Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Playing through the good times and the bad

HOU coach Rick Adelman had a candid conversation recently with guard Tracy McGrady, who's been slowed by soreness in his left knee and described himself as "physically down."

According to Coach Adelman, despite the pain, it's important for McGrady to remain aggressive.

"That’s what he has to do," Adelman said. "The other night, we were playing poorly as a team, and he became very unaggressive. He can’t play that way, (or) he’s not going to get through it or out of it, and we aren’t going to be any good. We have to find more ways to make sure we have room to operate, but it’s got to be an aggressive approach every time he plays.

I spoke to him about it because he’s not going to get anywhere unless he keeps pushing himself. It’s in practice, too. It’s a mindset. Sometimes when things don’t go well, that’s when you have to work even harder.

Like I told him today, ‘There’s going to be times you’re going to succeed and times you’re going to fail, but that shouldn’t have an effect on how hard you play. You have to play through the good times and the bad times.'"