Tracy McGrady appears to be unhappy with reports in Chinese media – from late-August, it seems — that his asking price to play in the Chinese Basketball Association this season was $2 million.

McGrady posted the above message to his Sina Weibo account last Monday, brought to us via The Li-Ning Tower. T-Mac appears to deny that $2 million figure (though he doesn’t say so explicitly), which indeed would be a lot of money for a Chinese team to pay a 34-year-old who doesn’t play defense. He also appears to be saying that he plans on staying retired.

McGrady played the 2012-13 CBA season with the Qingdao Double Star Eagles and had, by all accounts, an eventful year. He then sat on the bench of the NBA Western Conference champs, the San Antonio Spurs, as the human victory cigar.

How upset is McGrady? He’s calling people out by name:

By Yang Yi, he might be referring to the Xinhua editor who wrote this piece, which reports — accurately enough — that McGrady has no interest in returning to the CBA.

Note: it’s possible there’s another Yang Yi, but this Xinhua story is interesting enough in its own right for a couple of excerpts. For a Chinese sports piece, Yang’s write-up is fairly negative. An example:

During his first CBA season with Tsingtao Doublestar, McGrady had some conflicts with Chinese referees. He blamed the referees on his Sina Weibo (Chinese version of Twitter) after a controversial CBA game, and he was fined and suspended for one game as a result.

Yang is referring to the night when McGrady called the refs “three blind mice” on Sina Weibo after a particularly poorly refereed game.

Yang added this bit, which seems like he’s piling on the negativity:

“If McGrady had false illusions that he deserved to be starting, it would be painful to watch him reduced to this role when he’s still only 34,” ESPN commentator J.A. Adande said.

As members of the 1997 draft class, McGrady has become a role player while his peer Tim Duncan remains his superstar status.

In any case, everyone gets upset at Chinese media now and then. Welcome to the club, T-Mac.

We’ll monitor this story and let you know if the tweets get angrier.

Six months ago, seven-time NBA all-star Tracy McGrady shocked the basketball world when he signed a one-year contract with the Qingdao Double Star Eagles of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).

With Stephon Marbury already setting the standard as the ultimate CBA success story, McGrady was expected to further raise the profile of the top league in the world’s largest basketball market. He was already a fan favorite: during Yao Ming’s tenure with the NBA’s Houston Rockets, Chinese basketball fans embraced T-Mac, then a perennial All-Star.

But the season didn’t turn out as planned. The Double Star Eagles stumbled out of the gates and limped their way to a CBA-worst 8-32 record, with McGrady encountering hardship on and off the court and making international headlines on a monthly basis.

He played his final game this week, a 17-point loss to the CBA’s best team, the Guangdong Southern Tigers. On this occasion, we look back at the major happenings during his first — and hopefully not last — stint in China.

Oct. 2, 2012 – The Rumor: 361 Sport reports that two-time NBA scoring champion Tracy McGrady and his representatives are in discussions with the Qingdao Double Star Eagles. Sources indicate the 33-year-old was also working out with two NBA teams, the Knicks and Spurs, and wasn’t ready to retire from basketball.

Oct. 9, 2012 – The Deal: McGrady announces on his website, “Goodbye NBA, Hello China.”

He writes: “As I enter this next chapter, I am excited to play for Qingdao Eagles in China. I have been to China several times in the last few years and I love the people and the country. It will be an honor to play for them.”

The contract is reportedly a one-year, $1 million deal.

Oct. 24, 2012 – Now Landing, Flight T.M.A.C.: After a long flight, McGrady lands in Qingdao airport to a welcoming 2,000-plus fans. Video of T-Mac wearing a blue hoodie with tinted sunglasses being escorted through the airport goes viral across the basketball world.

His arrival to China is life-changing for some. China Daily reports:

His appearance drew hundreds of flashing cameras and loud shouts of his nickname, “T-Mac”, from the fans.

