McGrady And Crew Get Payback

How sweet it is. They say revenge is sweet and the Rockets’ Tracy McGrady had a full helping of it last night with a 47 point performance against the Utah Jazz. The Jazz eliminated the Rockets in the 2007 playoffs in seven games and brought McGrady to tears after keeping him out of the second round once again.

The Jazz had a lead as high as 12 points in the first quarter when they completely dominated the Rockets, seemingly scoring at will. Yao Ming had early foul trouble and this forced Rick Addleman to place him on the bench while giving Luis Scola some minutes. At this point Scola and the small line up was able to run with the Jazz and eventualy cooling them off. McGrady found his rhythm and started to hit every shot his heart desired, rising up against both Andrei Kirilenko and Ronnie Brewer throughout the game. He ended the game with 47 points and some satisfaction in knowing that this team is a different team from last year, one where Mike James alone scores two points more than the Jazz’s entire bench. Last night’s game showed potential for the Rockets to stop being a two-headed monster, and start becoming a well balanced team.