Posts Tagged ‘Tracy McGrady’

Ex-Knicks Exact Revenge in Rockets Win!

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Posted 21 Mar 2010 — by T.T.S.
Category Houston Rockets, NBA, New York Knicks

Not the Hair!!(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Kevin Martin scored 28 points, Jared Jeffries and rookie Jordan Hill played key roles down the stretch, and Houston rallied to beat the New York Knicks 116-112 on Sunday.

There is nothing like matinée  basketball at Madison Square Garden. The Houston Rockets went up against the New York Knicks in what was Tracy McGrady’s first game against his former team.

Early in the game T-Mac looked to be exacting revenge, playing the entire first quarter and finishing with eight points and five rebounds in helping New York take a 32-17 lead. McGrady finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 33 minutes, but was scoreless in the fourth. He missed all three shots after asking to re-enter to play 5 minutes in the final period, even though he was already over his average of about 25 a game.

“When you play with some of those guys for five, six years, you definitely want to go out there and compete against them and show them up a little bit,” McGrady said.

Defense was non-existent in this game. Both teams shot over 50% from the floor. The Knicks held a early 17-point lead, but watched the Rockets bench close the gap by halftime.

David Lee apperaed to strike fear in every Rocket finishing with 27 points and 20 boards. Both Danilo Gallinari and Toney Douglas each scored 26, with Douglas making a franchise rookie-record six 3-pointers in the best game of his career. Unfortunatly Douglas had three turnovers in the final minutes that led to 7 straight Rockets points from Aaron Brooks who finished with 16.

Ex-Knicks Jordan Hill and Jared Jeffries stole the show in place of Luis Scola(upset stomach) and Shane battier(hyperextended knee). Hill finished with a season-high 13 points, while Jeffries, who had been the Knicks’ best defensive player, stepped in to take some crucial charges in the final quarter.

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The Truth Sports: NBA Monday 2/22 Recap!

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Posted 23 Feb 2010 — by T.T.S.
Category Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Bobcats, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, NBA, New York Knicks, Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards

The Truth Sports has been under the weather following the NBA Trade deadline. My Trade fever had run high and I was in need of salary cap relief. The Knicks got the 7-time All-Star Tracy McGrady for draft picks and players that no one would miss. The performance Tracy McGrady put on against the Thunder on Saturday (26 points on 10-17 shooting), nearly made us relapse.

The Knicks on Monday looked the way we thought they would look on Saturday. What a relief to Rockets fans. *(Speaking of Rockets fans):

Bill Simmons talks with Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey about the Rockets’ moves at the trade deadline, the outlook for the team this season and beyond and more.

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Milauakee  83, New York 67

The Knicks played as if they were all unfamiliar with each other. Which isn’t surprising seeing how they all are…I’m not talking to you Chris Duhon!  Making matters worse, McGrady said he banged knees a couple of times and wasn’t sure he would play Tuesday in Boston. This was only his eighth game this season after returning from knee surgery. McGrady scored 15 points, but shot only 5-of-14. He wasn’t alone in struggling, as the team hit just 33.8 percent from the field in its season-high seventh straight loss. ”Hopefully it’s not sore tomorrow,” he said. “I may lace them up and play tomorrow, but we’ll see.” said McGrady. Knicks play 17 of their last 26 games on the road, which makes bonding even a greater challenge this late in the season.

Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

On a positive note the Knicks celebrated the 40th anniversary of their 1970 NBA championship team at halftime. Willis Reed came out last, just as he did in returning from injury to help New York beat the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 7. “The memories abound and astound,” Hall of Fame guard Walt Frazier told the crowd.

Chicago 95, Washington 101

Andray Blatche scored 25 points and had 11 rebounds to lead the Wizards to a 101-95 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday night. Blatche, averaging 25 points in the four games since Jamison and Butler were traded, helped Washington to its first three-game home winning streak since April 4-12, 2008, thats right 3 game home winning streak. He also made all nine of his free throws. ”I feel like a leader. I feel like I’m leading my team in the right direction,” Blatche said. Blatche’s contributions were needed because Washington played most of the game without Josh Howard. Howard collided with Chicago’s Flip Murray with 4:23 to play in the first quarter. Howard was helped off the court and suffered a strained left knee. He’ll be reevaluated Tuesday. Howard has joined with Blatche, and Al Thorton to provide lost of offensive spark since the trades. Washington is 3-1 since. The Bulls newest members hakim Warrick, and Flip Murray combinded for 28 off the bench. The lost of John Salmons had not shown any negative signs till tonight when every started not named Derrick shot 10-32 from the field.