“I started to admire him as early as 2001. When I heard he would play in China I told myself that no matter which city he played in, I would move there,” said Xu Guobin, 30, a salesman who works in Qingdao, while holding a poster of McGrady newspaper reports.

“When I heard he was going to play in Qingdao I was overjoyed. There are so many fans here. I just saw his waving hand, but that was enough for me to be in tears now.”

Oct. 25, 2012 – It’s Gotta Be The Shoes: During McGrady’s first practice in China, he wears a pair of shoes with a thick layer of white tape over the logo. The shoes appear to be a gift from the club. McGrady was hiding the logo to prevent conflicts with his sponsors.

After his first practice, CCTV reports, “The 33-year-old was obviously not in his best physical condition yet, as a missed dunk and awkward smile suggested.”

Nov. 22, 2012 – Preseason: McGrady’s first real sight of basketball with Chinese characteristics comes when his team takes on an international all-star team in a preseason game in Shandong province. After playing the first two minutes, McGrady takes a seat and doesn’t return to the court. Fans are outraged, and at the end they begin launching bottles, cups and lighters onto the floor in protest.

McGrady would take matter into his own hands. He grabs a microphone, walks to mid-court, apologizes to the fans and thanks them for their support.

Nov. 25, 2012 – McGrady’s Debut: The stars were aligning in McGrady’s season debut. With the shot clock turned off and the game tied at 92, McGrady has the ball in his hand with a defender guarding him at arm’s length. He dribbles once to his right, then goes to switch hands. But to his surprise, the quick defender strips him of the ball and calls timeout.

On the ensuing play, former Utah Jazz guard Sundiata Gaines banks home a three-pointer to win the game. Those final seconds would overshadow McGrady’s near-triple-double: 34 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.

Nov. 29, 2012 – You’re Fired: After losing their first two games of the season, the Double Star Eagles part ways with head coach Kang Jung-Soo. The season before, Kang led the team to a franchise-best 16-16 record. He also served as an assistant coach on the Korean national team.

Qingdao would soon after release McGrady’s foreign teammate and two-time NBA champion DJ Mbenga.

Mbenga struggled in his role as the key pick-and-roll man in the McGrady offense. He averaged 11 points and five rebounds at the time of Kang’s firing. He is replaced with undrafted center Chris Daniels, who has some NBA D-League experience.

Dec. 7, 2012 – Diarrhea: It’s safe to say this might have been McGrady’s most physically uncomfortable CBA game. Hosting Liaoning, a circuit malfunction cut off all heat in the Qingdao arena prior to tip-off. A basketball arena can get pretty cold in mid-December. On top of that, with 2:37 left in the first quarter, McGrady sprints off the court to the dressing room, leaving fans dumbstruck. A Double Eagles officials says after the game, “His stomach wasn’t feeling very well, no biggie.”

Qingdao loses by 30.

Jan. 9, 2013 – Three Blind Mice: “The CBA has to do a better job with these officials. My team plays hard every night and the 3 blind mice take it away from us!” That from an angry McGrady on his Sina Weibo account, venting his frustration after a loss to Bayi.

“This bad officiating has to change. No way I’m coming back if the officiating continues to be this errant,” he writes.

The CBA responds by handing McGrady a one-game suspension and fining him $1,600.

Jan. 15, 2013 – The $5,000 Interview: McGrady and company ride a four-game winning streak after T-Mac’s excellent individual performance vs. Jilin. But it’s revealed via a Jilin newspaper that he requires an upfront payment of $5,000 for one-on-one interviews.

Feb. 2, 2013 – McGrady the All-Star: CBA All-Star starters are decided by fans in online voting. McGrady leads everyone with 2,218,388 votes, more than 600,000 better than the second-highest vote-getter, Yi Jianlian. The CBA holds its all-star game between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs.

Feb. 17, 2013 – Farewell, China: In McGrady’s final regular season game of the year, he pours in 30 points, grabs nine rebounds and dishes out five assists. The Double Star Eagles still lose, and remain two games worse than the second-to-last-place team.

