I find it interesting that he STILL has never made it out of the first round of playoffs for a player of his level. I guess we can blame him like he said.
I blame him just because he is the superstar and he needs that burdon on him like the rest. But, at the same time, he has been incredible in each playoff series he has been in. He wasn't good in elimination games heading into this year, but against the Jazz in game 7 he puts up one of his best alla round performances of his career (29/13/5/3 on 12-25 shooting).He'll get out of the 1st round soon enough....
I think he is a great player, but he has choked ALOT of times in the playoffs. He seems to let up when he gets a 2-0 lead. You have to play every game like it's a game 7 once you reach the playoffs.
bullsh**, hes hardly ever choked.His team is okay, but he plays with the ball too much, Houston needs a better PG. And realistcly, him and Yao dont make a good match...two totaly different players in terms of style. I dont blame him, hes played incredible...nothing else he can do.
Personally, I feel bad for the guy. You cant put all the blame on him, just because he said too. His team didnt step up, and he pretty much gave it all. Two series in his career where his team was up 2-0 in a series, and they blew it. Thats bad luck right there.
This was the only year he really should have gotten out of the first round. And it is not a 1 person thing the teammates have to do more to help.Except Yao/T-Mac it did not seem like others did enough.
There are actually three times that I put the blame on him: up 3-1 against Detroit, up 2-0 against Dallas, and then of course this year.People say nobody expected him to win the series against Detroit when he was with Orlando, but I beg to differ. Yes, going into that series nobody expected them to win, but when you are up 3-1, you are expected to win that series. Only 7 teams (before then) in NBA history blew a 3-1 series lead... yes, they were the 8th seed playing against the #1 seed in the conference, but he went out and said it felt good to get into the second round, meaning he expected to win that series... what happnened? He failed... blame goes to him.The Dallas series is self-explanatory. You win the first two games of the series on the road in Dallas, then lose two at home... And then this year. Yeah, he played great in Game 7, but I didn't like the fact that he said that the game was not the biggest in his career, when it really was. Yes, his teammates didn't do as much as they should have, but he's the superstar, and he is going to get the blame.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BigMo763 @ May 10 2007, 06:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>There are actually three times that I put the blame on him: up 3-1 against Detroit, up 2-0 against Dallas, and then of course this year.People say nobody expected him to win the series against Detroit when he was with Orlando, but I beg to differ. Yes, going into that series nobody expected them to win, but when you are up 3-1, you are expected to win that series. Only 7 teams (before then) in NBA history blew a 3-1 series lead... yes, they were the 8th seed playing against the #1 seed in the conference, but he went out and said it felt good to get into the second round, meaning he expected to win that series... what happnened? He failed... blame goes to him.The Dallas series is self-explanatory. You win the first two games of the series on the road in Dallas, then lose two at home... And then this year. Yeah, he played great in Game 7, but I didn't like the fact that he said that the game was not the biggest in his career, when it really was. Yes, his teammates didn't do as much as they should have, but he's the superstar, and he is going to get the blame.</div>How could you say that he should have beat Detroit. That Orlando team was full of nobody's, and the second best player on the team was a very young Drew Gooden who had not yet developed into the solid player he is today. I don't care if he was up 3-0 it was defenetly not his fault, he actually pulled a miracle in taking 3 games from a crew that included chauncey Billups, Tayshan Prince, Ben Wallace and Rip Hamilton. In that series he played great and scored 40 or close to that in just about every game. The one on Dallas I do put on him as despite their series lack of talent, they actually had a realistic opportunity at betting them. As for this year it was defenently not his fault also. His team chocked in the last two games and made tmac have to play against all of Utah by himself. As for the comment that he chockes, that is BS he is clutch and always comes up big in the playoffs, thats why hes been on such close series, he almost pulls of the impossible
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BigMo763 @ May 10 2007, 05:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>People say nobody expected him to win the series against Detroit when he was with Orlando, but I beg to differ. Yes, going into that series nobody expected them to win, but when you are up 3-1, you are expected to win that series. Only 7 teams (before then) in NBA history blew a 3-1 series lead... yes, they were the 8th seed playing against the #1 seed in the conference, but he went out and said it felt good to get into the second round, meaning he expected to win that series... what happnened? He failed... blame goes to him.</div>I agree the blame goes to him for this series, but where were his teammates when he dropped 44 in game 2 yet they lost by double digits (they score donly 31pts on 26% shooting....aka horrible).<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The Dallas series is self-explanatory. You win the first two games of the series on the road in Dallas, then lose two at home...</div>He had 28/9/6 in game 3 and 36/6/5 in game 4. As I said, I put the blame on him just for the superstar effect, but in reality he didn't have his 3rd scoring option in Juwan Howard the whole series and Dallas was simply a better team.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>And then this year. Yeah, he played great in Game 7, but I didn't like the fact that he said that the game was not the biggest in his career, when it really was. Yes, his teammates didn't do as much as they should have, but he's the superstar, and he is going to get the blame.</div>He retracted those statements after he said them.
