Before this game, Jordan McRae was a depressing 2-of-14 from the field in his ten games for the Wizards. When McRae was put into the game with the Wizards down twenty-something points, I’m sure that Scott Brooks thought he was throwing in the towel. Then, McRae scored fifteen points in five minutes, quadrupling his total point output for the season, and eight of those points were in the last 37 seconds.
The Wizards almost came back thanks to the combined heroics of McRae and Gary Payton II, but they couldn’t quite pull it off. Still, if you asked me to come up with a way for McRae to solidify his position on the ‘Zards roster, scoring fifteen points in five minutes of action would be one of my suggestions. Another one of my suggestions would have been to orchestrate a Bradley Beal trade with a return so lucrative that no team could turn it down, then take all of Beal’s minutes once he’s gone. Maybe something involving Anthony Davis. But it would be out of line for McRae to make trade suggestions like he’s the assistant GM or something, so the quickest and surest way to impress the coaches would be to orchestrate a huge comeback while scoring hella points in a hella efficient way.
Don’t forget, this is also a REVENGE GAME against the Cavaliers. McRae wanted to remind them of the time he scored 36 points while playing for the Cavs. I bet they’re really regretting letting him go right about now.