And then, on Sina Weibo, McGrady announces that he will not be participating in the All-Star game because he needs to return home to be with his ailing grandmother.

His final words: “I loved playing for this great country and the amazing people of China. You are gracious, loving, passionate and supportive fans. You have all made me feel at home here and for that I am forever grateful. From my heart, I thank you for all your love and hope to see you all again soon.”

We hope so too, T-Mac. We hope so too.

Nick blogs at The Basketball Buddha.

I’m not sure how, but Tracy McGrady has a way of attracting refereeing debacles. (As a Beijing fan, I’m not just talking about Wednesday night’s avian contest between the Ducks and Double Star Eagles in Qingdao, though that was massively craptacular too, with the home team benefitting from so many calls that I wondered aloud whether the CBA was publicly making amends with T-Mac for suspending him.)

The worst — absolutely no doubt worst bar none — happened yesterday.

Check out the above video if you’re curious to see how bad basketball can look when entrusted to the wrong people. Warning to true fans: you might consider avoiding this if you prefer to think of the game as being able to rise above human-inflicted desecrations. The ghost of James Naismith is miming stabbing motions at his ethereal eye as we speak.

The scenario: the game is tied at 99 with two and a half minutes to go when Qingdao brings the ball up the floor. Qingdao’s big man, Chris Daniels, gets tangled up in the post with Tianjin’s Zhang Ji, a youngster who collapses in a heap. Refs blow the whistle, one of them dashing forward waving his arms, and… there’s no call. More hand-waving from the ref as if he was engaged in semaphore. Time passes, anger flares from both benches, no one understands the situation, and then the refs seem to decide that the best solution is to just issue stern warnings to both teams.

Meanwhile, Tracy McGrady in China, everybody:

Amused?

Not amused.

Play continues at the 1:30 mark in the video… almost. Daniels and Zhang Ji resume their places in the post, and Zhang Ji flops. Once again, the whistle blows. The refs try to talk to the two sides. One ref is literally grasping a Qingdao player’s wrist like a mother. The commentators say, “No matter whether he was flopping or not, there was contact.”

Again, however, there is no call, only absurdity followed by comedy. Watch at the 2:30 mark as a ref tries to put separation between Daniels and Zhang as if they were middle school dancers at a fall ball.

When the ball is finally inbounded 15 seconds later, Zhang Ji is whistled for touching Daniels.

No, really. That’s the call at the 2:45 mark. Touching.

At this point, Tianjin’s coach has gone beyond berserk and attempts to wave his players off the court. Everyone in the arena and watching at home knows what’s happening. It was less than two weeks ago that Qingdao’s coach pulled the same stunt on the road, at Bayi, electing not to play the final 21 seconds in a game that was already lost.

Daniels takes his first free throw with no opponent in the lane while refs continue to try to talk Tianjin’s coach out of doing something drastic. We want to point out that in these nearly five minutes, only four seconds has elapsed from the game clock.

Fast forward to the 8:08-mark now. Again, Zhang Ji appears to flop — that’s to say, he chooses to collapse when he feels Daniels touch him. To tell you the truth, I can’t even blame him, considering the circumstances. Watching at home, at this point, I was openly rooting for the game to simply end without incident, because I thought there was a fair chance that this was the day the CBA simply implodes. The refs call the foul on Qingdao this time, and the commentators say, “There’s absolutely no problem with this call.” McGrady, rightfully pissed, flings the ball away and is whistled for a technical.

Now… after all that, would you believe that the worst call of the night wouldn’t happen until later?

No? You don’t believe it? How is that possible, you ask?

Go to the 9:13 mark — we’re in double overtime now, game tied at 138, ball in Qingdao’s hands for one final possession. Just as the commentator is imploring, “Don’t foul, don’t foul,” the ref signals an off-the-ball foul on Tianjin’s Xu Lei, who was guarding Daniels in the post. There are 4.5 seconds left. Watch the replay starting at 9:30. Watch as Daniels tries to hump Xu Lei into getting a whistle blown. Watch as the ref complies. Even the announcer — and Chinese announcers will defend Chinese refs like a mother bird for their young — is incredulous: “How is this a foul?”

