Selected with the ninth pick straight out of high school by the Toronto Raptors in the 1997 NBA draft, Tracy McGrady went on to become one of the greatest scorers of his generation.
Posting an average of 19.6 points per game over the course of a 16-year career in which he was selected as an All-Star seven times, he led the league in scoring with 32.1 points per game during the 2002-03 season, and then won the accolade again the following season with 28 points per game.
It was during the 2004-05 season, however, that T-Mac wrote his name in the history books with one of the most memorable finishes to an NBA game ever.
Trailing by eight points with just 36 seconds left in the fourth quarter, most teams would consider the game to be over. The greatest fourth-quarter comeback belongs to the 1977-78 Milwaukee Bucks, who erased a 29-point deficit to beat the Atlanta Hawks, 117-115.
As great as that sounds it was not as exciting as the jaw-dropping display of greatness from McGrady, who refused to lose to the San Antonio Spurs the night of December 9, 2004, willing the Houston Rockets to victory in one of the biggest basketball miracles of the modern era. McGrady finished the night with 33 points, 13 of those coming in the final 35 seconds of the game.
Here’s how he did it.
Spurs 76-68 Rockets, 35 seconds remaining
Wasting no time at all, McGrady hit a 3-pointer just 7 seconds into the shot clock. He had used the pick to get to one of his favorite spots on the court (his next two shots were taken in the same place). Using the screen forced San Antonio defender Bruce Bowen, who was originally guarding McGrady, to switch with Malik Rose. McGrady got the separation he needed to pick up his dribble in rhythm and drill home the trey.
Spurs 78-71 Rockets, 25.3 seconds remaining
McGrady once again collects the inbounds pass following the Spurs basket, dribbles up the court and uses a screen from 7-foot-7 center Yao Ming to prevent Bowen from staying with him yet again. Tim Duncan is forced to help and switch onto McGrady, who is back in his sweet spot. With a crafty shot fake, McGrady gets Duncan in the air, draws the foul, and still heaves a shot up and over the 7-foot-tall Duncan which (with a bit of luck) went in. McGrady coolly sank the free-throw, further narrowing the gap.
Spurs 80-75 Rockets, 12.7 seconds remaining
San Antonio hit a pair of free throws, which allowed Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy to call a time out, advance the ball to the frontcourt, and draw up a play. Despite slight trouble inbounding the ball, the 6-foot-8 McGrady used his height advantage over the smaller Tony Parker to receive the inbounds pass. He then lowered his shoulder and drove to his sweet spot yet again, swiftly rising to hit another 3 over Bowen, who was widely considered the best defender in the league at the time. Given the last possession, in which Duncan fouled the shooting McGrady, Bowen was hesitant in the fear of suffering a similar fate and was slightly late getting a hand up to contest the shot.
Spurs 80-78 Rockets, 1.7 seconds remaining
The Spurs call a timeout to advance the ball. They inbounded to Devin Brown, who slipped and lost control of the ball. McGrady quickly gathered the ball and pushed it in transition. The scrambling Spurs defense attempted to recover, but from 26 feet out, McGrady once again rose high above Brent Barry to sink the final blow.
Houston 81, San Antonio 80.
In those magical 33 seconds, McGrady averaged 0.39 points per second. If he somehow maintained that rate of scoring over 48 minutes, he would have scored 1,134 points that night.
Despite his scoring prowess, T-Mac remains one of the best players never to win an NBA championship. He retired from the league in 2013 and went on to play in China.
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