Tracy McGrady Remains a Playoff Victory Virgin.
May 6th 2007 13:22
Tracy McGrady must be the most frustrated basketball player in the
NBA this moment. Forget about Dirk, T-Mac should be chomping at the teeth tonight wondering when he’ll get to experience the sweet taste of a playoff series victory.
It should have been so different for the Houston Rockets – the home team had won every game so far in the series and the deciding Game 7 would be on their turf, so naturally one would assume that the trend would continue. Unfortunately for Houston the Utah Jazz had other plans winning the deciding game, 103-99.
Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams for the Jazz played perfect inside-outside basketball with the Booze locking things down low, while Deron controlled the tempo on the perimeter. It was awesome two man basketball with Carlos dropping 35 points and grabbing 14 rebounds, while the equally hot Williams had 20 points and 14 assists to see the Jazz through.
Utah became only the 19th visiting team out of 97 to win a Game 7 on the court of the opposition. That is one impressive effort from the young Jazz.
Before the series started T-Mac took it upon himself declaring that if the Rockets lost he’d wear the blame, while also adding that this was his best chance to make a deep playoff run. Um, sorry, Tracy but you won’t be running any psychic hotlines anytime soon with calls like that. The sad fact is that T-Mac had a great game with 29 points and 13 assists while Yao Ming had 29 as well, but the Jazz were too quick and too much for the flat footed Rockets.
After the game while McGrady was getting grilled by the media, he could take no more, shed a tear and promptly left the interview room. We feel your pain man.
It’s back to the drawing board for Houston who has to get some quickness on the perimeter and down low because their lack of speed got exposed big time by the fleet footed Jazz.
The first second round game happened today as well when two old rivals in the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons got reacquainted with each other in their rich history of bloody playoff battles from days of yore. Too bad for the Bulls they got the smackdown layeth on them when they went down, 95-69.
We can advise the Bulls without fear of sounding totally stupid that these Pistons aren’t the Heat. Detroit may be older, but they can still kick ass.
Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton were the scoring stars for the ‘D’ with 20 points each, but it was the Piston defence that choked the life out of the Baby Bulls. Detroit’s players displayed stupendous team defence, while getting a balanced offensive effort on the other end which saw five different players have double digit scoring nights.
Chicago on the other hand was woeful, making less than a third of their shots and notching up 22 turnovers. The scoreboard reflected Detroit’s dominance and should send a chill down the spine of fans from the Windy City who may have believed that this series would be a walkover.
Want an illustration of how fierce the Detroit/Chicago playoff rivalry is? Check out this video when Michael Jordan scored 61 on the Pistons back in the day.
We really should have displayed a picture from the winning Utah team but how could anyone go past this image? (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images)
It should have been so different for the Houston Rockets – the home team had won every game so far in the series and the deciding Game 7 would be on their turf, so naturally one would assume that the trend would continue. Unfortunately for Houston the Utah Jazz had other plans winning the deciding game, 103-99.
Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams for the Jazz played perfect inside-outside basketball with the Booze locking things down low, while Deron controlled the tempo on the perimeter. It was awesome two man basketball with Carlos dropping 35 points and grabbing 14 rebounds, while the equally hot Williams had 20 points and 14 assists to see the Jazz through.
Utah became only the 19th visiting team out of 97 to win a Game 7 on the court of the opposition. That is one impressive effort from the young Jazz.
Before the series started T-Mac took it upon himself declaring that if the Rockets lost he’d wear the blame, while also adding that this was his best chance to make a deep playoff run. Um, sorry, Tracy but you won’t be running any psychic hotlines anytime soon with calls like that. The sad fact is that T-Mac had a great game with 29 points and 13 assists while Yao Ming had 29 as well, but the Jazz were too quick and too much for the flat footed Rockets.
Can't stop Rip Hamilton from finding the basket today you dastardly Bulls! (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
It’s back to the drawing board for Houston who has to get some quickness on the perimeter and down low because their lack of speed got exposed big time by the fleet footed Jazz.
The first second round game happened today as well when two old rivals in the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons got reacquainted with each other in their rich history of bloody playoff battles from days of yore. Too bad for the Bulls they got the smackdown layeth on them when they went down, 95-69.
We can advise the Bulls without fear of sounding totally stupid that these Pistons aren’t the Heat. Detroit may be older, but they can still kick ass.
Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton were the scoring stars for the ‘D’ with 20 points each, but it was the Piston defence that choked the life out of the Baby Bulls. Detroit’s players displayed stupendous team defence, while getting a balanced offensive effort on the other end which saw five different players have double digit scoring nights.
Chicago on the other hand was woeful, making less than a third of their shots and notching up 22 turnovers. The scoreboard reflected Detroit’s dominance and should send a chill down the spine of fans from the Windy City who may have believed that this series would be a walkover.
Want an illustration of how fierce the Detroit/Chicago playoff rivalry is? Check out this video when Michael Jordan scored 61 on the Pistons back in the day.
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Comment by Deorre
Stress Alive
Man Lessons
Poor Tracy. And, go Warriors. Did a number on those Mav. Nellie is good..
Comment by charles
ZCars
Ponderous
Charles.
Comment by Stanley
and yes, poor t-mac who for all intents and purposes is deserving to win a playoff series but is struggling to get over the hump. i often wonder what it would have been like if he stayed in toronto with vince carter instead of trying to get out of his cousin's shadow.
the warriors are struggling now though unfortunately.