Lightning25 wrote:I say this is a little different considering how KG's main/best attribute is not scoring while for McGrady it is.
It is why I don't understand why people try to dismiss or discredit KG's post-season play when scoring isn't even his best attribute. He did happen to put up 22-26 ppg during his prime in the RS but it's not like he was known to be this dominant scorer and this dominant post-presence because he wasn't.
Players should be judged on what their best attribute is. KG's best attribute was defense, rebounding, and his passing, and he always spectacular in it whether it was the regular season or post-season.
I'm not really sure if I would personally have KG's peak higher than either Wade's or Kobe's to be honest. They're certainly in the same tier, same with Duncan.
Not talking about scoring, I'm talking about offense in general. KG is considered to be a super peak player because he's not only one of the greatest defensively, but he was great offensively. But the team offenses he led in Minnesota fell apart in the playoffs more often than not, and he had great spacing on his teams too.
Again, I'm not even knocking him for this, because his supporting casts did suck, so I do think it's fair to cut him some slack...but the same benefit of the doubt isn't being given to McGrady for some reason.
BTW, I was re-watching games 1 and 2 from the 03 Pistons-Magic series...and Curry actually wasn't playing poor defense, he was getting caught up on screens, and in fact, everyone guarding McGrady was getting caught up on screens. He was an exceptional off-ball player, very underrated aspect of his game.
McGrady in 03 against top 10 defensive teams, per 36:
28.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 4.9 apg, 2.3 TOpg, 54.7% TS (+2.8%)
If you limit it only to top 5:
28.1 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 5.0 apg, 2.8 TOpg, 52.1% TS (+0.2%)
He was still excellent against top defenses, so I'm not sure where this idea of him consistently getting shut down against top defenses comes from. We have one 3 game sample size of him at his peak against Tayshaun Prince and the 03 Pistons defense. We also know he struggled against Artest and the Pacers...but EVERYONE struggled against Artest. Kobe was shut down by Artest that year too. I actually don't know of any perimeter star that you could actually say was "successful" against Artest.
Against Bowen and the Spurs, T-Mac in 2 games averaged 32.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 4.5 apg, 1.5 TOpg, 49.3% TS. Yes, he was inefficient (mainly because he didn't get to the line much at all, only 9 FTA in 2 games), but he also took great care of the ball and only had 3 TOs through both games. The Magic in those 2 games had an overall ORating of 116.8 (+17.1).
He destroyed the Kings and the Nets, who were the 2 best defensive teams in the league that year, and they had elite perimeter defenders like Christie and Kidd (and I know the Nets had a host of very solid perimeter defenders outside of Kidd, and K-Mart was like a mini-KG, in that he could also defend 3-4 positions if he needed to).
So I can't really agree with the viewpoint that T-Mac was consistently slowed down by top defenses...in fact, it seems that he played really well against top defenses, which is even more impressive when you consider how much pressure was on him to score and create and carry the offense. When Kobe had a similar offensive burden in 06 and 07, he got to face the Phoenix Suns defense. And T-Mac didn't play with anyone as good as Odom.