Two free throws later, and Qingdao has a lead it will maintain. The Double Star Eagles have now won five games in a row since losing on the road at Bayi in that infamous game in which their coach pulled them off the floor. You think more teams will try that tactic in the future? As much as we’d hate to see it, it can’t be worse than sitting through fiascos like this one.

UPDATE, 1/22, 7:16 pm: Check out the post-game reaction of Tianjin (assistant) coach Gary Gaspard, who had to be physically restrained by one of his players.

Full second half and overtime of the game here:

We daresay things are looking up for Tracy McGrady. His team, the Qingdao Double Star Eagles, has won three games in a row, and none more dramatically than Wednesday on the road against Liaoning.

You’ll remember that in the season opener, McGrady had the ball in his hands with time winding down but turned it over, costing Qingdao the win; he made no such mistake this week. With a second remaining, T-Mac nailed a long jumper to give his team a 99-97 lead, which would be the final.

Above is a video from a Liaoning fan’s point of view (edited for brevity). You know the crowd’s disappointed to see the home team lose, but then again – T-Mac! NBA All-Star! Aghhhh! At least that’s the message I got from the final 20 seconds, featuring triumphant music and a heroic fade-out.

McGrady finished with 31 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. NiuBBall has another look at that big shot, plus a report that Gilbert Arenas, recently returned from injury, is beginning to look like his old self, scoring 37 and 28 points in wins.

Tracy McGrady and the Qingdao Double Star Eagles have seemingly found a groove on the court, winning four straight, but as we’ve known all along, T-Mac’s season would be one that makes headlines on and off the court. Here’s another example of the latter, via Jon Pastuszek of NiuBBall:

Considering that the iconic McGrady’s every move has been and will continue to be the lead story this season, perhaps a feature interview. Or a one-on-one TV spot.

And all of that can be in order… if you cough up some dough first.

According to a Jilin newspaper, McGrady will sit down for non-mandatory media sessions only under the following conditions: An up front payment of $5,000 for a one-on-one interview and $1,000 for a group interview.

Which explains why nobody has gotten an exclusive interview in China with McGrady yet. And it also explains why you haven’t seen a lot of off-court pictures either because if you want one of those, you apparently have to pick up the fee for his hotel suite.

We imagine McGrady, like Stephon Marbury, is interested in selling his “brand” in China. Charging for interviews and getting suspended isn’t how to do it.

Want to interview Tracy McGrady? That’ll cost you five stacks… (NiuBBall)

Tracy McGrady’s wild, wacky, probably frustrating inaugural season in the CBA continues. On Wednesday, after his team was absolutely robbed of a chance to capture a signature road win at Bayi, T-Mac took to his official Sina Weibo account to vent his frustration. At 11:32 pm, he wrote:

CBA has to do a better job with these officials. My team plays hard every night and the 3 blind mice take it away from us!

And four minutes later:

This bad officiating has to change. No way I’m coming back if the officiating continues to be this errant.

He hasn’t addressed the situation again, but his initial public outburst — however warranted and pretty close to the truth — was enough to get him suspended one game and fined 10,000 yuan ($1,600). According to the official statement, he caused “adverse social impact.”

The much harsher punishment, however, was reserved for the referees who oversaw — and caused — the Qingdao-Bayi debacle: the head referee has been suspended 10 games, while his two assistants are suspended five games each.

Meanwhile, Qingdao was fined 100,000 yuan for pulling all its players and staff from the court with 28 seconds to go. One of its employees, “team leader” Jiang Shiwei, who flipped over the scorer’s table and kicked a placard, was fined 30,000 yuan and suspended five games. Here he is again, because this is priceless:

Bayi was fined 20,000 yuan because some of its fans threw debris onto the court.

