T-Mac! 7 whole points in the fourth quarter! Way 2 Go!

So Tracy McGrady, the bona-fide Houston Rockets superstar finally put an end to his fourth quarter "disappearing act" last night in Salt Lake City. And, as a result, the Rockets, down 0-2 in their first round playoff series with the Utah Jazz came away with a win, 94-92.

At least, that's what the talking heads would want you to believe. In ESPN.com's daily NBA column, "The Daily Dime," Tim Butler reports that T-Mac took a new strategy going into Game 3. T-Mac said,

 "I was just trying to be passive early in the fourth quarter," he added, "and I felt like if we were able to keep it close, I was waiting until the right time to really insert myself on the offensive end."

Oh ok. He was "passive" early on, and thus, the Jazz stopped guarding him, and he was able to string together 7 straight points, with his final bucket putting the Rockets ahead 92-86. Hmm. The final score was 94-92. The Jazz ended the game outscoring the Rockets 6-2, and in a way, T-Mac nearly lost the game for Houston. Let's take a look at the final few minutes, and what exactly McGrady contributed to the win, in clutch time:

With 1:13 remaining in the game, T-Mac bricks a 20 footer. Kyle Korver hits a 3-pointer for the Jazz on the ensuing possesion.

With 47 seconds left in the game, T-Mac gets whistled for an offensive foul, turning the ball over to the Jazz. Mehmet Okur makes a 25 foot three spot on the ensuing possesion.

With 37 seconds left, Rocket's coach Rick Adelman calls a time out, with the Rocks up 93-92, draws up a fantastic play that ends up with T-Mac bricking yet ANOTHER 20 foot jumper. The Jazz get the ball back, and manage to get the ball to Deron Williams who attempts to launch a 3 pointer to win the game for the Jazz...only to have it blocked by Carl Landry. Luis Scola nails a final free throw to make it 94-92, and that's the ball game.

Oh, and T-Mac went 5-9 from the charity stripe. That's not too great for all of you bad at math. This is Houston's SUPERSTAR.

So really, T-Mac's new strategy for fourth quarter play is to:

1) Absolutely disappear for the first 8 minutes
2) Once the opposing team forgets that I exist, take a bunch of wide open shots in succession, and be aggressive for 2 minutes, so that nobody can call me a "disappearing act"
3) Take low percentage shots in the final seconds/minutes, and hopefully my teammates will come through with clutch plays...because I can't. (Except that one time I scored 13 points in one minute).

Anyway...good luck T-Mac, you are gonna need it to win another game in Utah. But Bo and I were discussing it, and it makes sense that someone related to Vince Carter would have so many troubles in the playoffs.

Rockets fans, blame Vince Carter for all your woes!