Vince Carter took the NBA by storm in 1999. Having celebrated my eleventh birthday in
September of that year, I do remember the first few seasons of Carter’s career,
but only faintly. Thirsty for something
to write about, the card in question inspired me to take a look back at VC’s
sophomore campaign of ’99-00, when he averaged nearly 26 PPG. Already the reigning Rookie of the Year,
Carter’s continued improvement helped the Raptors win 45 games, good enough to
get them into the postseason for the first time in franchise history.
One of Carter’s first marquee performances as a professional
came on December 5th of ’99.
Facing Tim Duncan, David Robinson, and the defending champion Spurs,
Carter scored a career-high 39 points, including eight in the final four
minutes, as the Raptors came from behind and hung on to win 98-92. Despite the immense degree of difficulty many
of his attempts entailed, Carter converted 15 of 25, including his only
three-point try (he’d finished sub-30 percent from range as a rookie). Vince’s cousin, Tracy McGrady, was Toronto’s
second-leading scorer with 16 off the bench.
Vince and Tracy continued to roll into All-Star Weekend,
where they went head-to-head in what many consider the most spectacular Slam Dunk Contest in NBA history. As was typical
of this period in McGrady’s career, he was forced to take a backseat to Carter,
finishing third as Vince ran away with the title by scoring 198 of a possible
200 points. That offseason, McGrady
signed a lucrative contract with the Orlando Magic. Back home in his native Florida, T-Mac would
prove himself even more explosive a scorer than Vince.
Oh, what could have been…
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