some of you guys. WIthout Tmac, we would have been down 20 by halftime and the game would have been over. Where we lost the game was where Okur hit 2 3's to end the half and Price hit that dagger 3 at the end of the third. THATS 9 POINTS PEOPLE.... Tmac would have had a triple double if the Jazz didn't hack Scola on every dish or not called that foul on BJAx. THe man could not have done anymore then what he gave tonight. I can't believe you say he want him to "go down shooting". I guess a fatigued Tmac finding an open shooter (BJax) is worse then a fatigued Tmac jacking up jumpers over two defenders who are 6'9 and 6'11... Just remember.... even MJ deferred to Stever Kerr when he was open.
Omg...people. Can you give these guys a break??? I mean...half the teams have NEVER won a championship. Remember we were the team that werent supposed to go to the playoffs when yao went down. We were the team that went 22 in a row...second most EVER, with players that no one outside of greater houston has ever heard of...with the exception of Dik and Tmac. We grabbed the 5th seed, with a chance to get the 1 seed, with 3 games left. we improved our record by 3 games over last years record with our best player out for half the season. Oh yea....and its only 2 games into the playoffs. About 80% of you guys are going to go on your "man this team is crap, tmac is lazy, we suck" rants....if we lose. Have some heart....have some confidence in your team. If you are on a rockets message board, im pretty sure the rockets have had a significant impact on your life. If the rockets were a single person that was close to you, would you be ready to disown them when they mess up a little??? No ones perfect....you guys are freakin spoiled. just be glad we MADE the playoffs, and that we arent Seattle with the worst record, and the team getting ready to head out to Oklahoma. jeez.
Haha nice. Lay off McGrady he did his part this game. I'm still pissed about the lack of free throws made and the Kirilenko flop though.
I don't think that Tracy quit, but I think that his cardio is absolutely horrible and that IS something that he needs to fix. He asked to come out of the game in the 4th quarter when we NEEDED him. We were up by a point at the time, and we were down four when he came back in. I've never seen an NBA player who is as young as Tracy is, look that dog tired for the entire freaking game. I'm not saying that you have to play like Kobe, but at least have the conditioning of Kobe. This is also why I think he misses so many shots, free throws, and turns the ball over so much at the end of games. Personally, if I had lost to the Jazz the way we did last year, I would be salivating at the chance to take them out this year. But the man just isn't in good enough shape to do anything about it. Get your cardio down Tracy, then maybe we'll have a chance.
last year, it's on him so he took shots and failed. this year it's on the team so he passed. it doesn't matter really either way. he's not good enough to carry this team as it is. this team is not good enough.
I think this is sarcasm but thats the worst excuse I've ever heard. You make 19 million a year to play for 48 minutes as hard as you can every other day. What a joke "being tired" Tmac is the same old lazy ass that isn't willing to take the shot in the 4th quarter. He showed this last 20 games of the year too, I think he is scared or he doesn't want to be "the man" anymore, but if this is the case, give your money back so we can get a true guy thats wants that role.
All this is a FACT, but at the end of the game MJ wanted the ball in his hand to create, Lebron, Kobe, ANY SUPERSTAR you want to name (including Yao, who isn't all that clutch) wants the ball in their hand at the end of the game. TMAC DOES NOT WANT IT. He used to want it in the past, but I know and respect AK's defense, but Tmac should be running all over AK, sorry AK should not be able to completely shut down Tmac at the end of the game. I am saying that if AK was on Lebron (even with his crap help around him), or Kobe, or anyone do you think AK can force them to hang around the 3 pt line the ENTIRE 4th quarter, NO WAY. Its a joke for us to protect Tmac for being "tired" or because he kept us in the game. The fact is thats his job to play 4 quarters, not 3 because he is tired, he has to play 1 time every 2 f***ing days, I THINK HE CAN HANDLE IT.... TMac may be the reason we are in the game at all, but he is also the reason we lost the game at the end. The team DEPENDS on him, and he makes 19 mill a year so he should be depended on.
