Please lock already posted, if you like please rep me :grin: http://blogs.chron.com/jeromesolomon/2010/02/tmacs_debut.html Tracy McGrady did what? Excuse me, but 26 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, in his first game since before Christmas is pretty strong. Yeah, no way this guy could have helped the Rockets the last two months. (That's almost as bad as the Pacers trying to convince people that T.J. Ford — 23 points on 10-of-19 shooting off the bench against the Rockets — shouldn't be on the floor.) Did I mention that the Rockets were 10-13 from the time they told McGrady he wasn't good enough to play with them until last week's trade deadline? Howard Beck of the New York Times was impressed. "Despite playing just six games in the last year — and none since Dec. 23 — McGrady showed little rust and displayed no problems with the knee. He beat defenders off the dribble, drove the lane with confidence and finished with grace. He found open teammates and slipped seamlessly into the offense — all without a practice." McGrady will be up and down as he builds back fro the knee surgery, but any of those ups — like the one he had Saturday night — could have helped the Rockets maintain a solid position in the playoff race. It didn't make a lot of sense at the time, and makes even less sense now. • • • Apparently, McGrady has already had an impact on jersey sales and attitude in New York. So excited about T-Mac's play, this youngster goes Bud Adams with a two-fingered salute when TV cameras locked on him. • • • McGrady with 26 points, and Kevin Martin making just 3 of 16 shots — missing all four attempts in the fourth quarter — might make some of you think the Rockets made a mistake. Get a hold of yourselves. Don't panic over Saturday's loss to the Pacers. It's going to take time for the Rockets to figure out what they have and how to play with the new parts. And boy would it help to get Kyle Lowry back to play some defense. First games after trades don't mean much, but they are interesting. I really wish I could have seen the Rockets last night. Here's one for you. Anyone besides me was so excited about the first game after a trade that you flew to Denver to watch the debut of Sleepy Floyd and Joe Barry Carroll? Didn't think so. • • • Speaking of getting a grip, I don't want to panic, but methinks the expectations for Carl Landry in Sacramento might be a bit out of whack. Not having seen the game, it's almost impossible to comment with any depth on what happened, but Landry scored 10 points (made 4 of 11 shots) and had 8 rebounds in his debut with the Kings. Not great, but certainly not terrible. But in their measure of good-bad, the Kings went with real bad, and they sound as if they don't expect Carl to have that type of game anymore. From the Sacramento Bee: "That was probably the most ineffective he'll ever be as a King," Kings coach Paul Westphal said. A little high on the expectations there aren't you Westphal? Landry will have other nights like that one, and worse ones. Heck, Landry traveled three times, but even that's not unusual for him. It's just unusual that they were all called. Landry will be fine, but I wonder if fans and media will turn on him because of crazy expectations fueled by the team. The Kings have put word out through the media that the trade of Kevin Martin was about getting Landry. You know how fans are in these situations. For Kings' fans it's all going to be about Martin and Landry and how they perform.
The rockets botched the mcgrady situation. they were done with him but his career is far from over. you can thank adelman and morey for trading away one of the top players in the NBA for nothing (kmart). we will be the laughing stocks of the NBA as time goes on and it becomes clear that tmac just needed time to recover from a major surgery
Good, optimistic thread. I'm not worried about one game. I'm more concerned about making the playoffs. Give our guys the 7th seed and anything is possible. I just hope we play together enough to give ourselves a fair shot to go to the show.
Don't respond to the overreaction in all the threads, all of those people will shut up once Martin starts clicking.
sorry thread was made in remembrance of the LandLord. KevMart will prove all of the sky is falling members the sky is only raining for Landry... lol i kid. in Morey and the Rockets we trust. Hopefully Adleman can turn our new bigs into studs.
Since when was KMart, the 8th overall pick in this draft, and 2 Knicks picks NOTHING? The only rotation player we lost was Landry (which is big, but we got ALOT out of it). Do you not remember what happened last year? We became a BETTER team the moment TMac opted for surgery! It is no coincidence that we made it past the first round without him (quite frankly, if he was still playing, we probably would not have made it to the second round). He is a ball stopper and was not a good fit in the Adelman motion offense. Our team is worse when TMac plays (why should that change post surgery?). Good riddance. I wish nothing but the best for him, but I want him as far away from this Rockets squad as possible.
Rocketman2000, I'd rep you if I could. Like Clyde Drexler said last night--his first shot as a Rocket? AIR BALL. Enough with the knee-jerk reactions. It's not how you start, it's how you finish. Isn't that what Rudy T always said? And isn't he the guy that...I dunno...got us two championships? Besides, lest we forget, in the games before the trade, Tracy was technically our worst player. Zero points, zero rebounds, and zero assists. And he didn't have "I'M HURT" as an excuse--he left the team to go sulk. Real classy there.
Mac got his and the Knicks still lost last night. Looks like some things never change. Since Mac dished it to Gallinari for the final shot, who clanked it, then I guess "it's on them".
Getting rid of Landry and T-Mac is the biggest mistake the Rockets have made since Moses Malone was forced out.
[rquoter]"You know how fans are in these situations. For Kings' fans it's all going to be about Martin and Landry and how they perform."[/rquoter] Seems like he is indirectly making fun of rockets fans
Dude! Everyone calm down, this was Martin's 1st game with new teammates! Look how Jamison, Butler and Haywood bounced back after their 1st games! Martin is gonna have a great game tonight, mark my words! The only thing that concerns me is how Adelman uses Jeffries, Hill, and Armstrong. He better start using them instead of Battier at the freakin 4 spot!
I'm happy to see T-Mac do well, but I don't fault the Rockets at all for the way it all went down. He needs to dominate more than would have been practical here. The trade was excellent.
I saw that too! I couldn't believe this little 10 year old brat gave the finger (two of them actually) to a live TV camera. I thought it was cool that these two young, innocent looking Knicks fans (with brand new McGrady jerseys) were so excited about their team, and then one of them whips up both middle fingers, bobbing them up and down for emphasis. It seemed like these kids had really good seats, too. Oh, I weep for the future.
