Tracy McGrady Quotes (33 Quotes)

Coming into the game, I was concentrating on just getting into the game, playing defense and rebounding, getting my legs, ... I thought the rest would eventually come together.

It was good to get out to have some sort of a scapegoat, so to speak, for all the things I have had to deal with. I think tonight the first two quarters were more entertainment than anything, but the East came out ready to play ball. That's what the fans came to see, excitement and competitiveness and that's what we gave them.

I don't have a problem wearing suits, but that's not who I am, ... You had one of the greatest power forwards of all time, Karl Malone, and he came to the games in jeans, a T-shirt, cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. It's going to be hard for me to change.

It was a little uncomfortable. Every time I was running up and down the court, sweat is pouring and it got kind of hot in there. I just couldn't take it anymore and took it off.

I just felt real comfortable, despite being out for awhile. When I caught my second wind toward the end of the game, I was fine. I just felt like any defender that was guarding me was pretty much at my mercy.

It's tough for me to run up and down the court and then when we stop and go through -- just standing around, that's not good for me. It just depends on how I feel when I come to the arena tonight.

It's every player's personal goal, to make the All-Star team. It's a personal accomplishment guys want to make to get a chance to participate against the elite players. Every player in this league wants to be there.

I picked up my dribble too early. I could have kept going. I didn't realize how wide-open I was. Those guys were hanging off me all night. I didn't have much space to work with.

We had an unbelievable third quarter as far as defensively. In the fourth quarter, we kind of let our guard down, thought the game was over, and those guys made a push, made it into the game. But when we needed to execute and get a stop, we did.

We felt like before the season started, leaving out all the injuries, we felt like we were going to be a pretty good team. We started out slow due to injuries. It kind of set us back a little bit. But winning that home game (against the Boston Celtics), then going on a six-game road trip, that was either going to make us or break us. It was really going to determine our season. We were hungry, and we were really confident and went 5-1.

You're just afraid to make certain movements out there. You think about, 'OK, if I go up on this jump shot, what's going to happen on the landing' All kinds of things go through your head.

I'm still in awe of what that kid did. It was just a hell of a performance for him to shoot the ball only 46 times to score 81 points. But not just to be able to shoot it 46 times, but to shoot it 46 times and hit well over 50 per cent. There are nights I'm in the 30s of shots taken and I've been fatigued. To take 46 and 20 free throws and end up with 81 points, I didn't believe it.

It was just one of those games where you felt like you had to win it no matter what it took. It was a winnable game. Coach left me out there. I would be damned if I was going to come out even if he wanted. When I step onto the court, I'm out there to compete. We got the win and it was a great team effort.

It's been a long time coming. Houston is a great place, and this city deserves this type of event.

I think the intensity from the beginning of the first quarter was there. Our overall concentration was there. We knew what we needed to do, and it helps when our shots are falling as well.

We're definitely getting up with them coming back. The last four games we're playing very well. With our best players coming back, it's only going to help improve our team even more and give us a lot more depth. ... We're back on track and hopefully we can stay like that.

What goes on away from here, as far as basketball, I leave that there. I don't bring that here. If I do bring it here, I see my little girl and see my son, it wipes all that stuff out. None of that matters here. I'm not T-Mac here. Not at all. When I come here, I'm 'Daddy.' I'm 'Babe.' And I'm Tracy. This is family.

I definitely don't want to come back and then have to sit myself down and set the team back again. That's why I'm taking my time on getting back and just being cautious about it.

At times, I don't want to be in the arena in a uniform. It's been so frustrating and hard to deal with. I usually do a great job of keeping things to myself and not really letting things affect me. It's just too heavy for me to deal with, and it's taken a toll on me.

Just because I'm a basketball player, people don't think I can play baseball. That's all it is, letting people know I've got skills and I'm not just a basketball player. I've got other talents.

I felt extremely good, ... I told our trainer before the game that I was going to have 50. When I'm feeling like that, there is not much the defense can do.

I'm still not out of it. Regardless of how we played, I've got a lot going inside my head.

If we played the first two or three quarters like we played the last five minutes of that ballgame, it would have been a different outcome. We put that on ourselves, to be in a situation like that, to be down and wait for the last minutes to try to fight back and play with that intensity.

I've got to assert myself because the big fellow (Yao Ming) is out and we need more scoring. I need to do more out there on the offensive and defensive end. It's all about attacking from start to finish.

Some of them were cupcake shots - they were moving out of the way or whatever you want to call it. Some of those 3s he was making were unbelievable, and when you've got it rolling like that, give him the ball, man, give him the ball.

It's good to have most of our guys back healthy. What we need to concentrate on is that every day we step on that basketball court as a team, we improve individually, and we improve as a team, offensively, defensively. We just need to make strides for improvement every day.

It offends me, ... I've been in this league nine years. I come to the game sometimes in jeans and a T-shirt, and I don't think people look at that as me being a thug. I get endorsement deals because of the way I carry myself. The way that I dress doesn't have anything to do with the type of person I am.

He can be that type of player, 20 and 10, without a doubt, without a doubt. He's unbelievable.

I'm excited about everything. Yao ( Ming ), he's turned himself into a different player. I think he's figured it out. He's not bailing the defense out, even in double teams he's doing a great job.

I don't have an answer for it.

I think it's safe to say we have been playing well in the month of February. With everything that's been going on in our season, this is good for us to take the opportunity to relax and sit back and gather ourselves together and get focused for the remaining 29 games of the season.

I just felt good in the second half, ... I got my shot back. After you hit two or three shots in a row, you just kind of feel it. Once you get that feeling, you're in a zone. I don't care what defense they throw at you. It helped that I had others knocking down shots. It just opened things up for me.

In the fourth quarter I was just more aggressive. In the first half, I was looking more to get my teammates the ball because those guys were double-teaming me every time I touched the ball. In the second half, I knew I was going to have to step up and be more aggressive.