Chinese fans not amused by Tracy McGrady’s limited playing time, shower court with debris

Former NBA veteran Tracy McGrady is playing in China now, as you know: he signed with the Qingdao DoubleStar Eagles in Oct. On Tuesday the Eagles played the last of their three pre-season exhibition games, which was the final tuneup before they begin the Chinese Basketball Association regular season. But the game, played in Binzhou, Shandong province, didn’t exactly go smoothly.

McGrady started but played only two minutes, angering the crowd that presumably showed up just to see him. Toward the end fans began registering their disgust by throwing stuff onto the court — a time-honored Chinese tradition, I’m told. The debris included water bottles, lighters and just about anything that was handy. Officials then called off the game.

As things got uglier, McGrady took a microphone and addressed the crowd, saying in part:

“Sorry I wasn’t able to play tonight, due to certain circumstances and the conditions, me being under the weather today.”

Video here.

He then began throwing souvenirs to the crowd, which helped a bit, as it appears.