Tracy McGrady is someone you don’t want to cross paths with when he’s in a bad mood, but in the NBA, where games are played every other day, it’s difficult to do that sometimes. In February 2003, the Chicago Bulls learned that the hard way, when a livid T-Mac scorched them for no fault of their own.
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McGrady was one of the best scorers ever in the NBA, and could erupt all of a sudden with little warning. For instance, he once scored 13 points in just 39 seconds for the Rockets to steal a game away from the Spurs. But against the Bulls in the said game, he came in determined to make a statement.
Playing for the Magic, McGrady needed a strong supporting cast of players in his bid to take the Magic to the Finals. There was Grant Hill, but another strong role-player was needed, a spot that Mike Miller filled until he was abruptly traded away.
McGrady was mad, and decided to take out his frustration in the Magic’s next game vs. the Bulls, led by Jalen Rose at the time.
“I remember we traded Mike Miller. That’s somebody I can rely on on this team that I have. No Grant Hill so I feel like I can rely on Mike Miller. He’s a young player but he can shoot the rock. We have something here. They proceed to trade him. I was pissed,” said T-Mac in a podcast with Vince Carter.
You could tell just by the tone of McGrady’s voice that he knew he was going to put a serious dent on the scoreboard. It didn’t matter what team was up next. Unfortunately for the Bulls, they were just the first squad up when McGrady was seeing red.
“So we have the Chicago Bulls coming in. I’m pissed. I’m about to take it out on Chicago. So I go out, I’m going crazy. I put up 52 in three quarters. I actual feel amazing tonight. I’m hitting everything.”
The @OrlandoMagic trading @MikeMiller_13 had @Tmac_213 heated.
He dropped 52 on the @chicagobulls and could have had more.
“I was pissed.” pic.twitter.com/kWWDhrvWRr
— Cousins with Vince Carter & Tracy McGrady (@VinceAndTmac) March 24, 2026
What’s even crazier was that the Magic made the mistake of angering him further by sitting him out for the whole 4th quarter. They derailed what could have been a historic night for him.
“It was one of those nights like, ‘I’m about to do something crazy tonight.’ And I had 52 in three quarters and didn’t play the fourth quarter. And I’m looking like, ‘Damn man.’ When you look back on it, and the way I felt that night, I could have scored another 15-20 points for sure,” added the b-ball legend.
That really is a shame. Dropping at minimum 67 points during that time would have made massive headlines considering it would have been before Kobe Bryant’s 81-point performance. McGrady certainly had the touch on that night, and the motivation to do it. Truly fees like T-Mac was robbed of a special moment, a sentence that certainly feels like could be attributed to his entire career.
But that’s just the way things go sometimes. Erik Spoelstra could have pulled Bam Adebayo early in that Miami game, but he felt that his superstar player was feeling it, and he ended up making history. If only McGrady had someone there who believed in what he was doing.
