That Portland team was the favorite to win the series. They had the HCA and 9 out of 10 experts picked them to win the series. Most of the pros thought Portland was the LALs biggest challenge before the playoffs started because of their h2h in the regular season. Now how nice to say after the Rockets gave them a whopping, due largely because they had to commit 2 bigs against Yao all game long even when he didn't have the ball, that Portland was an "easy" matchup. You take Yao out and replace him with Mcgrady last season and Mcgrady will be crying again. Nobody on the Rockets could have stopped the Portland bigs except for Yao last season. If they didn't take their bigs away from the paint to front Yao it would have been much harder to attack the rim. It would have been much harder to get defensive rebounds. Never mind Tmac is GOD You know in 13 years in the NBA Mcgrady has been known as a ball stopper, poor work ethic, cry baby, throw teammates under the bus, takes all the credit when the team wins, fights with his cousin/ coaches/ GMs. Yao is loved by his teammates, coaches, GMs. I'd rather have a guy play within a team concept and go to the 2nd round than a 1 man show who loses his stamina in the 4th quarter and blames his teammates. I'm done with arguing with the Mcgrady doll huggers. Name me 1 great player in 13 years to never advance past the 1st round. Case close
they lost b/c of inexperience. they didn't take that into account in their prediction did they? i'm sure if we played the same portland team again, it wouldn't be such a sure thing that we would win. we whup them in blowout fashion in game one and every game after that was tight as hell. that game 1 decided everything. adelman knew that. there's a reason why he was frustrated by yao's struggles v. the fronting and hell, EVEN TALKED ABOUT TRACY in that damn series on how he would make the game easier for yao. yes yao did make the game easier for the team. who said he didn't? he had a big impact. without yao, we would have lost that series for sure. but again, stars draw double teams. tracy would have drawn double teams but from the perimeter, which would have opened it up for artest and brooks and scola. these are not rafer/hayes/battier we're talking about b/c even if you open it up for them, they're not going to do much. uh, u do remember tracy put up 30 points on the blazers this year LIMPING right? portland has nobody who can guard him. so a ball stopper is able to make all-nba teams, all-star teams, and get MVP votes? wow, u can do that? or are you just thinking last year defines tracy's career. short memory you have there bro. i can't name one. but many things go into winning a series. ask carmelo.
you forgot this guy, another top 5 SG who shoots from the perimeter during crunch time: Spoiler <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wvSx5BqZnAE&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wvSx5BqZnAE&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Spoiler or even this guy Spoiler <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0OEl8uZ3N50&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0OEl8uZ3N50&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Spoiler or this guy Spoiler <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/i2ScO0vjY4Y&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/i2ScO0vjY4Y&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Exactly you can't name 1 player who is great who has never been past the first round in the decades the NBA has been in existence. Yes it took Melo a whoppin 6 years to do what Mcgrady is trying to do in his 13th year. More than twice as long as Melo has been in the NBA. The Rockets were not exactly an experienced team either. It was in between. Brooks, Scola, Lowry and company were pretty much untested. Dikembe got hurt early in the series. Mcgrady didn't play. They make up most of the experience veterans on the Rockets along with Yao. Yao was pretty much our only big against their huge front court. In any case it is not a slam dunk either way for this poll regardless what the tmac doll huggers like to think. Intangiables like teammates believing and liking you play a part too. Passing the ball and playing within a team matters too rather than be a ball stopper, which many experts have said about Mcgrady.
so are you saying you would take melo over a prime tmac? b/c that's the same argument you're making for yao. they've made the 2nd round, whereas tracy hasn't. what? portland's top 2 players were in their first playoff series, along with basically the rest of the team. yao, artest, shane have been through multiple playoffs, and scola/landry... played a huge role i nthe loss v. the utah the year before. and please answer my question. how does a ball stopper for 13 years make all-nba teams and always make top 6-8 in MVP voting? you would have thought coaches/GMs/media who vote for those things notice a ball stopper when they see one no? i mean, it's only SO OBVIOUS.
I guess you have never heard the experts call Mcgrady a ball stopper from Peter May, to Charles Barkley, to the crew on espn? I guess I made up that term for Mcgrady I guess Rafer Alston and Ron Artest didn't call out Mcgrady either. You take Yao out of that series last season and replace him with Mcgrady and the Blazers win. You have a healthy Yao play against them this season and I still like our chances. That's my opinion. You are entitled to yours. What is not in dispute is in 13 years in the NBA, Mcgrady is looking to get past the 1st round for the 1st time. That Mcgrady fought with his coach in Toronto. That Mcgrady fought with his cousin to "be the man". That Mcgrady fought with his GM in Orlando. That Mcgrady throw his teammates under the bus in Toronto, Orlando, and Houston. That Mcgrady says things like "I imposed my will on the game" when the team wins and blames his scrub teammates when he loses. That JVG says Mcgrady lacks "energy" and wishes his engine burned hot like "Garnett". That my Mcgrady loving friend is coaches way of saying stop being lazy. In any case this poll is not so obvious as the doll huggers would like us to believe.
