McGrady on a mission

The first 10 years of Tracy McGrady's NBA career has been a rollercoaster ride of sorts. There have been many ups, but arguably more downs for this enigmatic superstar. The ups include his two scoring titles, seven All-Star appearances, a 62-point game against the Wizards, and most notibly, for me at least, his 35-second barrage against the Spurs in 2004 in which he scored 13 points to lead his team back from a 10-point defecit in the last half minute. Those INDIVIDUAL accomplishments are all well and good, but the downs of his career are highlighted by his teams failure in the postseason. It's amazing that a player with T-Mac's ability has yet to be out of the first round in six tries. Granted he has only been the "favorite" once, last year against the Jazz, but as we saw even in that series, the Jazz had a much tougher and deeper roster than his Rockets. McGrady has endured four Game 7 losses- two with the lowly Magic and two with Houston- with the latest appearing to hit him the hardest. Remember last year when he left the podium speechless following the Game 7 home loss to Utah? While many people say professional athletes don't care about the results, only the money, it's clear that McGrady cares about winning and cares about his legacy.

Before Thursday night's game in Salt Lake City, McGrady said something along the lines of "this game isn't about revenge, it's about coming into a tough environment and getting a win at a place where we haven't won in awhile." All very true, but if you had the privilage to watch last night, it was clear T-Mac was out to exorcise a few demons that remained from last spring. He went off on the Jazz for 47 points, and added four assists and four rebounds in Houston's 106-95 victory. He kept the Rockets in the game in the first quarter when they trailed by as much as 12, and kept the Jazz at arms length the rest of the night, despite a few Utah runs. McGrady showed the aggression thay may have been lacking in the final five minutes of Game 7 last year when his Rockets had a five-point lead and the momentum. He didn't settle for jumpers, although he did hit two big ones late. All night long he was blowing by whichever helpless defender Jerry Sloan assigned to him, whether it was Ronnie Brewer or Andrei Kirilenko, and finishing with authority. Some may attribute his play not so much to a new found aggression, but to the new offense Rick Adelman has brought to town. It may be a mixture of both, but it was clear from the beginning that the head and heart of T-Mac were in this game from the start. Late in the game when he hit one of his deep jumpers to put another dagger into a Utah run, McGrady put his right index finger to his mouth to silence the same Utah crowd that he could not in three tries last spring. It had to be a liberating feeling for him and his Rockets teammates that felt the same disappointment after the playoff series loss.

Through the first two games of this young season, numero-uno appears to be on a mission. He is 28 years old, in his 11th season, and despite his talk in the preseason, the window is closing on his chances to claim the championship that has eluded him to this point. While McGrady has always been very confident publicly, I believe this is something he truly realizes, and I also believe that he sees this team as one that can win big. He had to know coming in that the first month or so would be a rough adjustment period with all the new faces and the installment of a completely new offense, because through the first two games he has carried the team late in games, and has been efficient doing it. He had 30 points on 20 shots against the Kobe's, and 47 on 27 against the Jazz.

He loves his new coach, has raved about his the new offense, has great chemistry with his partner in crime (Yao), and has dreamt for years of having a bench this deep. The pieces are there for T-Mac and the Rockets to do something big this season and the highest of highs can be reached if he truly is what he appears to be thus far: a man on a mission.

Until next time,
DTM