Tracy McGrady is the best small forward in the NBA. And someday soon he'll be the league's best player. The Bucks have had no answer for him all series long.

In Game 3, six different players tried their hand at stopping him, and all met the same fate. T-Mac finished with 42 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds for the Magic. His confidence is off the charts and he's playing with a mean streak. Both are qualities no one who saw him play as a rookie in Toronto would have expected him to develop. An accurate long-range jumper maybe, but a mean streak?

This was the same kid who slept 18 hours a day on his off days in his tiny Toronto apartment. Back in those days the teammate McGrady most identified with was Marcus Camby, another quiet, skinny kid with loads of yet untapped potential. These days T-Mac is once again identifying with his old pal. This time it has nothing to do with basketball -- it's family.

Camby's mother and sister were held hostage last week in Camby's home, a situation that has affected Camby to the point that he missed Game 3 between he Knicks and Raptors. McGrady, too, carries a heavier load than the Magic's playoff hopes. His stepmother, Jaclyn, is dying of cancer. She is just 38 and the disease has taken over her body, leaving her with barely enough strength to watch Magic games from her Auburndale, Fla., home. To spare him the pain of watching his mother die, T-Mac moved his 16-year-old half-brother, Chance, from Auburndale to his mansion in Isleworth.

"I just try to put myself in his situation," says Tracy. "It would be tough for him to go through it alone."

T-Mac, 21, has become somewhat of a father figure to the 10th grader, picking him up from school and checking his homework after games. He frequently calls him from the road. Sometimes the pair will take Tracy's boat out on the lake behind his house and search for alligators with flashlights. The gators' eyes light up like diamonds when the light hits their eyes.

Just after midnight, following Tracy's Game 3 performance for the ages, he walked off the court with four fingers held high. "Game 4, man," he said. "Game 4."

Whether or not she had the strength to stay up and watch, Jaclyn McGrady knows that Tracy will take care of her boy -- her only Chance.

Chris Palmer covers The NBA Life for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at christopher.palmer@espnmag.com.