Indiana 82, Dallas 91

Brendan Haywood tied his career high with 20 rebounds and the Mavericks improved to 4-0 with him as their starting center. The Mavericks, whose four-game winning streak is their longest in two months, have held all five opponents since the trade to less than 100 points after the previous eight broke that mark. Dirk led all scores with 23. The Pacers put up 125 on Sunday against the Rockets with their best player Danny Granger scoring 36 points. He didnt play against Dallas, thus the Pacers lost. “Granger obviously is their go-to guy and he always makes big shots, so we definitely caught a break that he wasn’t here,” Nowitzki said. Without Granger, the Pacers shot 26 percent in the first quarter and 37 percent for the game. Despite plenty of open 3-pointers, Indiana shot a season-low 13 percent (3 of 23) from beyond the arc. Indiana is 1-8 against Southwest Division teams, ouch!

Atlanta 105, Utah 100

hoto by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE/Getty Images

The game of the night! The Hawks hadn’t won in Utah since Feb. 13, 1993. 17 years and 9 days later, they got the win. Joe Johnson finished with 28, and a big 3 with 2:28 left that gave the Hawks a wide enough margin to close it out. “The streak was brought to our attention before the game, so we wanted to come out early and establish ourselves,” Johnson said. “We wanted to make sure they knew it wasn’t going to be the same type of game they are used to seeing out of us.” The Jazz were playing without Deron Williams and Andrei Kirilenko, allowing the Hawks to shoot 54 percent. It was Utah’s second loss in 15 games, arguably one of the hottest teams right now. Beyond snapping a 15-game road losing streak in Utah, the win clinched Atlanta’s first season series sweep of the Jazz since the 1992-93 season.

Charlotte 94, Los Angeles 98

We were really rooting for the Bobcats. The trade for Stephen Jackson early in the season was huge, and the acquisition of Tyrus Thomas before the trade deadline seem to also be a positive. But the Bobcats are 3-6 this month, after going 12-4 in January to put themselves in contention for their first playoff berth in the franchise’s six-year history. They slipped into a tie with Milwaukee in the race for the eighth and final seed at 27-28. The lost to the Clippers was due solely to Stephen jackson who went 1-16 from the field, finishing with 7 points. Jackson, the team’s leading scorer in 10 of the previous 12 games, had scored 30 or more points in eight of the last 25 contests. It was the first time the league’s 11th leading scorer failed to reach double digits in 46 games since the Bobcats acquired him on Nov. 16. The Clippers improved to 2-5 under interim coach Kim Hughes. Great job Kim!


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TheTruthSports: NBA Trade Winners!!

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Posted 18 Feb 2010 — by T.T.S.
Category Charlotte Bobcats, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, NBA, New York Knicks, Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards

This years trades all seem to be Luxury Tax related, as teams traded players to increase cap room next season for the, LEBRON SWEEPSTAKES!!( you have to sound like Don Pardo when you say it). Teams such as the Bulls,Knicks, Mavs, Clippers, Nets, Miami, Houston, and even long shots such as Lakers are cap ready. It’s a shame that such a high percentage of NBA trades are about contracts first, talent and skills of the players second. Lets breakdown the winners and losers.

WINNERS

AFP/NBAE/Getty Images/File

Clevelend Cavaliers: Acquired Antawn Jamison, Sebastian Telfair. The Cavs add the 20 points, 9 rebounds a game performance, of Antwan Jamison to their league best 43-11 record. The Cavs needed someone to defend Rashard Lewis of Orlando and make him play defense on the other end. Not only is Jamison one of the best teammates LeBron has ever played with, he also acts as a bargaining chip for the Cavs to convince LeBron to stay come this summer. The way the Cavs are playing its not surprising to think that Jamison could come off the bench and play. This is by far the best team that Jamison has played for, and his 11 year pedigree will be enjoyed by the Cavs as they head to the Finals…at least the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavs traded Zydrunas Ilgauskas, rights to Emir Preldzic, and a 2010 first-round draft pick. The Wizards are expected to buy out Ilgauskas’ contract giving him 30 days to re-sign with the Cavs. Cavs traded a draft pick for Jamison.

Dallas Mavricks: Acquired Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, DeShawn Stevenson for the disgruntle Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton, and Quinton Ross. The Mavs had to do something. The NBA was in town celebretaing themselves, and all the world was watching. The Mavs were soft and slowly sliding down the Western Conference totem pole. Brining in Caron Butler, and the Rebound Machine-Brendan Haywood have made the Mavs at least the 3rd best team in the West. The trade cost Dallas some $30 million in fees. Wonder how much All-Star money they got sent their way?

