McGrady helped Rockets win in his season debut

Wearing his NBA jersey, the seven-time All-Star sank a 3-pointer in his first game since Feb. 9. But he wasn’t expecting to play when he arrived at the arena. He walked into the locker room about 90 minutes before the game and his teammates said that Coach Rick Adelman had something to tell him.

“It surprised me,” he said. “I went in there and talked to him, he said he was going to play me about seven minutes and just try to work our way through this. Tonight was that night.”

Partly because Trevor Ariza was suspended by the NBA for one game, Adelman started rookie Chase Budinger and decided to bring McGrady off the bench to help the rookie. Thus we finally saw McGrady playing for the first time in 10 months.

He actually did not do much. Entering at the 7:44 mark of the first quarter to a standing ovation, he missed his first shot, a 20-footer from the wing, and then swished a 3-pointer from the top of the key for his only basket. He sat out the last three quarters. Anyway, he did contribute something in Rockets’ 107-96 win over the Pistons.