LOS ANGELES, 11 December 2004 — The mighty San Antonio Spurs were on track to add another victory to their dominance over the Houston Rockets when scoring machine Tracy McGrady went off on an electrifying one-man show down the stretch.
McGrady exploded for 13 of his 33 points in the final 35 seconds, including the game-winning 3-pointer with 1.7 ticks remaining, rallying the Rockets to a thrilling 81-80 victory over the stunned Spurs on Thursday night.
“It really hasn’t hit me, because I don’t realize what I just did,” said McGrady, the league’s two time scoring champion after making 12-of-29 shots, including five-of-12 from behind the arc. “I’ve been in situations like that before where I felt like anything I threw up was going to go in, and that was one of those moments.”
“But I’ve never been a part of a comeback like this, just pulling out the game and all my teammates jumping on me. That was the best feeling to me, to have them embrace me.”
China’s Yao Ming had 27 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks for Houston, which finished on a 13-4 run to stretch its winning streak to a season-high three games.
“I think it was a miracle win,” Yao said. “But that miracle is a result of all our hard work during the game, including our hard work that last minute.”
Tim Duncan collected 26 points, 18 rebounds and seven blocks for San Antonio, (16-5), which lost for the second night in a row after Seattle snapped its eight-game winning streak on Wednesday night.
“I haven’t seen anybody do something like that before,” said Spurs guard Devin Brown, who had 20 points off the bench. “He was just hitting shot after shot. He was fantastic.”
In an ugly contest between the league’s top defensive teams, Houston appeared to be headed for its 22nd loss in the 24 meetings, including eight in a row against their state rivals. But the Rockets began to show life. Baskets by Yao and Scott Padgett drew the Rockets within 74-68 with 47 seconds left, setting the stage for McGrady’s fantastic finish.
“I think we all believed it wasn’t over and with Tracy, the type of player he is.” Houston reserve guard Andre Barrett said. “Tracy’s a guy, who wanted to win this game bad, and he took it into his own hands.”
McGrady buried a 3-pointer, and turned another one into a rare four-point play after being fouled by Duncan, that drew the Rockets to within 78-75 with 24.7 seconds left.
Duncan sank two free throws to give the Spurs Antonio an 80-75 lead, but McGrady answered with another 3-pointer over Bruce Bowen with 11.2 seconds to go.
After San Antonio called a timeout, Brown slipped and lost the ball under his own basket. McGrady picked it up and raced down court before launching the game-winning 26-footer to cap a wild finish.
Seattle 107, Dallas 102
Rashard Lewis scored 13 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter including a key 3-pointer and two free throws in the final minute, rallying the sizzling SuperSonics to their ninth win in the last 10 games. Ray Allen had 22 points and Vladimir Radmanovic netted 18, including five 3-pointers for league-best Seattle, (17-3) which had to regroup after blowing a 15-point lead. German juggernaut Dirk Nowitzki matched his league-best scoring average with 27 points for Dallas.
which lost its fifth at home, equalling last season’s entire total at the American Airlines Center. Michael Finley added 19 points after missing the previous 15 games with a sprained right ankle.
Portland Trail Blazers 89, Boston Celtics 87:
Shareef Abdur-Rahim hit the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer to cap a 15-point, 14 rebound effort, giving the Trail Blazers the dramatic victory over the visiting Celtics.
Zach Randolph had 22 points and 17 rebounds as Portland ended a modest two-game losing streak.
Gary Payton and Mark Blount scored 14 points apiece for Boston, which fell to 0-3 on their five-game West Coast road trip.
