| 21 February 2010
Tracy McGrady has been here before.
Saturday night marked McGrady’s debut with the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden against Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder in what many described as the best game of the season thus far at MSG.
The Thunder needed overtime to ruin McGrady’s meet and greet at the Garden with a 121-118 win, but knowing TMac hasn’t seen the floor hardly at all this season his introduction was rather impressive. He finished with 26 points, two days after arriving to the Knicks in a three-way trade between New York, Sacramento and Houston.
Never saw that one coming. Not sure many did. Maybe TMac did.
It will go down as one of the better debuts in his 13-year career.
Drift back to the 1997-98 NBA season for a second. Back then McGrady was an 18 year old kid out of Mount Zion Christian Academy when he stepped on the court against the Miami Heat for his first pro game.
He went scoreless in six minutes.
At 21, McGrady was traded to the Orlando Magic before the start of the 2000-01 season. In his first regular season game for the Magic, he posted a double-double with 32 points and 12 rebounds in 46 minutes in a win over the Washington Wizards.
Flash forward four seasons with the Houston Rockets. TMac dropped 18 points, shooting 6 – 18 from the field in 32 minutes in a loss against the Detroit Pistons.
Now at 30 years old with two NBA scoring championships under his belt, another debut is officially behind the 7-time All-Star. And that 26 point outing against the Thunder was a far cry from the 18 year old who went scoreless back during his first days in the league with the Raptors.
Back then he was introduced around the NBA to everyone as “Vince Carter’s cousin”.
On Saturday night, “Vince Carter’s cousin” let New York know he came to play.
The History Black Series - Honoring Black History Month:
February 1: Muhammed Ali
February 2: Gary Payton
February 3: Bo Jackson
February 4: Dr. J
February 5: The Junkyard Dog
February 6: John Starks
February 7: Barry Sanders
February 8: Spud Webb
February 9: Craig Hodges
February 10: The Fab Five
February 11: Ice Man
February 12: Buster Douglas
February 13: Harold Miner
February 14: Reggie Lewis
February 15: Hoop Dreams
February 16: Travis Outlaw
February 17: Rasheed Wallace
February 18: Oil Can Boyd
February 19: Dennis Johnson
photo: nba.com
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