Didn't see this posted: By Marc Stein ESPN.com Archive DALLAS – History says Tracy McGrady never lasts more than one round in the playoffs. The Houston Rockets say something else. The Rockets say T-Mac, sleepy as he looks sometimes, never gets tired at work. The Rockets say McGrady can chase Dirk Nowitzki around for half a game, or longer if necessary, and still be T-Mac at the other end in the fourth quarter. "Tracy played, what, 47 minutes?" said Houston's Jon Barry, scoffing at the suggestion that McGrady can't do what he did in Game 1 and still be fresh in Game 6 or 7. Tracy McGrady T-Mac's "complete game" includes playmaking, as shown by his half-dozen dimes on Sat. "I don't know if he sweated a drop," Barry continued. "It's that easy to him." If Barry is right, Dallas has a bigger problem than the 1-0 series deficit it takes into Monday night's Game 2 against visiting Houston. If McGrady really can stay with Nowitzki for long stretches and still have his legs late in games – and later in this series – Houston will record what the seedings deem an upset. T-Mac, furthermore, will no longer have to hear about his four first-round exits in four trips to the playoffs. It should be noted that McGrady has looked rather smooth in the early stages of a series before. It was just two springs ago that T-Mac staked Orlando to a 3-1 lead over Detroit that seemed certain to send him to Round 2 for the first time. Yet you can argue (and we do) that McGrady has never had a better playoff game than he had Saturday – not even when he scored 43 points in the opener at Detroit in the aforementioned seven-gamer. Besides punishing the Mavs with 34 points, T-Mac created numerous shot opportunities for teammates and combined with Ryan Bowen to hound Nowitzki into a 5-for-19 nightmare. And when he wasn't on Nowitzki, McGrady was assigned to shadow Josh Howard, who's merely the Mavericks' most active player. "A human pogo stick," Jeff Van Gundy called Howard. You have to figure that McGrady's new pal, Roger Clemens, would have been proud of this performance. It was a complete game. Of course, odds are that it only gets tougher on T-Mac from here. Bowen survived for 31 quality minutes in his surprise start, but he was the first to scold anyone who dared to call him a Dirk Stopper. "Cut that stuff out," Bowen said. "You know what he's capable of the next time. "I'm sure if Dirk gets it going, Tracy will be on him in a matter of seconds." Which means that McGrady, who volunteered beforehand that he was willing to deal with Dirk for 40 minutes a game if necessary, might actually be forced to do so sometime soon. With Juwan Howard lost for the season to a viral infection, Jeff Van Gundy doesn't have any other sensible Dirk options. So there's pressure on Bowen to be sufficiently effective as a nuisance to convince the coach to keep him on the floor, and there's pressure on McGrady to be special at both ends for long stretches. Because there's little chance Nowitzki will continue to be as passive as he was Saturday. He can't if the Mavericks intend to reclaim home-court advantage. Perhaps the most worrisome aspect of Game 1 for the home team – besides the fact Yao Ming's foul trouble didn't stop Houston from cruising – was the difficulty it had executing its offense. In his first-ever playoff game without Steve Nash, Nowitzki got no help from Jason Terry and Devin Harris, resurrecting fears Dallas thought it had buried about functioning in the half court. Nowitzki, as a result, knows he'll have to do some playmaking to compensate. Look for him to attack Bowen and McGrady more aggressively in the post, either as a shooter or a passer. Nowitzki can't stagnate or settle for jumpers like he did in Game 1; McGrady wasn't tagged with his first personal foul until the fourth quarter. "I wasn't helping the cause," Nowitzki said, blaming himself for a Dallas defeat that, in truth, had numerous culprits. "But I don't think I'm going to have two games like that in a row." That's the Rockets' feeling, too. Bowen made it clear that the only promise he received from Van Gundy is that "I would be the Game 1 starter." Translation: Houston fully expects Nowitzki to solve Bowen [and quickly] to heap even more on McGrady. "Other than Shaq," Van Gundy said, "I don't know if there's one player [in the league] who distorts your defense like [Nowitzki] does." The good news for the Rockets? McGrady is ready. "He told Jeff that he wanted to guard Nowitzki," Barry reminds. And Van Gundy stressed to his postgame audience that we have no idea how hard McGrady is working behind closed doors to make the transition "from being a great player to a great winner." "I read a lot about MVP and I read a lot about All-NBA and I would put him up there with anybody you want to talk about for the impact he's had on our team," Van Gundy said. Then, recalling a young T-Mac's fine defense on Allan Houston in a Toronto-New York series from years ago, Van Gundy added: "McGrady can be anything he wants to defensively. Anything he wants." McGrady then volleyed back the praise. "He's made me into a complete player," T-Mac said. The job is hardly done, though. Van Gundy rejects the notion that his two-way stalwart "needs vindication" after his previous playoff disappointments ... but McGrady does need three more complete games to get his name off the top of this list. Among active players never to advance in the playoffs, no one is within 10 points of McGrady's postseason career scoring average. McGrady has averaged 29.7 points in those four first-round exits. Grant Hill (19.6) and Stephon Marbury (19.4) are next on the list, also both winless in four playoff series. You can safely say that Big Sleep, as T-Mac is also known, does get tired of hearing that stat. Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com.
JVG replied, "Shut up, just shut up, you had me at hello." Good article. It will be interesting to see how both TMac and Dirk play tonight.
i've heard that nickname for years. that's what my roommate and i usually refer to him as. it's a fitting nickname IMO.
Ah, the national bandwagon machine is cold-cranking its engine. It soon will be blazing down the freeway.
Ugh, this is freaking me out. Praise is like kryptonite to the Rockets. We need more negativity!! Fast! Whew! That was close.
There's nothing more compelling in the NBA than a playoff game with two superstars guarding each other. With Kobe and Garnett at home, McGrady, Dirk, Duncan, and Shaq are the only members of the league's elite crop in the playoffs. And Dirk meeting McGrady makes this the best series. That's why I get so hyped up when I see Tracy actually guarding Nowkitzki in stretches. That's rare. If he can really guard Nowitzki, he might be the most complete player in the game. He can shut down his opponent. Unlike Garnett, Dirk, and O'neal, he creates every basket for his team and you can't take the ball out of his hands. And unlike Garnett, he can drop 40 on you on any night.
