Tracy Defines His Career To This Point On Thursday

When I first saw Tmac and Barry grinning at the end of the game, I was kinda shocked and a lil upset, thinking as some of you have, "Why on earth are you grinning?? We just lost our third game in a row and are one loss away from elimination!!"

But after a three hour trip to the gym for some pick up games to relieve my tension, I felt a lot better about the finish to that game. Dallas had been dominating the tempo and was doing everything they wanted at will. Then, something happened in the middle of the 4th. It felt like for the first time all game, we had our chemistry back. We had a bit of our swagger back, and the two man game between Yao and Tmac looked better than it had all season long.

We finally exposed their small ball line up with Tmac dishing it off to a new, angry and aggressive Yao. Yeah, we missed some ft's down the stretch, but I actually feel like we have more momentum going into game 6. The Rockets play best with their backs to the wall, and I have no doubt they'll leave it all out on the TC floor come Thursday.

Just remember, Shaq and Kobe couldn't win it all their first year together, so even if the refs decide to gift wrap this series for Dallas this year, the league won't be able to escape the wrath of Tmac and Yao for long.

 

Dude, you are the most well-established YOF in the BBS, that it REALLY isn't even worth responding to you. You disappeared for a while until tonight's game to come out and enjoy ripping the best player on this team.

Fine, trade him. Let's get Kobe Bryant for him (BELIEVE me the Lakers would do it in a heartbeat!) and then combine Kobe and Yao together.

Then you will REALLY learn what "freezing out" teammates means. You think Kobe will pad Yao on the back after a bad game? He will say something to the tone of the following: "I am sick and tired of playing with this loser, this sissy ass needs to get inside and establish positions and stop f*king fouling! I won't be here next season if I continue to play with this loser!"

You and others are making the SAME EXACT MISTAKE that every non-observing commentator made: you are mistaking McGrady's demeanor for his will to win. You are judging by his facial expressions. You are not looking at the facts, because it pleases you to blame the guy who takes away from the "glory" of the ONLY thing that matters to you: Yao Ming.

I was a Rockets fan before these guys EVER came to this team, and I will be long after they are gone.

Sometimes life is unfair and you run into a better team and you lose, tough luck! How many times did the Rockets get their asses whipped by other teams before/after the championship years?

Did the Rockets get swept in 1996 by the Sonics because Hakeem was a "wussy" and "didn't care" and "lacked the fire"? Hakeem was a mellow guy, and rarely did he show his emotions on the court. Sure, he got in a few scuffles here and there, so did McGrady. THAT is the type of personality both of them had/have. Obviously, I understand that you are a Chinese fan that has just taken interest in the league when Yao came in, so you wouldn't know about Olajuwon. In the early 1990s, people were calling for him to be traded! People were saying he lacked the leadership/heart to win games, because he didn't talk, he led by example and didnot rip his teammates a new one whenever they made mistakes. Tim Duncan is lucky enough to have two rings early on in his career, but I guarantee you the same thing would be said about him if he hadn't won them, that he is "soft spoken" and not a leader blah blah blah. I can go on and on and on...

But, all this crap talked about them was/will be the extra motivation to eventually win it all. But in order to do that, you need to first have the support cast to do it, and then get lucky bounces here and there in close games to hopefully put you over the top.

I have always said that Rockets fans are, generally speaking, the most fair-weather fans in all of basketball (Only Dallas fans come close). I know you are not a Rockets fan, so this doesn't apply to you. Rockets fans always expect more than can be realistically achieved. They conveniently forget the opponent and think it is "all about us" and our shortcomings, and refuse to give the opponent credit.

Again, keep hating, all I can tell you and everyone else is to not jump on the bandwagon when Yao and McGrady are holding that trophy. Yao has been hated on by sooo many people since he came in, McGrady has been on the receiving end of such hatred for soo long as well (Just this morning Woody Paige was calling Yao yet again "soft and inconsistent")
.

The funny thing is I have been listening to multiple Rockets fans the last few days telling me how "proud" they are of this team, and that they can see this team is putting up a fight against the Mavs, but they knew all along this was just the first year of many great things to come. I didn't hear the whining and b****ing that is so prevelant among so-called Rockets fans on this forum. It told me that most Rockets fans were rational thinkers, and they knew that this year's team wasn't expected to go far in the playoffs, because the team was still rebuilding its roster, and the "quick fixes" simply weren't enough to beat a team like the Mavs with their depth and talent.

The problem is most of you only look at the scoring aspect of the game, and you never look at the passing, defense, or the less "glitzy" stuff that affects the outcome of the game just as much. You are saying Tracy didn't step up in the 4th quarter yesterday? I CHALLENGE you to look at the final quarter video of last night's game, and you will see that Yao was getting rediculously easy points from McGrady's passes. So in that sense, McGrady was responsible for at least 10 of Yao's points in the final minutes of that game. If that didn't affect the outcome of the game ni that it made it close, then nothing did. The funny thing is if Yao made 4 of those 5 missed FT (which is 80%, his season avg pretty much), we wouldn't even be talking about this right now. Instead, we would be hearing about how "GREAT" our team played and how they made a late run from behind to win the game.

But that is how close this series has been, it literally has been a few missed FTs here and there, along with missed rebounds, that have been the difference between wins and losses. With a few lucky bounces, we could have just as easily been up 3-2, or Dallas could have been just as easily won the series 4-1. So when you talk about the series, you can't discount how close games have been. That tells you that this team has been playing very well overall to stay within every game like this, the bottom line is Dallas has had enough weapons to close out games down the stretch, while we couldn't match that. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have the refs on your side and make two bad calls in the last minute or two of a 3-point game. The Deke jump ball was another.

Win or lose, it is not like the Mavs blew out the Rockets, it has been a closely contested series, and Dallas have just collectively done better than we did down the stretch. That has been the story of the series. We could have closed this series out by now, and Dallas could have won it by now as well. That's just how things go...

 

I believe in TMac. It is much harder to laugh than cry after a tough loss. TMac is mentally tough.

 

I was suprised at his attitude at first, but it's simply to mask his frustration. Maybe he's throwing his hands up with a smile at the officiating, that's about all one can do at this point. With that being said, I really didn't like his body language on the court at some points last night. Shoulders hanging down, arms dangling, head down, and a stroll periodically. Maybe I can handle a Game 7 loss at Dallas, not a Game 6 loss at home with us one loss away from ending our season. Imagine folks, no Yao/T-Mac until about Halloween '05... The first day of Summer is at the end of NEXT month...

 

That is one thing I have ALWAYS hated about the NBA, why the hell is the off-season so long? I understand the need to rest and all, but how about just extending the 82-game regular season by, for example, not having ANY back-to-backs? That might extend the season to a couple of more weeks or so.

I don't know, I guess just because I like the NBA and it's by far my favorite sport, and since the Astros stink so bad and I am looking for a reason not to go to their games (i have tickets), I want it to be longer

Yah well...

 

That is called "fatigue". Sorry man, but as a human being and not a robot, I can testify that there are limits past which you just can't push your body any further. Even before the 4th quarter during the game last night, I was saying "T-Mac looks exhausted, he can't even run out there, there is no spring to his step". So I noticed that before the game cam down to the deciding minutes.

We all knew the amount of minutes he was putting up all season long was going to come back to haunt us sooner or later. Now, add to that that he has to guard a monster 7'1" sharp-shooter named Dirk, and that completely takes the air out of you. Heck, guarding Dirk alone would tire a player out, not to mention having to be the primary scorer/passer on the other end.