Tracy McGrady was worried after his brilliant Knicks debut on Saturday night about how his body would respond to a season-high 32 minutes played.
Yesterday’s verdict: not as bad as he expected.
“This morning, I woke up thinking that I was going to be really sore and really stiff,” McGrady said yesterday at practice. “But no, I’m fine.”
Think that’s pretty encouraging? McGrady went further.
“It’s very encouraging,” said the new Knicks star. “Because I haven’t played 32 minutes in God knows how long. And woke up and felt the way I feel now. The hard work, it paid off, and my body feels good.”
McGrady’s first game as a Knick — Saturday’s 121-118 overtime loss to the Thunder at the Garden — was electrifying and extremely surprising. Acquired from the Rockets two days earlier, McGrady had not played since Dec. 23. Working his way back from microfracture surgery on his left knee, he had appeared in just six games the entire season and had not played more than eight minutes in any of them.
On Saturday night, however, he played four times that number and starred, pouring in 26 points. He tired at the end and barely played in overtime.
Though McGrady admitted to being “very stiff” on Saturday night, he clearly was happy with his recovery time yesterday.
“I feel better than I thought I would feel,” he said. “My body is not sore.”
McGrady’s Knicks career resumes tonight against the Bucks at the Garden, and there are several unresolved questions going forward. One is how his playing time will progress.
Coach Mike D’Antoni said McGrady has zero medical restrictions, so how much McGrady plays is essentially his call.
“Just how he feels,” D’Antoni said.
McGrady added, “It’s a feel thing. I haven’t played in so long, and I just don’t want to jump into averaging 30-something minutes right now. I just don’t think that’s a smart thing to do. Listen to my body.”
McGrady also said he plans to play both games when the Knicks play on consecutive nights — after tonight’s game with Milwaukee, they face Nate Robinson’s Celtics tomorrow.
The 30-year-old said he is not close to being in game shape yet, figuring he needs five games of 25-30 minutes of action per game before he’s at that point.
After watching film of Saturday’s game, D’Antoni mentioned a few things that stood out about McGrady, namely his hoops IQ (“way off the charts”) and the fact that “you can tell he just has a star presence.”