In 48 hours Tracy McGrady went from being a shot in the arm to looking like a shot player altogether.

Game 2 of the Great McGrady Reclamation Project suffered a potentially serious setback as McGrady was forced to pull himself out of last night’s ugly 83-67 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks due to soreness in his surgically repaired left knee.

“He asked out,” Mike D’Antoni said following the Knicks’ seventh straight loss. “He was kind of limping and stuff.”

McGrady, appearing in only his second game since Dec. 23 and his eighth since major left knee surgery 12 months ago, appeared to be struggling all night and was noticeably dragging his leg throughout the game. Afterward, he reported having banged knees in the first half and that the pain intensified during the long halftime ceremony to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Knicks’ first championship team.

When the second half started, McGrady was moving about as well as Willis Reed was 40 years ago in Game 7.

“It’s the type of surgery that ends careers,” said McGrady, who came out for good with 3:38 to play and the Knicks down 11. “I feel like this is an audition for me and my future.”

McGrady is not ruling himself out of tonight’s game in Boston, but it’s hard to imagine him being able to play back-to-back games and three in four nights.

“I’m not really (worried),” McGrady said. “Not at all. Hopefully, I’m not sore (today). I’m going to get the necessary treatment and see how I feel before the game.”