All told, that’s 160,000 yuan’s worth of fines and 26 games of suspension. The CBA, if nothing else, has expressed it’s serious about holding its employees accountable for the welfare of the league.

The video again of the controversial waning moments of Wednesday’s game:

(H/T CrabDribbles)

The Bayi Rockets of the Chinese Basketball Association are special. Based out of Ningbo, Zhejiang province, it predates the 18-year CBA by more than three decades, having served as China’s “official” team before there was a professional league — kind of like the Harlem Globetrotters if only the Globetrotters consisted of United States marines who lived to win. Founded by members of the People’s Liberation Army, the name “Bayi” literally means August 1, as in August 1, 1927, the day the PLA was established. But owing to its military connection, Bayi is the only team in the CBA that does not use foreign players; this self-imposed restriction makes them effectively never able to contend for the championship, since the CBA is a foreigner-dominated league, as Quincy Douby’s 70-point performance should have proved. Still, the Bayi Rockets are special, so the CBA decided to make up a rule this offseason exploiting the fact that Bayi has no foreigners to ensure that Bayi alone wins more. So far it’s worked: the Rockets went into yesterday’s contest at 9-9, a game out of the playoffs. And boy does everyone still hate them.

Then this happened.

Late in the game on Wednesday in Ningbo, Bayi was clinging to a three-point lead and had the ball against Qingdao in a hard-fought, physical game in which the teams combined to take 81 free throws (43 for Bayi, 38 for Qingdao). In the final minute, the refs botched a call so horribly that no one who was watching could have avoided the obvious question: “Is the fix on?” And trust us, in the CBA, people are always thinking that, for good reason.

The scene: Bayi is up three and has possession. Watch at the beginning of the video as Bayi’s player appears to dribble out the shot clock, which goes off while he’s still on the ground. The announcer, expecting a whistle, says matter-of-factly, “He drives in but it’s a 24-second violation.”

Then there’s a prolonged silence from both the play-by-play man and color commentator as they watch, dumbfounded, as play continues.

“This…” one of them finally says.

“Before he released the ball, it should have been a 24-second…”

“Right, it’s a 24-second violation, but the ball… the refs say play on.”

Bayi duly nails a three-pointer to give itself a 96-90 cushion with 46 seconds to go. On the other end, Qingdao misses a three, and the player gestures as if he was hacked on the wrist. He probably wasn’t, but by then, with the result basically decided, there was no point in anything else.

A Qingdao staff member, enraged, actually flips over the scorer’s table and boots a name card at the officials:

The hilarious things happening in that photo masks everyone’s very real anger.

(Interlude: Look at the flight of this thing!)

After the Qingdao staffer’s tantrum, play stops. The visiting team leaves the court, with Tracy McGrady most notably disappearing down the tunnel, never to reemerge. We’re then told that the coach is considering pulling all his players and leaving in protest. A few minutes later, that’s exactly what happens.

The crowd — Bayi’s home crowd, mind you — begins to chant “black whistle,” which is a corruption/gambling reference usually directed at referees when things aren’t going right for the home squad. Maybe Bayi fans just didn’t know how else to respond? We’re not sure what to make of it, except it’s probably appropriate here to point out that no team has benefited more from crooked refereeing in its history than the PLA squad. As Jim Yardley, author of a book about the CBA, wrote in Grantland in 2011: “Later, the owner [of the Shanxi Brave Dragons] was irate, certain that the fix was in, that the fix was always in whenever Bayi was on the court. No one could prove anything, of course, but it was widely believed that conspiracies were at work and that they were all working for Bayi. I heard it more than once: When Bayi needed help, a PLA general would make a call.”

There’s no smoking gun here either, by the way — maybe the refs made an honest mistake at the most crucial juncture of the game, simply fell asleep and decided shot clocks should be respected at the leisure of the offense — but the teams involved (correction: team involved) sure makes this incident appear to be a bigger one than it probably is.

