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Rockets roll past Magic 108-99
Tracy McGrady showed his former team what he can do with some help. Playing in Orlando for the first time since a bitter parting last summer, McGrady scored 27 points to lead a balanced offense and the Houston Rockets beat the Magic 108-99 on Thursday night.
Yao Ming added 20 points, and Bob Sura had 19 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. David Wesley scored 18, and Juwan Howard 13. It was McGrady's insistence on playing with a decent supporting cast, something the Magic could never provide, that prompted his departure in a blockbuster, seven-player trade. Yao made his first seven shots, which had to please McGrady. In Orlando, he quickly grew tired of looking inside and seeing has-beens (Patrick Ewing, Shawn Kemp) and role players (Andrew DeClercq, Michael Doleac). Steve Francis, the biggest name Orlando received in the deal, led the Magic with 28 points and nine assists. Grant Hill had 21 points on 10-of-16 shooting, the day after an MRI exam on his sore right wrist showed only a bruise. On Tuesday, Hill scored a season-low eight points on 4-for-14 shooting. The sellout crowd, focusing its frustration for last season's 61-loss debacle on McGrady, booed the two-time scoring champion from introductions on. Many waved signs roasting "Me-Mac" for his recent disclosure that he slacked off during his final season here. But it didn't take long for McGrady and the Rockets to take the fans out of the game. He scored nine in the first quarter, his shot clock-beating 3-pointer putting Houston ahead 33-21. Orlando trailed by 17 midway through the second quarter, but rallied to cut the deficit to four points with 3:37 remaining. That's when McGrady stopped the comeback. He hit two free throws, then sank a layup off an inbounds pass under the basket for a 100-93 lead. McGrady was 8-of-21, including 1-for-7 on 3 pointers, but made 10 of 12 free throws. Much of the night, he was guarded by Hill — ironic because Hill's chronic injuries convinced McGrady he would forever have to carry the Magic. Although the booing was expected, it was still jarring because McGrady could do no wrong here for three seasons. Living the story of local boy-makes-good, he was serenaded with chants of "MVP!" by fans enthralled with his soaring drives to the hoop and long-distance shots, all delivered seemingly without effort. But everything soured last season. The Magic won their opener, McGrady's buzzer-beating tip-in sending the game into overtime, then lost 19 straight, crushing the team's playoff hopes by Thanksgiving. The losing grated on McGrady so much, he openly talked of quitting — not the attitude the team wanted when it named him captain. As the long season unfolded, McGrady got his points but refused to take responsibility for the Magic's record. In one of his last games in Orlando, McGrady scored a franchise-record 62 points, clinching his second straight scoring title. But two weeks later, the team placed him on the injured list with a knee problem McGrady admitted he could've played through, had the games meant anything.
After the season, McGrady told the team he wanted out — and on June 29 the Magic were happy to oblige. On Wednesday, McGrady was sued by a man who had the tip of his nose bitten off by the player's Rottweiler last year. Fred Chamberlin, 57, was working at McGrady's home in southwest Orange County on Aug. 24 when the dog attacked him. ... Houston point guard Rod Strickland, signed Wednesday, went scoreless in three minutes. ... Orlando wore throwback uniforms — white pinstripes on blue — from the 1994-95 season, in which the Magic reached the NBA Finals only to be swept by the Rockets. ... The sellout was Orlando's third.
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