HOUSTON — A postseason ago, the weight of the world was on Tracy McGrady.
He famously declared before Houston's NBA Western Conference playoff series with the Jazz that if the Rockets didn't advance, "it's on me."
As it turned out, it was on McGrady's watch that Utah won the best-of-seven series in seven games — and for the sixth time in as many tries, one of his teams fell in the opening round.
It happened once with Toronto. Three times with Orlando. And now twice with Houston.
This postseason, which gets under way tonight at the Toyota Center here with Game 1 of a repeat Jazz-Rockets first-round series, new Rockets and longtime NBA head coach Rick Adelman has gone to great lengths to make it known Houston's playoff fate is not and will not be "on McGrady."
The seven-time All-Star, however, has made it abundantly clear he's out to finally back up the pronouncement.
"The competitive side of me," he said, "wanted Utah for a little bit of revenge."
Well then, he's got it.
McGrady also has the watchful eyes of a skeptical Houston upon him.
Wrote Houston Chronicle columnist Richard Justice after the Rockets and Jazz learned of the rematch:
"You're a lucky man, Tracy McGrady. You've been given something precious, something a lot of people never get. Can you guess what that is, Tracy? That's right. You're getting a second chance. The Rockets drew the perfect first-round opponent. They get another crack at the Utah Jazz. This one's for you, Tracy.
"Perfect, absolutely perfect. All those demons, all those insults and doubts and all the rest, can be kicked right out the window if the Rockets get by the Jazz.
"Sure, the Jazz are bigger and stronger than the Rockets. Some might say they're mentally tougher. That's why they're so perfect. If you're going to prove people wrong, if you're going to confront both your doubts and your doubters, this is the place to start."
So much for Adelman's team game.
The burden clearly is on McGrady, and many — Jazz principles chief among them — seem to subconsciously recognize as much.
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan defines McGrady as "... a great player that can make things a little bit easier for other people."
"We have to focus on shutting down T-Mac first, because everything goes through him, and try not to let anybody else hurt us bad," point guard Deron Williams added. "You know, try to keep everybody to their averages."
Jazz All-Star Carlos Boozer calls McGrady a "superstar player."
"Everything starts with him," Boozer said. "If we can do a decent job on him, and try to contain their other guys, hopefully we'll have a chance to win the series.
"He's a phenomenal player. We know he never got out of the first round. We don't want it to happen against us. But we know he's a stud," the Jazz power forward added.
"He can score from the inside, outside, mix it up and get his teammates involved with passing. He's a tough matchup, but if we can do a good job as a team we'll have a chance."
If not, McGrady finally can enjoy having it — all of it — off of him.
And there may be no more satisfying way, one can only suppose, than by shedding it against the same team that last year made certain it stayed on.
McGrady sure seems to suggest as much.
"As a competitor," he said, "you just want to seek some revenge."
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com