Regardless of the type of player he is, if he cant get out of the first round of playoffs then something is going wrong.
I feel really bad for TMac. I'm a huge Rockets fan, but I have to admit that the Rockets suck.. the roster is full of guys who can't make a shot left wide open.. TMac Yao and Battier is about what the Rockets have. Everyone else is trash, not counting Hayes, who is the ultimate hustler. and Mutombo, who at 40, is still playing great..
Why did the Rockets trade for McGrady to begin with? I never understood that move. McGrady is clearly a great player, but it just didn't really make a whole lot of sense to me. They never allowed that much time for Francis/Yao to adjust with each other. They gave them one playoff series where they got owned by the Lakers who ended up going to the Title game that year. The great PG/C combo just seems better than the SF SG/C combo. McGrady is a great basketball player but I think a lot of people invest too much into him. He has once again proved he can't be that guy that will single-handidly win important games for you. He's not on that same level as a Kobe, Nash, Dirk, D-Wade. He's more on that star level of a Paul Pierce, Michael Redd, Kevin Garnett.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (WELCOMEtotheJUNGLE @ May 11 2007, 12:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Why did the Rockets trade for McGrady to begin with? I never understood that move. McGrady is clearly a great player, but it just didn't really make a whole lot of sense to me. They never allowed that much time for Francis/Yao to adjust with each other. They gave them one playoff series where they got owned by the Lakers who ended up going to the Title game that year. The great PG/C combo just seems better than the SF SG/C combo.</div>Oh please. Steve Francis? The same guy who is selfish, plays more street ball than fundamental basketball, and never got along with Jeff Van Gundy from the beginning? The same guy who told the organization "I can't be myself here, so why should I work for a place I can't be myself at?" By that, he meant clowning around and getting on SportsCenter. You don't think Francis/Mobley for McGrady/Howard made sense? I don't understand how you could think that way.
I clearly was a little uninformed of this topic, my bad. I knew Francis was a little hot head but I didn't realize he said all that crap and was feuding with Van Gundy. But they are still in the same position they were with Francis/Yao and McGrady/Yao. Not getting out of the first round.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (WELCOMEtotheJUNGLE @ May 11 2007, 02:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I clearly was a little uninformed of this topic, my bad. I knew Francis was a little hot head but I didn't realize he said all that crap and was feuding with Van Gundy. But they are still in the same position they were with Francis/Yao and McGrady/Yao. Not getting out of the first round.</div>But they clearly are a better team, and I'd take Tracy McGrady on my team any day over Steve Francis (even 3 years ago when Stevie was filling the stat sheet). Regardless, Houston needs to shake some things up. I say keep T-Mac, Yao, Battier, and Hayes... shop everybody else and their 1st round pick.
I don't know what to make of McGrady's 1st round playoff performances. But when he had three teams with the series lead to close out, he's failed to do so each time. That has to say something specifically about McGrady. Since he's the constant on each of those teams. Also, considering he's each team's best player.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (WELCOMEtotheJUNGLE @ May 11 2007, 11:25 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Why did the Rockets trade for McGrady to begin with? I never understood that move. McGrady is clearly a great player, but it just didn't really make a whole lot of sense to me. They never allowed that much time for Francis/Yao to adjust with each other. They gave them one playoff series where they got owned by the Lakers who ended up going to the Title game that year. The great PG/C combo just seems better than the SF SG/C combo. McGrady is a great basketball player but I think a lot of people invest too much into him. He has once again proved he can't be that guy that will single-handidly win important games for you. He's not on that same level as a Kobe, Nash, Dirk, D-Wade. He's more on that star level of a Paul Pierce, Michael Redd, Kevin Garnett.</div>Let's get this straight- T-Mac is a FAR better player than Francis. Francis was never more than an all star reserve...T-Mac is a superstar-caliber player.. T-Mac is better than Francis in every category...scoring, passing, defending, rebounding, clutch play, leading a team, etc..He had 29/13/5/3 on 12-25 shooting in game 7. He is the 3rd all time leader in playoff scoring. He has the ability to single handedly win an important team, but against teams like the '03 Pistons, the '05 Mavs or the '07 Jazz, you need help. He needs to take blame, and he has, but it is hard to put a ton of stock in those losses considering his play.As for where he is at the current moment, I'd say he is right in the middle of the likes of Kobe/Wade and Pierce/Redd. He is in the same boat as KG.
