T-Mac's second round virginity

[xcomputerman]

BUT, there's always excuses, injuries, etc. We have to start thinking about moving in a new direction some time, right? I mean, Yao can't and won't just wait around forever, who knows, he may ask for a trade if we don't get out of the 1st round next season. Yao is a little younger than T-Mac but he's the best player on this team IMO. He has a little edge of T-Mac now in to decide what things need to be done for this team's success.

It's a good thing myopic fans like you have zero input into the Rockets' personnel decisions. Btw, Daryl Morey has made it clear that they have absolutely no plans to move McGrady during the offseason.

When you have a situation like in Dallas where it is abundantly clear that their team as currently constructed is not capable of getting it done in the postseason, then you think about moving in a new direction. Only idiots would take what is quite clearly a championship caliber roster and blow it up because of a run of bad luck with injuries. Of course, it's T-Mac's fault that Rafer got injured and Bobby Jackson had no clue how to get him the ball in position to score or play defense on Deron. He already took responsibility for that, remember?

Gotta love fans. Wanting to trade the same T-Mac who led your team to an unheard of 22 wins in a row. That's real smart ain't it?

[shawngoat23]

There have only been two playoffs in which TMac had even a sucker's chance at winning the series (2004-05 vs. Dallas, and 2006-07 vs. Utah), and only in the latter was he a favorite--and a slight one at that. Both series went to seven games.

A truly transcendent player would not have lost either of those series, but losing those series with less talented teams is hardly a huge indictment of him. It may prevent him from climbing higher than he could have gone, but it isn't like he shies away from big games.

I've gained more respect for Tracy in that loss. He's obviously been hampered by injuries and his game has gone weaker, but the last few games, he's stepped it up and made plays that reminded me of prime T-Mac. I hope that one of these years, he'll recover his health and the rest of his team will stay intact so that he can make a deep run in the playoffs.

[richboy]

There have only been two playoffs in which TMac had even a sucker's chance at winning the series (2004-05 vs. Dallas, and 2006-07 vs. Utah), and only in the latter was he a favorite--and a slight one at that. Both series went to seven games.

A truly transcendent player would not have lost either of those series, but losing those series with less talented teams is hardly a huge indictment of him. It may prevent him from climbing higher than he could have gone, but it isn't like he shies away from big games.

I've gained more respect for Tracy in that loss. He's obviously been hampered by injuries and his game has gone weaker, but the last few games, he's stepped it up and made plays that reminded me of prime T-Mac. I hope that one of these years, he'll recover his health and the rest of his team will stay intact so that he can make a deep run in the playoffs.

Thats not true. He was up 3-1 on the Pistons before the Pistons were really that good. The lost to a okay Hornets team.

I'm not going to say its Tmac fault. I'll say this though. Tmac was more aggressive in attacking the basket in the last game than he has been in any of the last 2 playoff series. If you ask me if he played with the aggressiveness he played with last night in game 1 and 2 they wouldn't have lost those games.

IMO if you ask me why Tmac hasn't won a playoff series. I would say one of the big reasons is because of his nature. He plays tough teams in the playoffs because he doesn't bring it every night. They loose games they should win which means tougher first round matchups. Then he has taken games off in the playoffs.

[DraftBoy10]

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How is that a stupid statement? Everything I said is the truth. I can't help it if most on here are too stupid to realize it, or are in such denial that they don't want to realize it. What's your excuse for TMac giving up on his team last night? Most are quick to make excuses instead of looking at the big picture.

TMac was amazing in the first half. He lead the charge to get his team within 1 and a very doable 4 point deficit entering the 3rd quarter. This is the time when a team leader, a superstar takes over the game. You saw that with Deron. What TMac did was shy away and stand in the corner. It sums up his pathetic NBA career. When all is said and done, TMac would rather give up and make excuses then will his team to victory. It must be a family thing because his cousin is the same way.

I guess you want me to reiterate everything I've said for the past week.

Look, we both agree T-Mac's at fault, but for different reasons. I said the exact same thing to Rockets fans saying he had to chance to do it, but again..he did NOT do it. He was fantastic in the 1st half, and in the 3rd quarter, you can't stop him, if he doesn't want you to. He obviously didn't mind.

However, it's not because he's a selfish, ballhog like the other post stated. That's very untrue, it's because his personality is of beta descent, passive, and really humble, way too humble. If he wasn't such a bitch, we'd do so much better.