The game ends after the Rockets shoot their technical free throws and dribble out the final 28 seconds. Let’s see what the fallout is in the coming days. Our guess is that Qingdao is forced to pay a substantial fine and the incident gets swept under the rug, because no one comes out of this looking good.

By the way, that makes it two teams in the last two and a half years that have pulled themselves off the court against Bayi before a game’s conclusion. Georgetown, anyone?

UPDATE, 1/11, 1:13 am: Holy fallout: the head ref was suspended 10 games, while his assistants were suspended five games apiece; Qingdao was fined 100,000 yuan, Bayi was fined 20,000 yuan because some of its fans threw debris onto the court; the Qingdao staffer who kicked the placard, Jiang Shiwei, was fined 30,000 yuan and suspended one game; and Tracy McGrady was suspended one game and fined 10,000 yuan for publicly criticizing the refs on Sina Weibo.

Tracy McGrady’s first season in the CBA has been pretty rough, but has it really come to this, T-Mac? Watching the Lakers play from an airport McDonald’s? The above comes from Sina Weibo via Adam Minter, and it’s sadly funny on many levels.

One wonders if there’s anything in the world that’ll bring a smile to his face. Winning, perhaps? McGrady spiked the ball after the final buzzer of Qingdao’s first win of the season on Wednesday against Jiangsu. They won again yesterday, but alas, are still a dreadful 2-13.

Maybe this, then:

On Tuesday, Gilbert Arenas played his first game since November 24 — when he pulled up lame after just six minutes in Beijing – and it was apparent he wasn’t completely healthy. He limped to the bench in the first half, fueling the same questions that reporters asked last month: is he physically fit to compete?

Arenas would come back in the second half, but his skills, sadly, remained conspicuously absent, as he recorded just five points and seven assists in a 103-96 loss at Guangdong. Yi Jianlian, playing for the Southern Tigers, scored 15 points and grabbed nine boards.

To be fair to Arenas and the Shanghai Sharks — currently sitting in second-to-last place, while Guangdong is at the top — they were never supposed to win this game, and staying within single digits on the road is probably an accomplishment in itself. We have to ask again though: what’s up with Agent Zero? Like Tracy McGrady, another aging former NBA Dream Teamer in China, Arenas is proving to be a dud. Only McGrady’s Qingdao Double Star Eagles, in fact, is worse than Arenas’s Shanghai.

Meanwhile, Stephon Marbury’s Beijing Ducks are tied for first place with Guangdong. The two teams meet next week Tuesday in Dongguan, Guangdong province — the Chinese Basketball Association’s version of a Christmas Day headliner.

This weekend has not been good to Tracy McGrady. On Friday he suffered the indignity of having to run off the court because of diarrhea — to say nothing of the indignity of a 10-point performance in a 30-point home loss. Yesterday in Beijing, against the defending champs, he was involved in what could have been an even dirtier play, when he intentionally elbowed Beijing’s Ji Zhe early in the fourth quarter.

The final frame had just begun when Ji, one of the Ducks’ young but talented players, swished a three-pointer in McGrady’s face to put the home team up 22. Going back up the court, Ji wagged his finger at T-Mac, who steely waited for the right moment to throw the tip of his elbow into Ji’s shoulder.

The refs saw it immediately but only called a regular foul. It was probably better that it wasn’t deemed flagrant — though it obviously was — because the situation didn’t need to be inflamed. You might have heard that China is a country where face is important; the last thing officials probably wanted was to add insult to a player of McGrady’s stature. Play continued without incident.

In the end, McGrady scored a season-high 37 in a 116-102 loss. And the situation with Ji Zhe seems to have been smoothed over, if you believe the reports.

Ji was forced to appear for a press conference after the game, during which Sohu reports he “kept his head down” and was “uncommunicative,” at least at the start. When asked if he remembers wagging his finger, he didn’t respond.

