AdamTheGreek wrote:Depends on how you define this.
Penny actually got out of the first round. Obviously those mid-'90s teams were way better talent wise than what Tracy ever had (we were crippled cap wise with G-Hill's contract). Even without Shaq, Penny goes on a run early in '95-'96 where he's scoring like crazy and dropping in several game-winners.
Penny still has the two 40+ point games in the '97 playoffs with Shaq gone.Then the injuries killed him his last 2 seasons in town. T-MAC had a 3-1 lead up on Detroit and we blew it (the season before 1st round was 5-game, not 7-game series. Too bad).
Statistically, Tracy would win the argument. T-MAC finished 4th in MVP voting twice (and in '02-'03 he should've finished higher when you look at all of his stats). McGrady twice led the league in scoring (32.1 ppg in '02-'03, and then claiming it again when he was hurt and didn't care for some of those games in the disastrous '03-'04 season).
I still view Penny as the better overall player (he was the MJ successor, not Grant Hill). Tracy was the better pure scorer because he had no choice. Penny as the go-to scorer was barely seen (Shaq, injuries, etc.), so this makes the comparison super tricky.
Both had super ugly exits from Orlando.
Penny's back to back 40's against Miami is one of my personal favorite basketball moments.
