T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

[23]

Re: T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

come on man, you cant get in game shape running on a track. if training with Grover wont get you in NBA conditioning nothing but playing will.

I dont see how fans believe that crap

[Streets]

Re: T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

come on man, you cant get in game shape running on a track. if training with Grover wont get you in NBA conditioning nothing but playing will.

I dont see how fans believe that crap

I didn't mean literally, lol. I meant that he needs to get in game shape before we can talk about whether or not he's "the same player" post-surgery.

[Fiasco West]

Re: T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

Yeah, I marked out like a little kid when he hit that three. But overall, he is NOT ready to play for THIS Rockets team. He is simply not in shape. However, the knee looks good. It's hard to piece apart what's a result of conditioning, age, rust, and the permanent effects of post-surgery. I'd like to really see what he can do on that knee, but he needs to hit the track 1st.

Yeah it was a bit like those times a wrestler just suddenly came back lol.

But yeah, this team looks too fast for him, since they are more up-tempo. But he looks pretty good, hell we went on a run while he was in there so I hope he goes back in.

[23]

Re: T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

I know, not you but the mess they've been giving the fans is wack and some of those guys eat it like candy...

as far as Mac.... same player I dont know about that...but that crap the organization has been spewing is a bunch of crock.

Had they let him play up until now we wouldnt even be saying he's not in shape.. thats any player, from Gil to Amare, to J Kidd... none of their teams said any crap like that and they had more sever

[ZB9]

Re: T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

Mac might not be the same player, but he's still better than Chase Budinger and most of the other wings on Houston

[Fiasco West]

Re: T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

It's been Adelman saying he isn't ready to play, he's been the most stout and stubborn about this all along.

We'll see how much he plays today, because he's been activated and the money no longer matters now. Adelman just doesn't think the guy is ready or doesn't know how to fit him in with this team.

[Streets]

Re: T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

Mac might not be the same player, but he's still better than Chase Budinger and most of the other wings on Houston

In his first official start (i.e. real minutes) Chase had 16 points on 55% shooting, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, and only 2 turnovers. Not bad numbers in an offense that spreads the scoring out (i.e. no one person is going to drop 40).

I agree that Chase isn't better than McGrady (skill-wise), but whether or not he's better for THIS team is still up in the air. He made a hell of a case for himself tonight.

I just have to tip my hat to Daryl Morey, man. Brooks (26th pick), Landry (2nd rounder), Scola (traded Spanoulis and cash), Budinger (traded cash to Detroit), Von Wafer (got off free agents), Ron Artest (Traded Bobby Jackson and a late first rounder), Trevor Ariza (locked up through his prime for 5 years at the MLE), Kyle Lowry (traded Alston). This man has built a hell of a team with 75% of his cap space locked up in two injured players. My fanboyism aside, he has to be considered one of the best GM's in the league. How this man is able to get pieces time and again without overpaying, and do so much with so little amazes me as a fan.

[23]

Re: T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

He wont get that kind of recognition unless the team wins like San Antonio did by picking up cheap system players and winning championships.

Much much better than the previous GM Carroll Dawson who screwed up time and time again picking up old, often on the bed of retirement players and scrubs galore.

[Streets]

Re: T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

He wont get that kind of recognition unless the team wins like San Antonio did by picking up cheap system players and winning championships.

Much much better than the previous GM Carroll Dawson who screwed up time and time again picking up old, often on the bed of retirement players and scrubs galore.

I definately agree that DM >>> than CD. I believe CD's swan song was trading Battier for Gay right before he handed the reigns over.

As to your first point, how is DM going to win a chip with most of his cap space perpetually injured. He's great considering the circumstances.

[23]

Re: T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

He wont...but im saying its been done before and better. I like what he's done though.

CD was either too old for his job or listened to JVG too much. They wasted some good years filling the roster with trash, and you wonder why those 2 stayed injured.

[The 24th Letter]

Re: T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

Man I need to take the time and watch a Houston game...I dont understand HTF Carl Landry puts up these numbers...thought dude was just a hustler..

[Taur3asi3]

Re: T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

He is a hustler and his hard work is getting him his numbers. It's amazing how many points someone can score when the team is offensively depleted.

[Fiasco West]

Re: T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

Landry's points are not just off Hustling.

He has a knock down shot, a spin move, and is good finishing around the rim.

He has a nice face up game, what he likes to do is face up around the paint and either take guys off the dribble, and sometimes they give him too much space and he just drains the shot consistently. Yeah he has improved his game by leaps and bounds.

