{"id":520992,"date":"2016-12-23T19:42:28","date_gmt":"2016-12-24T00:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/?p=520992"},"modified":"2020-03-02T16:30:26","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T21:30:26","slug":"tracy-mcgrady-reflects-on-adidas-memories-playing-lebron-on-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/tracy-mcgrady-reflects-on-adidas-memories-playing-lebron-on-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracy McGrady Reflects on adidas ABCD Camp & Playing LeBron on Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

words & interview \/\/ Ian Stonebrook:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tracy McGrady<\/strong> may be the most creative scorer the game has ever seen. Chances are if you needed a bucket you needed T-Mac and odds were he was going to deliver. Whether he was rocking defenders to sleep on the perimeter before dropping a net-splashing three or blowing right by an opposing wing only to bury their big man with a fearless dunk, #1 was bound to give you either 2 or 3 on every possession.<\/p>\n

As the recently announced Hall of Fame nominee<\/a> analyzes the likes of James Harden and Russell Westbrook as a regular on ESPN\u2019s The Jump<\/em> and ESPN\u2019s NBA Countdown Show<\/em>, the man who reached triple-double stats via individual plays (remember the self alley-oop off the backboard?) still registers as a talent with game and imagination before his time. Recently, we caught up with T-Mac to reflect on his days in the NBA, his signature line with adidas and who he\u2019s excited to see play Sunday on ESPN and ABC\u2019s lineup of Christmas games.<\/p>\n

Snkrs Day: Which Christmas game are you most looking forward to covering this year?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tracy McGrady:<\/strong> Cleveland and Golden State. That\u2019s the obvious pick because it\u2019s a Finals rematch, but with KD being the addition to Golden State and LeBron and them playing exceptionally well these are the top two teams in the NBA. I want to see how Golden State fares out with KD on their team going up against LeBron and his crew.<\/p>\n

I want to see how KD goes at LeBron if he does. I want to see what type of impact he will have being on this team. He\u2019s going to get less shots than he would if he was playing on OKC, so he\u2019s got to be a little more efficient. We\u2019ll see, it\u2019s going to be interesting to see how he fits in with these guys going against a dominant team like Cleveland.<\/p>\n

Snkrs Day: 13 years ago, you played LeBron James on Christmas Day. What do you remember about that game and what were your emotions going into that showdown?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tracy McGrady<\/strong>: It was probably my third Christmas Day game. Playing against LeBron with all the hype around him his rookie season, I couldn\u2019t allow him to come into Orlando and outshine me. Actually, a couple of my boys had some bets that he was going to outscore me, which was blasphemy to think I\u2019m gonna let this rookie come in and outshine me on Christmas Day! There\u2019s no way! [Laughs<\/em>]<\/p>\n

But it was a hell of a duel. I can remember some of the shots he was hitting \u2014 they were tough shots. I was like, \u2018This dude is for real!\u2019 Once I saw that he was going to have a pretty good game because of the shots he was hitting, I knew I had to get focused and turn it up a little bit. It was a hell of a duel though.<\/p>\n

Snkrs Day: It\u2019s funny because just one year prior he was wearing your<\/em> shoes in high school. Do you recall watching that or did adidas tell you about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tracy McGrady:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t know he would, but I remember watching it on TV. At that time, I had a lot of these young up and coming guys in high school wearing my shoes. It felt good then because I was still relatively young myself \u2014 I was only in my early 20s \u2014 so seeing these young guys in my shoes was definitely what I wanted to do as a young boy coming up.<\/p>\n