His coach, Min Lulei, spoke for him: “This was a brief on-court incident, and really wasn’t necessary. At the time, I guess McGrady blocked Ji Zhe’s shot… after that what happened on the court was quite normal. Ji Zhe in the future, to the best of his ability, will not make these type of gestures.”

Eventually, Ji Zhe would say that McGrady was actually his idol, and that the two spoke after the game. He said he told T-Mac, “You’re a superstar, I’ve watched you since I was little, I worship you.” He also said that he was playing hard even as the game appeared to be won because T-Mac was still playing hard, and “with someone like McGrady, who knows what might happen?”

So far for McGrady, all that has happened is his team has lost – seven times and counting, with zero wins.

He can take solace in this Sohu headline though, which reads, “McGrady scores season-high 37 points, Marbury 14+10, Beijing at home sends Qingdao to seventh straight loss.” Even in defeat, it’s the new face on the block — not the four-year CBA vet, Marbury — who leads the news.

But who could have imagined, four years ago, that T-Mac would be one of three former Dream Teamers playing in China — along with Gilbert Arenas — and that it would be Stephon Marbury with the most success of them all, leading a championship team currently with one loss and at the top of the standings?

Although we should remember that Marbury’s first and second seasons in China were, to put it simply, miserable. We’ll see if McGrady stays for a third year — if, that is, he manages to get through this first one.

56.com video for those in China here.

UPDATE, 1:13 pm: Now in GIF form, via Sina Weibo:

UPDATE, 11:46 pm: This picture:

Via Weibo via Adam Minter

Perhaps it’s safe to say the excitement surrounding Tracy McGrady’s arrival to Qingdao and the CBA’s Double Star Eagles has worn off. In his debut, T-Mac got stripped clean with 10 seconds to go in a tie game, then watched Sundiata Gaines drill a buzzer-beater on the other end. Less than a week later, his team entered the fourth quarter with an 11-point lead against Bayi, only to lose it and then watch China’s resident old-timer, Wang Zhizhi, hit a game-winning five-footer (controversy notwithstanding, as the game clock started late and probably gave Wang the extra half-second he needed to get the shot off).

Several games later, still-winless Qingdao welcomed Liaoning into its frigid building — a circuit malfunction cut off all heat — and proceeded to lose by 30. Could anyone blame T-Mac for sprinting off the court after a foul with 2:37 left in the first quarter?

Apparently he had the runs. “Fans were dumbstruck,” according to ifeng. A Qingdao staffer told the reporter, “His stomach wasn’t feeling very well, no biggie.”

McGrady wouldn’t return until the second half. He finished with a season-low 10 points in the 114-84 loss. No biggie. Six defeats in six games, and only two of them close. (Note: Qingdao lost yesterday in Beijing to fall to 0-7.) It’s no wonder that the home fans began chanting, “Break em up!” at its hapless squad. Youku video for those in China after the jump (T-Mac runs off the court just after the 23-minute mark).

The script couldn’t have been more perfect. Making his Chinese Basketball Association debut on national television, Tracy McGrady had the ball in his hands with only a three-second difference between the game and shot clock. His visiting Qingdao Double Star Eagles had erased a double-digit deficit and were all knotted at 92 with the Fujian Sturgeons.

The home crowd roared, just as they had every time T-Mac touched the ball. They remembered his glory days with the Houston Rockets and as Yao Ming’s running mate, and so it was only appropriate that, win or lose, the final shot seemed destined for the guy everyone had come to see.

It didn’t quite go as planned.

With the clock winding down, Fujian’s Zhou Qixin lunged for the ball. McGrady parried Zhou’s first swipe by turning his body, but the seven-time NBA All-Star then committed the cardinal sin of showing his defender the ball. The 6-foot-4 Zhou, giving four inches to McGrady, swiped it clean, then immediately called timeout.

Coming out of the break, the ball went to former Utah Jazz guard Sundiata Gaines, who’s no stranger to buzzer-beaters. With the announcers in the studio imploring, “Gotta go, gotta go,” Gaines dribbled, elevated, and banked in a three-pointer with double-zeros on the clock, stealing the glory that most fans were belonged to that other NBA’er.

