McGrady rallies Rockets past Sonics

Houston 109, Seattle 107

Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
Before taking the floor on Wednesday night, Tracy McGrady convinced himself to forget about the pain in his aching left knee.

He instead left the Sonics in pain.

Behind a vintage performance from their leading scorer, the Rockets overcame a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter to stun the Seattle Supersonics for a thrilling 109-107 victory at KeyArena.

McGrady, coming off the bench for the third straight game since returning from his month-long absence, provided the last-minute heroics.

Despite limping through Houston's previous two games, the Rockets' All-Star shooting guard didn't allow his knee to bother him in crunch time against the Sonics. McGrady poured in 18 of his game-high 28 points in the second half and had a hand in the Rockets' final eight points. With that, Houston rallied for only its second win of the season in 16 tries when trailing after three quarters.

The performance was easily McGrady's best since returning from his knee injury.

"After playing a couple games on the knee, I felt like tonight, I was going to come out and be aggressive," McGrady said. "It really showed late back home in the last game I just got to play through it. Don't even think about it. I just came out there with that mentality."

He couldn't have been any better when the game was on the line.

Beaten and overwhelmed by Seattle's hot shooting for 3 1/2 quarters, the Rockets appeared to be on their way to a disappointing setback to begin the second half of the season. The Sonics, which shot 51.9 percent from the field, had seized a 97-84 advantage with just over eight minutes remaining.

But that's when McGrady took over.

With the Rockets' guard attacking the lane with increased frequency and finding his shooting rhythm, the Rockets reeled off a 20-6 spurt to overtake the Sonics. McGrady capped off that run by hitting a step-back three-pointer that gave Houston a 104-103 lead with 1:27 left to play. He knocked down 13 of 23 shots in the game even though Seattle tried to stop him with a box-and-one zone defense.

McGrady, though, wasn't finished. After watching Kurt Thomas help the Sonics regain the lead with a jumper, McGrady scored on a runner over rookie sensation Kevin Durant to put the Rockets ahead for good at 106-105. Then, moments later, the Rockets' guard drove down the lane to set up Rafer Alston for an open look beyond the arc. Alston canned the shot, lifting Houston to a 109-105 advantage with 19.3 seconds left.

The shot was one of 11 three-pointers that the Rockets dropped against the Sonics. Alston made five of those three-pointers, finishing with 18 points.

"It was a game where we had to make threes because we were so far behind," McGrady said. "Our guys did a great job of knocking down threes. I just had to create for those guys and we were fortunate to knock down a couple. When you put pressure on the defense and our team is knocking down threes, it's tough to beat us."

The Sonics did have one more chance -- partly because of McGrady.

Despite all of his efforts to bring the Rockets back, McGrady missed two free throws with 12.9 seconds when his team was clinging to a 109-107 advantage.

Luckily for the Rockets, the Sonics couldn't take advantage of the extra opportunities. Durant, who scored 25 points, got two shots at it. He first had a drive blocked by Chuck Hayes, but Seattle got the ball back after the rejection went out of bounds. The Sonics rookie then caught the inbounds pass, but hit the back of the iron on a last-gasp three-pointer at the buzzer.

The result was a stunning comeback win for the Rockets that could serve as a starting point for a midseason surge. Houston (23-19) has now won three straight.

"If we would have lost this game, we would have left this arena disappointed," McGrady said.