McGrady Reaching His Peak

Tracy McGrady won the duel and the battle, and is halfway to winning the war.

It’s not just the Larry O’Brien Trophy that’s open to all comers this postseason. The floor’s open for the title of Most Desirable Player, applications being accepted throughout the playoffs.

In this bracket it’s Houston’s McGrady versus Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, and right now McGrady is rolling.

He controlled the game Monday with 10 assists, eight rebounds, three steals, three blocked shots and 28 big points, including the game-winning shot with 2.2 seconds remaining as the Rockets beat the Mavericks, 113-111, to take a 2-0 lead in the series.

How complete was this performance? In the middle of describing his exploits in the postgame news conference, he glanced at the recorders lined up before him and an announced: “Somebody’s tape just stopped, so you might want to put another tape in.”

A full-service superstar, even doing the reporters’ jobs for them.

Just another line in his nomination for the MDP.

Not Most Valuable. Most Desirable. The MVP reflects a player’s effect on a particular season. The MDP is more forward-thinking, based on which player you’d want on your team for the long haul. When I handed out the inaugural award two years ago Kobe Bryant got the nod, primarily because of his clutch playoff performances from 2000 to 2002.

But if you can’t get your team to the playoffs, you can’t be the most desirable. So Bryant has to vacate the title. Scratch the initial runner-up, Kevin Garnett, as well. No playoffs yet for LeBron James. If he were Jamie Foxx, he’d still be in the “In Living Color” stage of his career.

These playoffs are McGrady’s breakout performance. You have to take him seriously now as one of the elite members of his field.

See, he’d already racked up the All-Star appearances and won scoring titles. He also never made it past the first round of the playoffs. You get your Magic, Bird and Jordan status in June, not April.

“I’m just hungry, man,” McGrady said. “I’m tired of getting to the playoffs and getting bounced out in the first round.”

It his attitude, more than improvement, that has changed.

“He trusts the guys in this room to make plays,” teammate Jon Barry said. “People say it’s selfish [with Orlando] but he felt like he had to do everything. I don’t think he feels like he had to do everything here. We have plenty of guys who are capable of stepping up.”

Starting with Yao Ming, who had the game of his playoff career with 33 points and eight rebounds, thank in large part to McGrady’s efforts to find him.

But McGrady also helped set up Barry for 16 points on six-for-11 shooting, and Bob Sura for 14 points on four-for-five shooting from three-point range.

“He’s got great confidence in us, just like we have confidence in him,” Barry said.

One of the knocks on McGrady is that he settles for his jump shot too often. He was in attack mode from the first time he touched the ball, and took only one three-pointer in the first half. He finished strong around the hoop, most notably when he threw down a dunk over a cowering Shawn Bradley.

But it was in the second half when he really put his stamp on the game.

When the Rockets fell behind by seven in the final two minutes of the third quarter, McGrady responded with a three-pointer off a Yao screen, a drive to the hole for a left-handed layup and a fast-break assist to Jon Barry.

It got dicey for the Rockets early in the fourth quarter, and again McGrady came through. Trailing by eight points, McGrady drove and dished to Dikembe Mutombo, who was fouled and made both free throws. After Mike James scored for Houston, McGrady got a piece of a Jerry Stackhouse jump shot, which led to a three-pointer by Barry.

Nowitzki, meanwhile spent most of the game unwilling or unable to take Ryan Bowen. Nowitzki shot fallaway jumpers and one-dribble pull-up jumpers and missed 11 of his first 15 shots and 13 of 21 for the game.

But he did come up big at the end, including a fallaway jumper over McGrady that tied the score with 11 seconds remaining.

All that did was set the stage for McGrady, who came off a Yao screen to hit the big basket.

Passing wasn’t an option.

“Why would I?” McGrady said. “No, no. That’s the time right there where I felt we’re either going to overtime or I’m going to win the game. That’s not being selfish. I don’t think.”

Not if you’re a superstar. And with 62 points in two games, McGrady qualifies.

“After seeing him for 82 games, I really didn’t think he had another gear,” Sura said. “But apparently he does.”

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/adande.