By JOHN DENTON
FLORIDA TODAY

ORLANDO, Fla. - Tracy McGrady makes scoring 30 points look so effortless that it was only natural to predict that his progression would eventually lead to him someday become the NBA's most lethal offensive weapon.

But his evolution into the league's leading scorer this season has come more out of necessity than him simply expanding his seemingly limitless talents.

"If he was averaging 25 points a game, we wouldn't be in the playoffs," Orlando Magic Doc Rivers said. "He's scoring so much because that's what this team needs. His points are not selfish points.

"The stretch he had after the (Feb. 19) trade was some of the best basketball I've ever seen. He played the play-making role about as well as he could and he was scoring, too. Everybody was getting wide-open shots and he was still scoring 40 to 50 points a night. It was amazing."

Amazing has been just one of the many adjectives used to describe McGrady's play this season. He heads into the Magic's season finale tonight in Milwaukee poised to win his first scoring title. At 32.1 points per game, it's the highest scoring average in 10 NBA seasons.

But the truly amazing aspect of McGrady's accomplishment is that he has reached this pinnacle at the tender age of 23. Even now, each gushing over McGrady's skills and each projection about where he might someday end up in the NBA history books always seems to be followed up with the phrase "... and he's only 23 years old."

McGrady is set to become the youngest player to average 30-plus points since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976-77. He also will be the youngest player to accomplish the feat since Bob McAdoo averaged 34.5 points for the Buffalo Braves in 1974-75.

"People say it's being in a zone, but this just might be the way I play next year and the next year and the year after that," McGrady said with a sly smile. "The thing about me is the unknown. Who knows if this is how I'll play from here on out or if I'll just keep getting better."

The definition for the league's Most Valuable Player award has always been ambiguous at best. But it's hard to imagine a player being more valuable to a team than the 6-foot-8, 210-pound McGrady.

Without him, the Magic would likely be a 20-win team praying now for some more ping-pong ball luck in order to land LeBron James. With two rookies (Drew Gooden and Gordan Giricek), a journeyman point guard in Jacque Vaughn and no set center, the Magic's starting lineup - minus McGrady - is often worse than teams headed for the draft lottery. But with McGrady, Orlando has become the proverbial "Team Nobody Wants to Play" in the playoffs, fearing that the Magic star just might single-handedly take over a series.

In San Antonio, Tim Duncan at least has aging 7-footer David Robinson and an emerging Tony Parker to support him. Kevin Garnett is surrounded by 7-footers in Minnesota and has Wally Szczerbiak and Troy Hudson bombing away from the outside. And in Los Angeles, there's a 350-pound difference maker named Shaquille O'Neal to keep some of the heat off Kobe Bryant's shoulders.

For McGrady, being alone in Orlando's offense is both a blessing and a curse. He has the freedom to take any shot he wants, and even when he's covered, he's still usually option one, two and three. But that's also the reason he sees double-teaming defenses and sagging zones designed to cut off his drives to the basket on a nightly basis.

Still, he has led the Magic in scoring 69 times this season. He scored at least 20 points 70 times and 30 points 51 times, drawing close to the 52 times that Michael Jordan did it in 1990-91. He also had 11 40-point games and nine other times when he just missed the 40-point mark by one basket.

"I was just trying to lead my team to the playoffs," McGrady said of his scoring exploits. "Whatever I had to do, whether it was scoring, however I was going to get it done on the court, I was going to do that. In order for us to win, I had to go out and I had to put up big numbers. It's asking a lot, but I'm capable of doing it. Why not go out and prove to everybody that I can do that?"

McGrady made believers of everyone this season. For defenders he presents the great conundrum: Play up tight on him and he'll drive by you for a dunk; back off him and he's big enough to shoot over you and has enough range to make you pay with a 3-point shot.

"When you talk about great players and who's the best, you talk about McGrady, Kobe and Kevin Garnett," Miami Heat power forward Brian Grant said. "But to me, Tracy's the best. I've always felt that way. He can do it all. Kobe and Kevin are great players, but he has both of their games rolled into one."

Determined to add another weapon to his arsenal last summer, McGrady worked tirelessly on becoming a better 3-point shooter. He hoisted hundreds of shots a day from long range, jumped rope in between shooting sessions and has continued to lift weights throughout this season for the first time in his career. The result is his legs are stronger than ever and he's made 70 more 3-pointers than he did all last season.

"Penetration is still the best part of my game, but when my jumper is falling, you are basically at my mercy," McGrady said only half jokingly. "I'm just out there playing so free and really, no defender can stop me one-on-one. Basically, I feel like once I cross half court, I can make any shot."

That seemed to be the case in the days following the Magic's trade of Mike Miller to Memphis for Gooden and Giricek. McGrady had been out celebrating Miller's birthday when the call came about the trade. Initially, he was hurt by the move. But ultimately, it just sharpened his focus and put more of the burden squarely on his shoulders.

Two nights later against Chicago, McGrady responded by pouring in an astounding 52 points in just 33 minutes. He feels he could have approached 70 points had he not rushed his final five shots - all misses - and played in the fourth quarter.

Then, two nights later, McGrady hammered the New Jersey Nets to the tune of 46 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds. That allowed him to become just the sixth player in NBA history to follow up a 50-point game with a triple-double, joining illustrious company such as Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Larry Bird, Clyde Drexler and Jordan.

The scoring outburst against Chicago jump-started the finest stretch of basketball of McGrady's blossoming career. Bryant received more national exposure for his streak of nine consecutive 40-point games, but what McGrady did during that timeframe was equally impressive. Over a 20-game stretch, he averaged 36.8 points, 6.7 assists and 6.1 rebounds a game. McGrady scored at least 30 points in 14 consecutive games and the Magic won 13 of 20 during that stretch.

"Being able to get 20 points in a quarter and then coming back and having three in the next quarter, that was a lack of focus," McGrady said of his past tendencies. "This year, that's something I wanted to work on and be stronger at. I wanted to stay focused for four quarters. I just stayed locked in, and I'm capable of running off 15 (points) a quarter."

The 32.1 points a game - the highest scoring average in the NBA since Jordan's 32.6 in 1992-93 - is just the beginning of what he can do, McGrady predicted. He is now a different player than he was when he first arrived in Orlando three seasons ago. The sleepy eyes and quick smile have been replaced by a purposeful scowl, while the carefree attitude has been replaced by a mentality that is constantly engaged and hungry for more.

"Actually, it's really not too shocking," he said confidently. "I feel like I can put up about 35 a night. I think I'm capable of scoring that on a night-to-night basis. It's a matter of just going out and believing I can do that. See, I didn't believe I could average 30. Then, I went out and I did it. Now, I truly believe that I can go out, and I can average 35, still get other guys involved and not be selfish with it."