his defense was actually pretty good. outside of the first foul he gave to melo, he stayed with him every time after that. his lateral movement defensively is much better than last night, partly b/c he's guarding a more perimeter-oriented player in melo. offensively, this is where tracy looks off. there were several times he could have tried to take his man 1-on-1 but he seemed to does not want to (i think in his head he is trying hard to fit in). he picked up his dribbled a few times and tried to look to pass. but movement-wise, he looks great. much much better than anytime last year. the key for tracy now is to find that balance of aggressiveness and passiveness on the offensive end. defensively, i think tracy is making a more concerted effort now. i was surprised adelman put tracy on melo a lot.
i like what tracy says here. looks like he is having to prove himself again to everybody and i think that's a great thing. “To come out and be the player I want to be, why not go at one of the best players in the league?” McGrady said. “The guy is on an unbelievable roll right now. I want the test and to see where I am.
Looked like he was b****ing at Scola, as usual. Rockets were in control until he came in. Denver took control after that and never relinquished.
Exactly what I was going to write. The scary thing now is that there are two ball stoppers in the team. It used to be just McGrady, now Ariza is in on it too. Sad.
It's only 7 to 8 minutes but it's interesting how Adelman is managing McGrady's limited playing time. He brought McGrady in early and gave him some time with the starters (minus Battier), and then kept him in as the second unit guys substitute in. It's as if Adelman wants to see how McGrady meshes with both groups before deciding what to do.
For the few folks blaming T-mac for our lead going down. I agree when he came in the lead did begin to get lower and lower but I don't think it was necessarily his fault. In games T-mac did not play, big early leads have been blown by this team.
. The Rockets mojo was going great until they brought in T Slack. Can anybody read lips well? I'm also curious what they were yapping about. Two games in and he's already starting mess with his teammates. And when he's on the bench and when his team makes a great play he doesn't stand up and cheer or nothing. Like its beneath him to do that. Man I starting to hate him with a passion. Now we know what the people in Orlando was feeling.
no, it can't possibly be that great teams like denver don't make runs on their own homecourt. the style/pace in the first 7-8 minutes is the same as the rest of the game tracy did fine. he just has to find a way to be himself in the offense somehow someway, and that's the test. it's not the same offense.
I think that's more about Battier came out. If Tmac replaced Ariza, the result could be different. I guess Adelman wanted to see how Ariza and Tmac play together.
T-mac is a very talented passer and playmaker, but like someone said above me, he only looks alive when the ball is in his hands
Nuggets expanded the lead with McGrady in there. On the road in high altitude. Level of opponent much greater than the previous night's. McGrady guarding the possible MVP someone 39 levels up from the previous nights Swedish scrub. Thats a challenge even to a healthy team and healthy player. So its understanble...Though McGrady was still a minus player more leaning toward being a liability if its about the bottom line. Though its better than taking 2 weeks in the midseason for extended training camp. And still better than Brian Cook healthy
I was watching the post game and Foley brought up what I was thinking, T-Mac at some point is going to have to become aggressive. He's not there yet but I like him being out there. I think he's too good be posted up in the corner like either Budinger and Battier often are found. Barring injury, T-Mac is too skilled a player to just blur into this team. It's not a knock on him or the other members of the team. I thought the team never really looked great out there in long enough stretches. They missed too many shots and then the Nuggets starting hitting the easy shots that they were missing at the beginning of the game. I won't even speak on the refs. As long as they fight together and on the same page, then I think we'll be ok. Go Rockets!