yea, you heard that LAST YEAR. and you so wisely concluded that it's the case for all 13 years of his career. like i said, you don't make all-nba teams and get MVP votes if you're a ball stopper. tracy WAS a ballstopper last year. he was HORRIBLE last year. he SUCKED last year. whatever term you want to call him, he was it last year. so if you're going to summarize tracy's career by last year (as your argument states), it's going to be tough to have an unbiased discussion. PS - you have so many flaws in your last paragraph, i'm gonna stop.
Clearly people are not reading this part: If they were, McGrady should be DOMINATING this poll. It's not even close. I love Yao, and he's a great player, but a healthy and active McGrady is absolutely beastly.
I've heard the term Mcgrady is a ball stopper for many years not just last season. Mcgrady likes to have the ball in his hands and doesn't like to play in a motion offense. That Mcgrady has the ball in his hands and holds the ball and only passes when the shot clock winds down. Many many years going back to his days in Orlando. But keep believing that isn't the case also keep believing in the tooth fairy as well. As I said this poll is not so obvious as the Mcgrady fanatics would like us to believe. Pure talent Mcgrady > Yao Work ethic Yao >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Mcgrady Better teammate Yao >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Mcgrady Listens to the coach Yao >>>>>>> Mcgrady Less ego and trust teammates Yao >>>>>> Mcgrady
if he was a ball-stopper all these years, how did he get those MVP votes? or all-nba teams? if you can see and read about his ball-stopping ways, shouldn't the coaches/GMs/media who vote for those things know about it too? so enlighten me wise one
You should look at the team chemistry part. No Mcgrady should not be dominating this poll. If you look at both parts equally Yao would be dominating this poll because Yao is talented but not as much as Mcgrady but he is a lot better teammate than Mcgrady. Ron and Mcgrady can't coexist. Yao and Ron can coexist. Mcgrady and Vince Carter can't coexist. Yao can work with anyone.
Ask the experts. They are the ones to call him a ball stopper. I just agree with them seeing how he likes to dominate the ball and never trusts his teammates.
so you name 2 experts. i give you coaches/GMs/media who vote for those. are you even trying to have a discussion?
Almost every tv analyst and commentator has called Mcgrady a ball stopper not just 1 or 2 guys. Same with writers like Fran. If you can't see it then you are blinded by your Mcgrady love. That doesn't stop Fran from voting for Mcgrady for all nba 2nd team. Fran can think Mcgrady is a ball stopper and vote for him as well. It is writers who vote for the awards not coaches/GMs. Coaches only vote for all defensive teams. GMs vote for nothing.
Barkley and Kenny Smith for example, I give you mad credit for having the patience to argue this topic. You've been writing paragraphs after paragraphs and he gives you 1 liners, same thing happened to me.
do you know what all-nba teams are? only the best of the best make those teams. and yes the media votes for those do you know how one earns MVP votes? only those who are VALUABLE earn those, not selfish ball stoppers. and yes the media votes for those. do you know the list NBA.com releases before the season about predictions? (teams, best players at positions...). now those are voted by GMs. in his prime, tracy made those lists routinely. that spans his 13 years in this league. do you know of a coach who has called out tracy? i've heard JVG, george karl, pop, carlisle, avery, sloan... all raved about mcgrady. that's where i got the coaches from. so.... tell me again (if you mind to answer my question that i've kept asking), and this might be the last time b/c you keep dodging it b/c i know you don't have an answer, if a player who you claim to be a ball stopper/bad teammate/selfish all 13 years of his career, how could those things have happened?
you guys go by the same logic that last year defines his career. how are we going to have an unbiased discussion if that's the case? look at all sugarland's posts, everything basically revolved around what happened with mcgrady last year. and yet somehow he extrapolates that into tracy's entire career. it's hard to argue with people who try to re-write history. 1) tracy throwing his toronto's teammates under the bus? when did that happen? but to sugarland, it did. 2) he was a ball-stopper all 13 years of his career. REALLY? it's fine to disagree, but please, dont' re-write history.
For someone with the moniker Tmac you sure know very little about his career. Do I know of a coach who has "called out Mcgrady" in 13 years. Do some research my Mcgrady loving fellow clutch fan. Start with his coach in Toronto this is pretty obvious and has been mentioned earlier. Then go down the list to JVG's comment about "energy level" to what Adelman said last season, which forced Mcgrady to apologize to the Rockets. Now reading is fundamental
