[video] Long interview with JVG, Yao, TMac after 4/7 practice

Dude you are so wrong. Kobe is clutch.

 

Trust me, Yao and McGrady will be the LEAST of your worries in the playoffs. It's guys like Rafer, Battier, Bonzi, and Howard that you will need to start losing some sleep over. It's the lack of bench production that will come back to haunt us.

This is mostly much ado about nothing in regards to Yao and McGrady's 'motivation' level and consistency, because whether you admit it or not we KNOW they will be there when it counts; they're our money players for a reason.

You're stressing over the wrong guys, is all I am saying. The playoffs, more often than not, come down to role players playing their roles, and stepping up with the occasional 'big shot'. It's always Robert Horry making a big three to rescue the Lakers from the jaws of defeat against the Kings, or Derek Fisher making an improbable game-winning shot against the Spurs with 0.3 on the game clock to turn around an entire series against the Spurs, it's Mario Elie with his "kiss of death", it's Kenny Smith on fire from downtown, it's Steve Kerr and Stephen Jackson making big shot after another for the Spurs where they eventually end up winning a title, and other moments of role player greatness.

The superstars are usually the constant, the role players stepping up or disappearing is what makes or breaks a series and ultimately leads to team success or team failure. Yao and McGrady can only will themselves to play better, but they can't will Rafer into making wide open shots on consistent basis.

 

He's as clutch as the situation will allow him to be. Not any more, not any less.