[DraftBoy10]

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Oh no! Whatever shall us Jazz fans do! DraftBoy10 has deemed us a bunch of stupid, mormon, incest-breeding cowards! How can we ever survive from such a brutal verbal tongue lashing from such an esteemed member of society like DraftBoy10?

I know, it's tough. But you're going to have suck it up, Nate.

I mean sooner or later you will, after you're ousted by the Lakers, we'll both be watching the Finals at our own homes.

[DraftBoy10]

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It's a good thing myopic fans like you have zero input into the Rockets' personnel decisions. Btw, Daryl Morey has made it clear that they have absolutely no plans to move McGrady during the offseason.

When you have a situation like in Dallas where it is abundantly clear that their team as currently constructed is not capable of getting it done in the postseason, then you think about moving in a new direction. Only idiots would take what is quite clearly a championship caliber roster and blow it up because of a run of bad luck with injuries. Of course, it's T-Mac's fault that Rafer got injured and Bobby Jackson had no clue how to get him the ball in position to score or play defense on Deron. He already took responsibility for that, remember?

Gotta love fans. Wanting to trade the same T-Mac who led your team to an unheard of 22 wins in a row. That's real smart ain't it?

Every year it happens. We refuse McGrady any of the blame, we shuffle our roster & our personnel, we change coaches. Look there's only two constants in the equation-- Mr. Tracy McGrady & Mr. Yao Ming.

If the same result happens, different personnel, same two players.

What's going wrong here? It's easy to steer the blame away from Tracy, but you'd be quick to congradulate him if he won the series. Tracy McGrady has the capability of still being T-Mac. The primetime T-Mac. The thing now is he has to concentrate and focus more on doing because of age, it isn't anything physical as he so claims, it's purely mental.

And we'll never win with mental blocks, never. Physical injuries came about, but what seperates McGrady from Kobe is his mental health. McGrady's talent is superb, and he's arguably the most talented we've ever seen, if he could grasp it and prepare better mentally, we could be looking at one of the greatest ever, but it doesn't matter because his mental health is so poor & I doubt it'll ever get strong.

[NYKnick87]

Is it all Tmac's fault? No. The only year where I could actually say it was his fault was last year in game 7 where he should've been a lot more agressive in the final quarter. You can't fault him for losing to this Utah team, considering that they didn't have Yao and lost Alston for a few games. However, the way he played last night makes you wonder why he couldn't have done this the past few games. It wasn't until last night they he started driving the ball to the hoop and if he had played this way earlier in the series, they might've had an extra win and been looking at game 7. Either way, can't really fault him for losing this series. They were just overmatched.

When looking towards the future, the Rockets have to realize that Tmac has been on the decline since he got to Houston. His first season there was the best, and he has been progressively getting worse. It's not just in the athletic department either - look at his percentages and you can see that he can't shoot like he used to. If they can't get another offensive wing player on this team, then it's just gonna be the same story over again and at that point, I would look to move Tmac for a few complementary pieces. The Rox are not going to get equal value in return, but they could get a few two way players that work really well with Yao in the halfcourt.

[shawngoat23]

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Thats not true. He was up 3-1 on the Pistons before the Pistons were really that good. The lost to a okay Hornets team.

Here was their rotation, besides TMac. Darrell Armstrong. Andrew Declerq. Drew Gooden. Steven Hunter. Gordan Giricek. Jacque Vaughn. Pat Garrity. Shawn Kemp (coked up and bloated, of course). Pat Burke.

Freaking Darrell Armstrong was their 2nd best player. Granted, they should have won after they went up 3-1, but that team had a sucker's punch against no one.

[War3player]

His team had no business being up 3-1 against Detroit. They were underdogs going into the series and going up 3-1 doesn't change that. McGrady had 40+ in game 2 and had Orlando won that game it would have been a 4-0 sweep.

If I am not mistaken that was the first year the NBA changed from the best of 5 format in round 1 to a best of 3 format.

[richboy]

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Here was their rotation, besides TMac. Darrell Armstrong. Andrew Declerq. Drew Gooden. Steven Hunter. Gordan Giricek. Jacque Vaughn. Pat Garrity. Shawn Kemp (coked up and bloated, of course). Pat Burke.

Freaking Darrell Armstrong was their 2nd best player. Granted, they should have won after they went up 3-1, but that team had a sucker's punch against no one.

Well remember where not talking about todays Pistons. There was no Rasheed. Prince really started his career in that series. Even Billups hadn't done much.

I wouldn't call DA there second best player. Drew Gooden averaged 14 points 13 rebounds a game in that series and was outplaying Ben Wallace.

