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Tuesday March 11, 2008 4:46 PM


Rockets' streak has given McGrady high hopes


Houston at Atlanta, Wednesday, 6 p.m.


Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer


HOUSTON -- Since entering the NBA as a highly-touted prep star, Tracy McGrady has never won a playoff series.

He wouldn't mind altering that frustrating piece of history this season.

But frankly, he's got aspirations of leading the Rockets deeper into the playoffs with the way his team is playing.

"I got a chip on my shoulder," McGrady said. "I'm leaving it all out on the court. I'm trying to go for it all. I want this to be a memorable season."

McGrady is convinced that it will be.

Despite losing Yao Ming to season-ending foot surgery, the Rockets have emerged as one of the top teams in the Western Conference and elevated their own hopes for the remainder of the season heading into Wednesday's game against the Atlanta Hawks.

The Rockets' 19-game winning streak matches the third longest in NBA history. Lately, the wins haven't even been close. Houston knotted an NBA record by winning its 10th consecutive game by double digits on Monday.

The run could match the second longest winning streak in league history at 20 games on Wednesday if Houston can snap a three-game skid in Atlanta.

Despite some disappointing finishes in recent postseason appearances, the run has given McGrady and the Rockets hope that greater fortunes lie ahead in the playoffs.

"It can be something really special," McGrady said. "When it comes late April, if we were to make the playoffs, that's when it really starts to count and mean something. That's when this streak right here will be even more special to me and our team."

Right now, the Rockets are putting themselves in good position for the playoffs with that remarkable streak.

With the Western Conference shaping up to be a nine-team race for eight playoff spots, Houston has begun to pull away from the lower-half of the pack. The Rockets have moved six games ahead of ninth-place Denver with 19 games remaining on the schedule.

More importantly, the Rockets are catching other teams. Houston is third in the West, sitting a mere game behind the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs for the best record.

Unsurprisingly, McGrady has been a major for Houston's ascent.

He has regained the form that he was showcasing earlier in the season before a knee injury sidelined him for almost a month. On top of that, McGrady trusts his teammates and is not trying to shoulder the scoring burden without Yao on his own.

The result is a supporting cast brimming with confidence around their star player.

"Everyone on this team believes there is not one player in the world that can win a championship playing by himself -- no matter how good he is," Rockets forward Luis Scola said. "Since we know it and he knows it, he's getting everyone else involved because that's the only way we're going to win. We're going to win when he scores and plays the way he does. But he's got help from us. He's the main star at the end of the game and he's going to take over. But along the way, it's gotta be a team."

McGrady has never been shy about sharing the ball. He did, after all, average a career-high 6.5 assists in 2006-07.

The difference now is that he's more confident in the lineup around him to score. Rafer Alston is playing like one of the top point guards in the NBA and Houston's two rookie power forwards -- Carl Landry and Scola -- have elevated their games.

The improved play of the roster around him has allowed McGrady to do one of the things that he does best -- pick apart a defense with his passing.

"He makes impossible plays," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "The most amazing thing to me about him is his ability to make plays for other people and the fact that he's willing to do that. He's a unique player. He reminds me a lot of a player like Magic Johnson -- tall guys with a gift to handle the ball and see the floor so well. That's a hard thing to come around."

McGrady's scoring, though, is down with that trust. He's averaging 22 points, a couple points less than he did last season.

The reason those digits are lower is that Houston's offense no longer goes entirely through McGrady. Rather than being the focal point of the offense, the guard is doing things more through the flow of it. Obviously, he still creates for himself and teammates. But not on every single possession.

The seven-time All-Star doesn't mind the change.

"Nobody cares who gets the most shots or who gets the ball," McGrady said. "We share the ball. We're really playing like that Detroit team that won the championship (in 2003-04) where it didn't matter who got the shots and who got the credit. We're just out there together."

That's not to say McGrady can't still throw the Rockets on his back.

During a three-game stretch last week, the Rockets star went on a scoring binge. He averaged 32.3 points, 7.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds in three wins. McGrady saved his best performance of the week for Saturday's game against the New Orleans Hornets. Playing from start to finish, the guard poured in 41 points and dished out nine assists to lead Houston to a 106-96 win. With that stretch of play, McGrady was named the Western Conference's Player of the Week on Monday.

The run, however, did more than win McGrady an award. It signaled that McGrady has fully recovered from the knee injury that sidelined him from mid-December to mid-January. The Rockets star hadn't scored 40 points in a game since returning to the lineup.

"People tend to forget what I've done in this league and what I'm capable of doing on a nightly basis," McGrady said. "This has been a year where I've fine-tuned and sacrificed a little bit of my game for the improvement of my team. But when I need to put my team on my shoulders and win a ball game, I'm capable of doing it. I've proven that before. I don't know why people think I can't do that. I love when people doubt me. I do. I sit back and eat it up."

McGrady spends the other portion of his time savoring Houston's winning streak.

While he knows the streak doesn't guarantee the Rockets anything in the postseason, he hasn't lost sight of how incredible the run is. Right now, the Rockets are being mentioned in the same breath with some of the NBA's greatest teams.

He just wishes the Rockets would receive more credit for their run.

"I sit at home and watch the highlights," McGrady said. "I think, 'Damn, that's 19 in a row.' Do you know how many great teams have been in this league? The thing that really kills me is, 'Oh, they haven't really played anybody.' Come on, man. Everyone has the same schedule. If it was that easy, how come that many people haven't done it? M.J. (Michael Jordan) went 72-10 and never did it. Just give us a little bit of credit."

McGrady, though, knows Houston's current run will eventually come to an end. But what the streak has given him is a belief that the Rockets can make a deep playoff run in the West.

"One of these days, the streak has to come to an end," McGrady said. "It won't come tomorrow -- if we take care of our business and play the way we have over the last few months. No knock on Atlanta. But I believe in us."