Tracy McGrady addresses last time the Magic led the Pistons 3-1: ‘It’s a myth’
Yes, Tracy McGrady remembers the 2003 playoffs. Yes, he remembers his eight-seeded Orlando Magic up 3-1 towards the top-seeded Detroit Pistons, simply as Desmond Bane and his 22 factors in a 94-88 Game 4 win over Detroit has the No. 8 Magic now.
Yes, he remembers his crew blowing that 3-1 lead. But no, he does not admit to the “myth,” in his phrases, of him infamously saying after Game 4 that “it feels good to get into the second round.”
McGrady, now an analyst for NBC, commented on the quote after a media member requested Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley about it.
“Somebody didn’t really do their homework,” McGrady stated on NBC’s postgame present after Monday evening’s three playoff video games. “He can’t find a video of me telling me that. It’s a myth.”
That 12 months was the first during which the first spherical was better of seven, versus greatest of 5. Had that collection occurred a 12 months earlier, McGrady’s crew would have already superior.
“It was a joke in the interview session, of me making that joke, ‘Oh, we finally get to go to the second round,’” He stated. “OK? It was a joke.”
In the 2002-03 season, McGrady was at the peak of his powers. He led the league in scoring, averaging 32.1 factors per sport, and got here in fourth in MVP voting. He led the Magic to a 42-40 document and a third consecutive postseason berth below head coach Doc Rivers, however Orlando hadn’t superior in both of the first two.
The future Hall of Famer averaged 36.3 factors per sport by the collection’ first 4 video games to construct a 3-1 lead over the Chauncey Billups and Ben Wallace-led Pistons. Under that season’s new format, although, the Magic had extra work to do.
“You know how media is,” McGrady stated on Monday of the second over twenty years in the past. “You can’t find a video of me actually saying that.”
The Magic misplaced the subsequent three video games, with McGrady’s scoring common all the way down to 25.6 throughout that stretch. The Pistons superior, and would ultimately be swept by the New Jersey Nets in the Eastern Conference finals. They gained the championship the following 12 months.
McGrady would lead the NBA in scoring with 28.0 factors per sport in 2003-04, however spent only one extra season in Central Florida earlier than being traded to the Houston Rockets after the season.
Meanwhile, Orlando hasn’t made it out of the first spherical of the playoffs since the 2009-10 season. History is on the facet of this 12 months’s Magic, although. For NBC, they’re the sixth No. 8 seed to take a 3-1 lead in the first spherical, with 4 of the earlier 5 successful the collection.
Just do not ask McGrady if he thinks the job is completed but.
