With Houston and Utah squaring off again tonight, we have the chance to see Tracy McGrady bow out in the first round for the 37th year in a row. Obviously, that'll get to a guy over time.

Now, I like McGrady a lot. He's extremely talented, plays pretty hard, and I used to think he wasn't any different from Kobe Bryant, it's just that Bryant was surrounded by better talent. A friend of mine at my old blog even made a compelling argument stating that McGrady was better than Kobe, or was at least his equal. That had to do primarily with the fact that without Shaq, Kobe had never made it out of the first round of the playoffs like McGrady.

But that all changed yesterday when Bryant and the Lakers swept the hapless Nuggets.

Meanwhile, McGrady is about to be shown the door again. So what exactly is it? What's keeping him from getting to the second round? Certainly not having Yao hurts, but remember this team ripped off 20 wins in a row at one point this season - half of them without Yao.

Well, this might have something to do with it.

After Saturday's loss, McGrady was asked how Mehmet Okur had been allowed to grab a key rebound on a missed free throw with around six seconds remaining and the Rockets down two. When the shot went up, Carl Landry and McGrady had inside position on Okur. First, McGrady critiqued Landry.
Maybe McGrady should have blocked out Okur, but whatever. But McGrady continued and next critiqued Adelman - after Adelman had spent most of his press conference defending McGrady.
Again, losing as much as McGrady has in the first round, I understand he's frustrated, but he's starting to become overly bitter.

McGrady used to be somewhat sympathetic because he always blamed himself for his team's failures. It didn't help them reach the second round, but it made him a tragic hero on some level.

It's hard to put my finger on it, but it seems as if he doesn't fully comprehend what it takes to win and never will. He's like a lost boy trying to find his way. He's tried putting it on his shoulders and it didn't work, so how about throwing it on other people now and blaming them. Either way, it's not working.

As much as I hate Kobe, I at least know he's competitive as hell. That's why he kept screaming that he wanted better players to play with. It's why he plays so hard, even if he doesn't exactly make his teammates that much better - which in my mind is the mark of a truly great player.

McGrady just doesn't do that, and on top of that, he doesn't seem to want it as much as Kobe it appears. And throwing his teammates and coach under the bus, rather than demanding good play out of them, isn't going to help any either.

Sure, Kobe got away with doing that on some level, but he also has three championship rings. McGrady doesn't. The world isn't always fair. But it also appears that McGrady just doesn't have the extra edge needed to make it happen.