Inner Musings of a Superstar

I think I finally figured out what is going on in Tracy's head. As I took a flight out for a little vacation to visit my brother in South Carolina, this little insight into Tracy McGrady came to me. With the way he dominates and then all of the sudden goes back to shooting a completely unnecessary three in transition with no one down to rebound, it just has to be what's going on.

VS.

TMac: Only 7 games left in the season, time to kick a little NBA ass! I’m going to dunk on everyone that dares to even feigns to guard the great TMAC!! Once again I will wreck this shit!

Tracy: Dude, I don’t know what you’re talking about, we’re tired and injured, I’m going to take it easy and sleep walk through the rest of the season.

TMac: Injuries are for pathetic weaklings! What we have is a mind over matter situation; they are merely the equivalent of flesh wounds. If you won’t man up, I will have to take over for us and dominate.

Tracy: Seriously, we’re 28 going on 47, what kind of domination do we have left. When you tried to jump us up out of bed yesterday I was already looking for the horse tranquilizers.

TMac: I’m 28, ladies are all over me, I have to beat them off with a stick. Hell, 47 is still younger than Deke and that cookie monster talking mofo runs the court just aching to wag his finger at the ladies in the crowd.

Tracy: Come on man, what are you doing to me? I like those 34 foot jumpers; no one ever hits us when we take those. I’m willing to compromise, how about 12 of those for every 1 drive to the lane? Is that fair?

TMac: TMac is no woman; I take it to the hole with a vengeance. When I go up, screams of joy and pleasure from the ladies are all I want to hear!

Tracy: Come on, we have a woman’s name, no reason we can’t be at least lady like on occasion. I’ve seen the amount of jewelry we wear! I’m tired of the pain!

TMac: What pain, I feel no pain! The only pain I see is that which the rim endures as I dunk on these fools.

Tracy: I’m tired of this attitude, we ain’t no spring chicken no more, we have to take it easy.

TMac: TMac doesn’t take it easy, TMac makes it LOOK easy. That’s how I roll.

Tracy: We agreed when we were 19 and playing hard defense every night that slowly I’d get to phase you out. Now you want to take back your word?

TMac: No, we just took it easy all season, it’s about to be playoff time, and The Great Wall is down, people need to see TMac again in all his manly glory.

Tracy: Well, we did shoot a lot of jumpers this year, and you’ve only made me drive about 3 times a game, so I guess I can give in.

TMac: How about we start tonight?

Tracy: Come on guy, let’s not be hasty, the playoffs aren’t here yet. We can lollygag and still make the playoffs.

TMac: Hey man, the more games we win the easier the games in the playoffs can be!

Tracy: Now that’s what I’m talking about! I’ll tell you what, for the next 7 games you can drive to the hole 5 times a game instead of 3, but I require at least 25 shots a game or else.

TMac: Well we both love to shoot, so no problem, let’s get this party started!

Am I excited or just relieved?

I still don't know what happened last night. The Rockets didn't play bad at all, they just didn't play very well. The Sonics just could not miss until the last 5 minutes of the game. The Rockets weathered the storm and came out victorious.

Yao kept the game from becoming a blow-out with another "Yao Game", also known as 25+ points and 8+ rebounds. He finished the game at 26 and 12 with 6 assists and 1 block. Just another all around solid game. It's amazing to me that there are still people out there that do not recognize Yao's greatness. He does this EVERY NIGHT, this season he has only not scored 20 on 9 occasions and on 3 of those he had 18,19,19, so his scoring is there pretty much every game. He's had 8+ Rebounds 34 times this season, he is nothing if not consistent.

Just for fun:

You look at those stats and say: Player A and B are pretty damn close, right? In fact, this season, Player A is having arguably a better one than Player B, right? Player A is obviously Yao, Player B is Tim Duncan. Don't get me wrong, the Big Fundamental is inarguably, fuck Karl Malone, the greatest PF of all time. Honestly, it's not close. That said, Yao is great too, people need to realize this. Just think, he's 27, he's just now STARTING his prime.

Edit: (Just saw something similar over at Clutchfans, I've been wanting to work it in since the SA game, but didn't want someone to not get credit for a good idea)

Okay, enough about Yao, let's talk about TMac. I'd like to say that more players should say they want to grow up to be Tracy like KD did. Then maybe he'd play like his old self every time. He was really spectacular at the end of the game. 13-23 for 28 points and seemingly every one in the 4th quarter. He also managed 4 rebounds including a huge offensive one and 5 assists. I missed you old Tracy McGrady from your first year with the Rockets, I missed you. Now, please, I beg of you, stick around for the rest of the season! I'm going to ignore the 2 missed free throws at the end that almost cost us the game.

I also have to say, Rafer played like he was when TMac was out, and that is a very good thing, he shot WAY too much, but some of that was out of necessity since no one else early in the game, except Yao,was moving at all. His 8 assists were all pretty decent and he has ZERO turnovers. Good game all around Rafer, good game.

Last but not least I have to talk about Carl Landry. He played his ass off last night and cemented the fact that the Chuck Waggon should not be playing any more. What once was a black hole on the team, power forward, is now a plethora of awesome. Luis and Carl, welcome to the big time. Landry was everywhere, his athleticism is exactly what this team needs to compliment Luis's all out hustle. In 15 minutes he was 4-4 for 8 points, and had 2 rebounds. He also got 2 absolutely incorrect foul calls in that time and fouled out. He was so pissed off that he almost cried on the sidelines. And unlike Adam Morrison the game was over for him when he almost cried. That's some bad ass passion, it actually made me more impressed with him.

So that's a third win in a row for the Rockets and 8-2 in their last 10. Next up: Friday at 9:00PM CST - The Portland Trailblazers, one of the hottest teams in the league. I'll have a preview up today or tomorrow.