SO LONG TOUGH-ACTING T-MACTIN"

Houston Rockets: Acquired Kevin Martin and Hilton Armstrong , Jordan Hill, Jared Jeffries, the Knicks 2011 1st Rd. pick, and the Knicks 2012 1st Rd. pick. The Rockets gave up Tracy McGrady, Carl Landry and Joey Dorsey. Everyone makes this trade a TMac for Martin trade, but I beg to differ. This trade is Landry for Martin. Tracy Mcgrady was on the verge of staying a Rocket and waiting for a buyout from the Rockets. Then at the last moment Daryl “The Wizard” Morey convinced the Kings to take Landry for Martin. He then ran into Madison Square Garden and stole everything not tied down. The Knicks covet McGrady’s $22 million off the payroll, giving them the loot to get LeBron and one of his Super-Friends. The Rockets are trying to win NOW. The addition of Martin adds a confident scorer, to a team of 3 point shooters. The Rockets will miss Landry who takes his 16 points off the bench with him. Landry was shot and had his teeth knocked out three times while in Houston. He will be the scariest person in Sacramento not named Arnold!

Other Winners:

Sacremento Kings: Carl Landry

Portland Trailblazers: Marcus Camby

Charlotte Bobcats: Tyrus Tohmas


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Welcome Back, T-Mac!

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Posted 15 Dec 2009 — by T.T.S.
Category Houston Rockets, NBA

Its been ten months since the Houston Rockets All-Star guard Tracy McGrady stepped onto the court. On Tuesday night against the Detroit Pistons, Tracy McGrady returned….for 8 minutes.

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It’s Time!

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Posted 14 Dec 2009 — by T.T.S.
Category Houston Rockets, NBA

It’s Time. It’s time for the Houston Rockets to let their most “valuable” player, play. The Rockets are off to a 13-10 record and sit 3rd in the Southwest Division. They have had great victories over the Lakers in Los Angeles, and at home against the Cavaliers. On Sunday the Toronto Raptors gave the Rockets a dose of their own medicine. The Raptors played tough defense and out-hustled the Rockets leading to 3-27 shooting from deep, and 0-9 from the field from Trevor Ariza. The load put on Ariza each night seem to show itself on Sunday as Ariza was ejected after throwing an elbow following being stripped of the ball by DeMar DeRozan. Due to the  thrown elbow Ariza is suspended for Tuesday home game against the Detroit Pistons. Without the the leading scorer the Rockets will lean heavily on Aaron Brooks and the third leading scorer Carl Landry. There is also a 7-time All-Star that says he is ready to play.  McGrady has said that he is healthy several times over the past few weeks and is ready to play.  Adleman is treating McGrady’s return like it’s the opening of training camp for the former All-Star. “When you bring back someone of his quality and his talent, it’s gonna change what you do and it’s gonna change guy’s roles. How much? I don’t know,” Adelman said. “I want to be sure and I want to feel comfortable with this.” Adelman even suggested to McGrady that he could throw him in the lineup up against Lebron James last Wednesday to see what level he is at. McGrady balked at that idea, leaving us to suspect that McGrady is feeling the pressure to play and that he may be trying to rush his return. It’s a contract-year for McGrady. He needs to play if he wants to get a good contract as a free agent, but the Rockets’ are exceeding expectations and don’t want to mess up their chemistry. But adding a player that can drop 20 points a game is rare, and the Rockets bench is young and unexperienced, and are about to play some tough back-to-backs. Rick Adelman criticized the NBA on Monday for setting up an “utterly ridiculous” schedule for his team that includes four back-to-back games over the next two weeks. The Rockets face Detroit at home on Tuesday, then must fly to Denver to play the first-place Nuggets on Wednesday. They visit Dallas on Friday and return home to face Oklahoma City on Saturday — then have to play two games on consecutive nights twice more during Christmas week. ”We have a horrendous stretch here,” Adelman said. “I don’t know if the league really understands that they gave us four straight back-to-backs. It’s awful.”

Now is the time to suit up McGrady. The Rockets have stood beside Tracy over the last five years as he had numerous injuries, and mysterious ways of expressing those injuries to the team. But there is no time like the present to bring back, questionably the Rockets best player.

This is an awesome video, listen to the words and how they compare a lot to T-Mac’s career.

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Explode the Rockets!!!

