The regular basketball season for the Orlando Magic will take place in just over two months.
Orlando, which is not included in the opening night schedule of two nationally televised games, opens its season by visiting its South Florida neighbor, the Miami Heat, on Wednesday, Oct. 23. Until the team’s media day and training camp begin or action returns to the court in the preseason, there’s only past basketball to discuss.
With 62 days until the Magic’s first official season opener, there may be no better time to look back at Tracy McGrady’s 62-point performance, the most in a single game in franchise history over 35 full seasons of Magic basketball.
McGrady, who spent four seasons with the Magic from 2000-04 during his Hall of Fame career, was a four-time All-Star and two-time scoring champion while representing the Magic. He won the Most Improved Player Award in his first season in Orlando and was an All-NBA player all four years, placing him among the elite volume scorers in Magic basketball history.
On that historic night in March, an announced crowd of just 12,538 at the now-closed TD Waterhouse Center witnessed offensive eruptions from McGrady and Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas. Arenas scored 40 points alone that night, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with McGrady’s career-best 108-99 victory. The game celebrated its 20th anniversary earlier this year on March 10.
McGrady finished the game shooting 20 of 37, making 17 of 26 free throws and 5 of 14 from the field. He certainly tired in his 46 minutes, shooting 9 of 22 after the break.
McGrady became the 17th player in NBA history to surpass 60 points in a single game and the sixth player in NBA history to record 60 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Only Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Rick Barry, Michael Jordan and David Robinson have done so before him.
The scoring explosion against a hapless Wizards team was one of the few bright spots in the Magic’s forgettable season. That’s part of why the game still gnaws at him a little. And he knows it could have been more.
“My teammates came up to me and said, ‘Shoot 60,’” McGrady told The Washington Post that night more than 20 years ago. “Then they said, ‘Shoot 70.’ I went for 70. If I had made my free throws, I would have made it.”
McGrady has dealt with more than his fair share of injuries during his illustrious NBA career, but the four-year stint with the Magic came amid a six-year stretch where he played at least 67 games every year — a mark he would only surpass twice in his 16 years in pro ball.
The Magic’s 21-61 record that season led to the departure of McGrady in the offseason, who, along with Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue and Reece Gains, was traded to the Houston Rockets for a package that included Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato. That record, the worst in the league, earned the Magic the first overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft, in which the Magic selected Dwight Howard.
Howard certainly has an argument for being the best player in Orlando franchise history, but McGrady’s impact shouldn’t be lost on anyone either. TMac is the Magic’s all-time leader in offensive plus-minus and box totals (by a wide margin), usage rate, points per game average and minutes per game. He’s second in total value to replacement player, offensive win shares and player efficiency rating. All of this without being in the top 10 in games played for Orlando, either.
The fact is that McGrady’s performance more than 20 years ago, if all else hasn’t already, should certify him as an icon in Magic history – regardless of how long he stays with the team.
He will probably always be remembered in downtown Orlando.
