Kevin Durant thought Tracy McGrady resembled the player he was pre-surgery and pre-Knicks.
“They gave him the ball,” Durant said, “and he looked like the old Tracy McGrady to me.”
Durant, who usurped McGrady’s remarkable Knicks debut with a superb 36-point performance in a 121-118 overtime Thunder victory, said he was not surprised by McGrady’s outburst. McGrady might be coming off microfracture knee surgery and playing his first game after a lengthy layoff, but Durant believed that McGrady simply needed to be on the court.
“It’s just a matter of minutes,” Durant said. “If he got the time, he was going to be productive. He played phenomenal.
“He’s back.”
Many in the Thunder locker room were impressed by McGrady’s dazzling effort after the new Knick poured in 26 points on 10-for-17 shooting in his first game since Dec. 23, his seventh game of the season and just his 42nd game of the past two years.
Thunder coach Scott Brooks said last night was an indicator that McGrady didn’t coast through his injury rehab.
“It’s an incredible performance — that is not easy to do,” Brooks said. “You can tell that he wasn’t sitting down and collecting a paycheck and just hanging out and not playing and not staying in shape and not being mentally ready.”
Nick Collison, one of the only Thunder veterans and thus one of the only ones to have faced off against McGrady in his prime, did not fully agree with Durant’s assessment. Not that Collison wasn’t thoroughly impressed, but he thinks McGrady has changed a bit.
“He’s a little different player,” Collison said. “Now, granted it’s his first game back in a long time, but he doesn’t seem to have the same boost athletically. But he can still handle it and shoot it, and at that size, he’s going to be able to get his shot off. So I think he’s still going to be a good scorer.”
Added Collison, “I didn’t know what he’d be like. And he’s definitely impressive for sure.”