The Houston rockets, winners of twelve straight games, just received devistating news that their All-Star center, Yao Ming, will miss the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his left foot. Ming, who is arguably the NBA's most dominant center, is averaging 22 points and 12 rebounds per game.
So, what does this mean for the Houston Rockets organization? Tracy McGrady must step up his game and lead the Rockets into the post season.
Tracy McGrady is not the same player he once was due to his chronic back pains, but he still owns one of the NBA's best offensive arsenals. While McGrady does not have much to work around with Yao gone, he has shown in the past that he can carry a team on his shoulders. It was not long ago with the Orlando Magic, that he led the league in scoring for two consecutive seasons, and dropped 62 points on Michael Jordan and the Washington Wizards. A couple of years ago he scored 13 points in 33 seconds against the San Antonio Spurs.
With Yao out, McGrady does not have a reliable low post player to throw it to, which means that he will have to take the majority of the offensive load for the rest of the season. He will have to be more agressive on defense and look for his shot instead of passing. He will need to play more minutes, and do a better job of knowing when it is his time to take over. With the Rockets rolling now, the way Tracy McGrady plays the rest of the season could define him as a player. If he fails people will question his skills and mentality. If he succeeds and leads his team into the playoffs, people will recognize that throughout all of his injuries, he is still one of the most talented players we have in the game today.
Tracy knows this is his time. Yao could not of said it better, "“I told him, Now is your time. You need to turn it up.” He's right. Now all McGrady needs to do is prove to the NBA world what he's got.
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6 months ago
He's proving what he's got all right! 19 straight wins now and Houston might just take the number one seed in the West when all is said and done.
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