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AllEyezonTX · 02-09-2007, 10:23 AM

Houston Rockets All-Star Tracy McGrady has unceremoniously thrust himself into the already crowded NBA Most Valuable Player conversation.
His Rockets have won five games in a row and six of their last seven. McGrady has been phenomenal in that stretch, averaging 29.9 points, 5.6 assists and five rebounds. Houston plays Friday at the Dallas Mavericks. (Where is the Thread?)

Houston is 1-1 this season vs. the team with the best record in the league, and they will play the Mavericks for the fourth and final time during the regular season.

The Rockets have the fifth-best record in the league. With all of the talk about which teams are going to make major moves before the Feb. 22 trading deadline, the Rockets will make perhaps the biggest move: getting center Yao Ming back from a fractured leg.

Yao was having an MVP-type season before his injury 21 games ago, but the Rockets didn't collapse in his absence and have gone 15-6 without Yao. They were 34-48 last season as Yao missed 25 games.

The Rockets have taken a more wide-open offensive approach without Yao, resulting in plenty of McGrady.

"We're in a nice little groove offensively right now," McGrady said. "My teammates have been great in providing offense as well as opening things up, allowing me to play one-on-one and have single coverage."

In the 40 games McGrady has played this season, Houston is 30-10.

The Rockets are 2-6 in the eight he has missed.

Cornholio · 02-09-2007, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AllEyezonTX

Houston plays Friday at the Dallas Mavericks. (Where is the Thread?)

Here.

edyzbasketball · 02-09-2007, 11:10 AM

Long live my favourite player. My idol, and the guy I watch every day.

AllEyezonTX · 02-09-2007, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edyzbasketball

Long live my favourite player. My idol, and the guy I watch every day.

Ok, don't get carried away....It would be "Idol Like" when we get this win, tonight!

edyzbasketball · 02-09-2007, 11:39 AM

He's already Idol Like, because he's done so much in the NBA.

Legend-Like · 02-09-2007, 02:32 PM

Why wouldnt T-mac being in the MVP conversation. Its actually a shock that Houston is doing real well without the absence of Yao but more importantly that T-mac hasnt been injured.

hroz · 02-10-2007, 12:05 AM

He is the darkhorse.

But lets be honest before the new year he was adding nothing that comes close to saying MVP. While Nash Dirk Kobe and Arenas were hitting crazy shots and doing their thing. So to get MVP McGrady has to play better than those 4 players for the rest of the season, not by alittle bit either but by a lot. He would have to average 35 points a game and keep giving those 6.5(or so) assists per game I believe he is dishing out right now.

edyzbasketball · 02-10-2007, 02:54 AM

The absence of Yao really helped. T-Mac is now forced to take the load, and that makes him an MVP.

Cornholio · 02-10-2007, 02:46 PM

McGrady is back on MVP track

Quote:

With the clock near zero, Tracy McGrady took the rock, jumped up into his flawless form, and released a jumper so pretty the nets didn't want to let go. The crowd roared as McGrady high-fived fans in the front row, smiling so hard I'm positive he had to ice his face after the game.

It was only the end of the third quarter, but the score was 82-52. McGrady had just scored his 32nd point and Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy mercifully kept his top dog on the bench in the fourth quarter of a recent win over the Timberwolves.

"I'm just out there having fun," McGrady says. "I'm feeling healthy and I know my team needs me to do certain things to win and I'm just trying to do all that I can to make sure that happens."

It's good to see McGrady in high spirits again. During All-Star break in Houston last year he gave one of the most cryptic interviews I've ever seen from an athlete. Slouched over, wearing a pair of shades, McGrady spoke of dealing with the worse kind of personal pain he's ever experienced. He didn't go into details, which, of course, kicked opened the door for gossip.

"Man, back then I heard people saying all kinds of things about me," he said. "People said stuff like my son wasn't mine or that I was breaking up with my girl and stuff like that. It was just a bunch of rumors. I understand people have to say something, but none of that was true.

"I was just so frustrated because I was dealing with the back issue and off the court I was dealing with people in my life, friends and family, who were really taking advantage of me. I gave money to some people I loved and thought I could really trust them and they just really took me to the cleaners. It wasn't the money so much as the betrayal. It really hit me hard. So dealing with that and my back every day, it just caught up with me."

T-Mac is one of the most easygoing, approachable superstars I've ever met. He says that's a big reason why he was deceived.

"It's hard for me to say no, because these are my people," he said. "And these are the people I really love, so to trust them, to give them money and to have them do that to me really got me down. That's what I was really going through last year. People didn't understand that because I didn't want to say exactly what it was but I was just dealing with some real life issues."

But McGrady says where he was then and where he is now are miles apart -- especially physically.

"The doctors told me I just needed to rest, so for about six to seven months I did nothing but sit on my lazy butt and ate," he said. "I ballooned up to 250 pounds because I couldn't do nothing, but the rest helped.

Quote:

For much of this season the MVP talk has been about Steve Nash, Gilbert Arenas, Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant, but T-Mac has inserted himself into the conversation.

When Yao Ming -- the team's leader in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots -- went down with a broken leg Dec. 23, many thought the Rockets were going to struggle in his absence, and understandably so. McGrady was out seven games with back spasms, and to be quite honest, wasn't playing that great until that point anyway, averaging about 19 points on 40 percent shooting.

But instead of falling off, the Rockets are thriving. Yes, Juwan Howard, Shane Battier and Dikembe Mutombo are contributing more, but they are able to do so because teams are focused on slowing T-Mac, whose play over the past month and a half reminds us all why he is still among the game's greats.

edyzbasketball · 02-11-2007, 03:03 AM

T-Mac. No smileys are possible to express his greatness.

shawnmaloser · 02-12-2007, 02:41 PM

My favourite player. he definetely needs to be included in the MVP race. the guy is too good. if kobe is number 1 this guy is 1A. he and kobe have simliar games. i dislike kobe because the guy is arrogant and selfish especially in the fourth quarter. T-mac can pass and takeover in the fourth quarter. he should win a championship when its all said and done. The guy is incredible. makes the game look so easy. i would like for him to win it this yr but beating the suns and mavs is going to be too hard. but the good news is shaq and kobe took 4 yrs to win championship and this is year 3 for yao and t-mac.Next yr i guarantee yao and t-mac will WIN a championship together

No 1 forever
cheers

some tidbits
kobe without shaq
championships = 0
NOT making the playoffs = 1
getting past the first round of the playoffs = 0.

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