McGrady, for his part, had a very good debut, scoring a quiet 34 points on a cool 14-for-22 shooting, including 3-for-6 from long range. He added 8 rebounds and 9 assists — indeed, early in the game, he might have been too focused on getting his teammates involved. Qingdao went into the fourth quarter trailing by 12, only to have McGrady lead his team to a two-point lead with under a minute left.

Gaines tied it up with a nifty drive and layup, setting up the dramatic finale. McGrady’s shocking turnover was only his second of the contest. Fair or not, it’ll be replayed for days and weeks to come, the steal seen around the country.

Check out the security guards taking cell phone pics of a dejected T-Mac.

And here’s Gaines in victory:

For those in China, the full game can be seen here:

Highlights of the game:

Qingdao had its final preseason tune-up on Tuesday away from its home court in Binzhou, Shandong province in a contest that probably wouldn’t have filled half the arena if Tracy McGrady weren’t in the house.

McGrady scored five points in 2 minutes against a team of foreigners — 98 seconds, to be exact — then took a seat on the bench. He sat for the next 46 minutes, until the final buzzer. As Jon Pastuszek of NiuBBall — a site that, even in preseason, never takes a seat — reports:

Anticipation turned into disappointment, disappointment turned into anger… and then, upset that they wasted their money on a ticket to merely see Shang Ping play, fans inside the stadium did what Chinese fans usually do when they’re mad. They chucked stuff onto the court.

You can watch in the above video and the one after the jump. McGrady, under prompting from team officials, returned to the court to address the crowd (sound quality is subpar, so transcription may not be completely accurate):

First of all, thank you all for coming out here tonight supporting both of these teams. Sorry I wasn’t able to play tonight… certain circumstances and conditions…

I want to say again thank you guys for your support, your love, your appreciation for what I’ve done in the game of basketball. Over the past 15 years you guys have stuck by me through the good and the bad.

While it’s safe to assume most spectators had no idea what he said, it’s the definitely the thought that counts. He could have read them Dr. Seuss and still gotten cheers. Pastuszek notes that T-Mac then threw souvenirs into the crowd.

Stephon Marbury. Gilbert Arenas. Tracy McGrady. They’re all in China! The season can’t start soon enough — it will this Saturday when Shanghai visits Beijing.

Fan’s view:

As you know, former NBA superstar Tracy McGrady is in China and will be playing with the CBA’s Qingdao Double Star Eagles this year. He’s kind of a big deal. While this clip from practice (and the ones after the jump) probably won’t tell you everything — for instance, whether he’ll stay healthy, which was a problem for him Stateside — it’s still fun to watch. After all, it’s just him tooling on his teammates and dunking. Yeah, he’ll be the offense.

Our early prediction is that Qingdao gets into the playoffs as the five seed. We’ll be back next week with a full CBA season preview. For now, just enjoy McGrady dunking.

Windmill dunk:

Crossover and dunk:

Practice:

China’s love of basketball most wondrously expresses itself in the way fans welcome aging former stars from the NBA. You, basketball aficionado, might call Tracy McGrady an oft-injured and washed-up bench player, but here, they call him a megawatt superstar, Yao Ming’s former teammate, and now Qingdao’s most famous resident. He will be playing with the CBA’s Double Star Eagles this season, and there is hope, sweet hope.

And why not? McGrady would not be the first player to find, in China, a few more productive, possibly even stellar basketball years tacked on to the twilight of his career. And even if he doesn’t lead Qingdao to the playoffs, everyone will at least have memories of yesterday: thousands of fans swarming him at the airport, chanting “T-Mac” as if he were the greatest thing to hit Shandong province since German beer.

How insane. To think, his Chinese beer commercial wasn’t even very good. Youku video for those in China after the jump.

Update, 3:31 pm: Pictures via NiuBBall: