Which is stupid because basketball isn't 1 on 5. A player can indeed play great but his team still lose, as in the case of Lebron vs. the Magic, Jordan vs. the Celtics, Shaq against your Pistons, Jerry West winning the Finals MVP in a losing effort, and so on. And similarly, players can play terrible and their team still win.
If record, and winning or losing, are team accomplishments,
There's is no "if." Basketball is a team game, period.
Furthermore, another thing you missed in your classic Jamstone Devil's Advocate attempt, is that a 5-12 playoff road record (and against the franchise that has won the most championships this generation) is pretty solid. That record translates into winning about 1 road playoff game per series. This isn't the regular season where a road record like that would be totally unacceptable. You're now playing contending teams that often have 30ish and something home records.
And yes, the Tim Duncan era Spurs have a losing record against the Shaq/Kobe/Gasol/Phil Jackson era Lakers, but which Western Conference team doesn't? And which Western Conference team other than the Spurs beat them during that time?
So yeah, playing great against a team of that caliber, especially on their home floor, deserves praise. Granted, Duncan has had his share of bad games against them, but his overall body of work has been more than impressive.
BTW, lol mentioning Howard and McGrady. Their PER, ulative all-time playoff stats get a boost from their relatively small sample size compared to a player like Magic, who's played in close to twice as many playoff games as both of them combined. That said, McGrady just might one of the greatest playoff performers of all-time, that is, if we only count the first 3-5 games of the series' he's played in