[Court_vision]

Re: T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>The Day T-Mac Lost The City of Houston

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>After debacle in Toronto, Rockets star is going to have to win back Houston fans

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top bgColor=#bb0022></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2009 12:34 PM CST

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>By Clutch</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>Copyright 2009 ClutchFans.net</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=300 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 8px; PADDING-TOP: 0px" vAlign=top></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Tracy McGrady had diehard Rockets fans at "hello" when the team acquired him from the Orlando Magic in 2004, and by the summer of 2005 he could have run for public office in the city and won by a landslide.
The 6-foot-8 wing was loaded with natural scoring talent, but his high basketball IQ and innate passing ability brought together a ragtag group of teammates and won over the masses in the city.
13 points in 33 seconds. "The Dunk" over Shawn Bradley. We're talking true Superstarville. Bringing the entire package at just 25 years old and gracing the court alongside Yao Ming, McGrady looked poised to deliver on the "big things" he promised in Houston.
So how exactly, in the span of a Presidential term, have things gone so horribly wrong for McGrady in Houston?
After the Rockets 40-point loss in Dallas in Game 7 in 2005, McGrady said, “I’m 25 years old and I’ve got a lot more years in this league, and I will be back next year. I will be back next year.”
I believed him. We believed him. Only, he wasn’t back the next year. While McGrady sat out some games with a legitimate back injury, the 2005-06 lottery season saw him miss many others for mysterious reasons.
McGrady returned strong the next season and played very well for much of the first half of 2007-08, but he still managed to feed his critics by how he responded when there was an uphill battle to climb. There was that game against Golden State. There was that game in Philadelphia. There were several games he just decided not to play in the final hour. While naysayers mocked McGrady’s "It's On Me" declaration (followed by "It Wasn't Really On Me"), this was something far more concerning. There was a growing sentiment that McGrady, while gloriously talented, was not the guy you wanted next to you in the foxhole if things started to go south.
Yet, while this voice of frustration was starting to build in the city towards McGrady, his rare talent and critical importance to the team drowned it out. He still had the support of the majority of the fans.
Then Toronto happened.
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January 2, 2009. The Rockets are in Toronto to face the Raptors. The team and McGrady had just established that T-Mac would only play one game of back-to-backs, and with Atlanta to follow the next night, Toronto was chosen as the game T-Mac would play.
Or so we thought. T-Mac was badly off, shooting 2-9 from the floor to go with a pair of assists and turnovers. His body language was bad. With the game slipping in the third quarter, it went from bad to downright terrible.
The Rockets were down 17 and had the ball with 1:30 left in the quarter. Carl Landry gets the ball in the post, turns to score and hits a wall of two defenders in his grill. Why does he have two guys on him? Because there’s a Rocket player not in the play… not even in a panned camera view.
McGrady is standing a few feet from the halfcourt line.
Landry tries to pass to the only open guy by throwing a risky 30-foot laser. Like a safety, Raptors forward Jamario Moon swoops in to intercept and is taking it to the house. McGrady, because he was out of the play to begin with, has a good 5+ feet on Moon almost the entire way back down, but as they get to the basket, T-Mac plays the matador, letting Moon go right by him for an easy dunk.
The next play was much more damning.
Rafer Alston, Ron Artest, Luis Scola and Landry are all running a play. They’re all hustling. They’re all trying to make something happen. However, it takes five, baby.
McGrady is not in the play. Again. He’s standing just inside the halfcourt line. Again. When Scola gets an offensive rebound, he gets the ball back up top to McGrady, who has no interest, playing hot potato with it immediately.
By now it was evident. This wasn’t an injury. This was showing apathy. This was pouting. This was quitting.
McGrady confessed after the game he was a "little frustrated", but his source wasn’t an injury -- "It's kind of hard to get in the groove when you're only touching the ball once every five minutes," said McGrady.
And there you go. The effort qualified as both the straw that broke the camel's back for many Houston fans and the smoking gun for his critics.
From there, McGrady and the team went in opposite directions.
T-Mac took two weeks off to get in shape, proclaimed that he was now back to his normal self, then two weeks later announced on his own through ESPN, without so much as a Post-It note to the Rockets organization, that he was shutting it down to undergo microfracture surgery. When McGrady did show up at the arena, he was booed regularly by the Houston faithful.
Meanwhile, the team won 22 of their final 30 games, broke the first round playoff curse, pushed the eventual champions to 7 games and endeared themselves to the city by establishing an identity as a fearless, hard-working squad that never surrenders.
Now, just 6 months later, this same franchise is supposed to trumpet the return of the anti-Cal Ripken, the embodiment of apathy, excess and entitlement, as their offensive leader -- a forced marriage that now seems a painfully awkward fit.
This shouldn't be about hate, love, payback, insurance or rehab. It's also not about his talent, which isn't in question. It's about being confronted with the reality of what last season confirmed. It's about having a clear knowledge now that McGrady is not a guy you can count on. We know this now – we’ve put it to the test. I've been a diehard Rockets fan for as long as I can remember, and I've often said I would EBay my soul for a few extra 'W's. As fate would have it, that's exactly what it would feel like I'd be doing by welcoming back McGrady with open arms and pretending the Toronto game just never happened.

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[Bornindamecca]

Re: T-Mac vs Rockets - fight!

^^Great article.

McGrady is looking good vs. the Clips right now. There's a chance he might actually be able to come back from this injury. If he does, Houston could ruin someone's playoffs.