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Posted 02 Jul 2009 — by thetruthsports
Category NBA

exploding Houstpn rocket frameThe news on Monday that Houston Rockets All-Star center Yao Ming may miss not only the season but never play again comes as a devestating clothesline to the Rockets organization. The Rockets had finally gotten out of the first round of the Playoffs this year, and only needed to re-sign Ron Artest and any NBA center to sew up loose ends. But the Yao injury coupled with the uncertaintiy of Tracy McGrady have left the Rockets with an uneasy feeling. Daryl Morey has been making moves all year. Tracy McGrady is steadily shopped to other teams and the Rockets essentially paid for three picks during the Draft. But is Daryl ready to make the decision he dares to make, and that is to EXPLODE THE ROCKETS! Call it a fire-sale to the rest of the league. Everyone but Luis Scola is available. I exclude Scola because he is the only player that the Rockets should keep. Scola is a rare player, wether starting or coming off the bench he brings a skill set unlike other forwards. Aaron Brooks is still 3 years away from fully carryoing a team, if that is even possible. Shane Battier is a ROLE player, and without Tracy or Yao to complement he is useless. Corner threes and diving for loose balls can only go so far. Brent Barry, Kyle Lowry, Chuck Hayes, and Brian Cook can all start preparing to move. Signing Artest only to trade him even signs like a good move at this junction.

The Rockets gambled on Mutumbo last year, and he returned only to play three games and to get hurt in the last one. Yao has not had a true back-up in years. The constant pressure on Yaos massive and fragile feet has led to this unfortunate moment. Daryl Morey showed up at Marin Gortats home today in Orlando in the hopes of signing the free agent. If the Rockets feel that Marcin Gortat is what the Rockets need, then they are more delusional than anyone could imagine. I’m sure Daryl Morey will make the right decisions when the time comes but the last 5 years have gone out the window. The two people the Rockets have been building the team around are injured. The upside to this depressing moment for Rockets fans is that both Yao and T-Mac are free agents next year. The Rockets seem headed to the lottery without the two, but a top three draft pick plus a key 2010 free-agent could right the ship in one season.

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Hard being a Rockets Fan!

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Posted 09 May 2009 — by thetruthsports
Category NBA

Houston_RocketsLet me start by saying that The Truth Sports is a fan of NBA players. first..Kevin Garnett, Allen Iverson, Tayshaun Prince, Tim Duncan, Shaq to name a few. We try to watch each NBA game without bias towards one team, but during the Western Conference semifinals matchup between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers we are having a hard time not rooting for the Rockets. The Houston Rockets are the absolute definition of an underdog. Rooting for underdogs is something that is done with ultimate sensitivity. The majority of the public is rooting for the Lakers, even native Houstonians that haven’t ever been to Los Angeles. They are fans of winning, and the Rockets haven’t won it all in nearly 15 years. Or they just chose to root for a team that is consistent. 15 years is a small amount of time when it comes to the Chicago Cubs, or the Milwaukee Bucks, but even when Houston was winning back-to-back titles no one outside of Houston cared. Hakeem Olajuwon is a top ten all-time NBA player but the world could care less. Sports Illustrated didn’t even put the Rockets on the cover after they beat the Knicks in the 94′ Finals. The city had to beg for a cover and SI delivered a “special SI” for the city. If the Knicks had won that series SI would have run commercials for championship merchandise around the clock. The Rockets are a team that seem to start off each season with a solid roster “on paper” , but it never ends that way. Rocket uniforms have been donned by Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, James Posey, Stromile Swift, Bobby Jackson, and Walt Williams. All of these players had impacts but none of them could get Houston over that hump. The Rockets traded for Steve “Franchise” Francis and paired him with a 7’6″ Asian-born player Yao Ming, but still remained underdogs. Then the unthinkable happened and the “Francise” was traded for a scoring champ,  an all-star, the person that would erase the underdog tag from the Rockets. But Tracy McGrady could not fight off the injury bug, and seasons were lost to back, shoulder and knee problems. The Rockets continued to add role players that would help to erase the underdog tag. Shane Battier,  and Luis Scola, were all pieces of the puzzle needed to erase the underdog tag. The signing of Ron Artest before this season spelled the end of losing and a return to the mountaintop. The Rockets fought to the 5 seed in the playoffs and after 12 years got out of the first round. This seemed like the ticket to a different level of respect from the NBA, but the Rockets were far from gaining any real respect. The series with the Lakers has seen Shane Battiers face bloodied, Ron Artest elbowed(and called for a foul) and officials that keep their whistles in their pockets when Yao has the ball. Of course a fan of any team feels his/her team is treated unfairly from time to time, but no team is more disrespected, underrated, or simply passed on then the Houston Rockets. Hopefully one day they can again prove the world wrong! GO ROCKETS!

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