Tracy McGrady started that series as the best player. He didn't cost him that series but the reality is by series end Chauncey Billups outplayed him in the games that matter. The biggest testament of that series was Tmac's attitude going into game 5. He played that game like an exhibition game. Like he knew for sure that they would win game 6 at home. He left Detroit taunting the crowd after a loss because he was so confident that it all would end in Orlando. When they lost that game 6 the Magic were done. Tmac lacked the mental strength to win a game 7 in Orlando. Instead as there season ended he was laughing the bench.

I remember after that summer I made a thread on this board saying no team led by Tmac would go very far. He has become a better leader than he was then but he still really the same. This lack of playoff success doesn't effect him because I know in his mind its his teammates fault that he hasn't won a playoff series. The thing i'm wondering about is why it took Tmac to game 6 to decide to attack the hoop.

[shawngoat23]

Well remember where not talking about todays Pistons. There was no Rasheed. Prince really started his career in that series. Even Billups hadn't done much.

Those Pistons were still better than the Magic by a considerable amount though. If you gave any number of star players that kind of supporting cast, they would whine incessantly as well.

Consider how much heat LeBron's supporting cast got last year. Drew Gooden, who you say is TMac's #2 guy, was Lebron's #4 guys last year (#5 in the playoffs).

[Alex_De_Large]

Nobody wants T-Mac, I would trade him right now, not for junk, but for at least something that's close to him. Either way, nobody wants him because he's injury prone and now he's about to turn 29 and has never got out of the first round. If you stick him in Boston, this debate will be over, too bad they can't handle his salary. That's another issue, his salary, nobody wants to pay max for him anymore. I think after the 2009-2010 season, if I'm not mistaken, he will become a free agent. I don't think the Rockets will have any plans to resign him unless a sign and trade happens (doubt that). Then maybe he might get out of the first round, by going on a contender or something.

Yao is also injury prone and have never been in the second, why don't we trade him also? trade the 2 superstars for nothing...

[Lakers_4_Life]

Why doesn't the media and fans focus endlessly on Grant Hill and Carmelo Anthony for never making the second round? It's really not a big issue they just have decided to pick on McGrady because ESPN thinks it is cool.

That being said Houston had a prime time dynamic point guard and ruined him and his career. They are sowing what they reap these last two years as a result. They should recover next year if they can stay healthy and be a top 3 team in the NBA.

[tosi]

Tmac and VC would have been champions if they would have only stayed together. The main problem is they both have the loser gene in blood. Can wow people but can never put it together.

[rewill17]

Why doesn't the media and fans focus endlessly on Grant Hill and Carmelo Anthony for never making the second round? It's really not a big issue they just have decided to pick on McGrady because ESPN thinks it is cool.

That being said Houston had a prime time dynamic point guard and ruined him and his career. They are sowing what they reap these last two years as a result. They should recover next year if they can stay healthy and be a top 3 team in the NBA.

Grant Hill was recovering from several medical procedures for 5-6 years of his career,

Even though injuries happened to T-Mac too, he was a part of the playoffs everytime he was there.

Plus it been 1999 last time Grant Hill was dominant so people kinda sorta forgot about him I guess. Besides he was never the incredible hyped athlete T-Mac was, as Grant Hill never won a scoring title or had incredible performances.

Carmelo Anthony is only 23 years old, and been part of the wild wild west.

I apologize for not answering the main point of your post, but this is the only part I felt I wanted to adress.

[carrottop12]

It's a good thing McGrady isn't in the playoffs anymore, nobody wants that broken down team wasting anyones time in the big leagues.

The Rockets are like an 8th seed, just a sympathy vote to get in, chum for the better teams to feed on to get ready for the real series.

[xcomputerman]

It's a good thing McGrady isn't in the playoffs anymore, nobody wants that broken down team wasting anyones time in the big leagues.

The Rockets are like an 8th seed, just a sympathy vote to get in, chum for the better teams to feed on to get ready for the real series.

Gee, I wonder why everyone thinks Jazz fans are the worst fans in the league.

[sp6r=underrated]

It's a good thing McGrady isn't in the playoffs anymore, nobody wants that broken down team wasting anyones time in the big leagues.

The Rockets are like an 8th seed, just a sympathy vote to get in, chum for the better teams to feed on to get ready for the real series.

The obnoxiousness on this post is startling even for realgm.

[G-Heel]

When T-Mac win a series, it's going to be like winning a championship. I'm betting on next year.

[Nate505]

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Gee, I wonder why everyone thinks Jazz fans are the worst fans in the league.

Do the opinions of Houstonians really count? Or matter?