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Loss means trouble for Magic's postseason
© St. Petersburg Times ORLANDO -- The hour is early and the room is sweating. With the heat dialed in at 100 degrees, Doc Rivers is living his own metaphor. The Magic coach began Wednesday at a favorite yoga studio. By mid morning, his mind was cleansed, his body purified. And his team was a washout. The regular season is finally finished in the NBA. From the looks of it, so is the Magic. Reality has caught up with Orlando and has refused to make nice. Injuries have multiplied, weaknesses have been exposed and time has intruded. The idea is to hit the playoffs running. The best the Magic can muster is running a fever. In the most important game of the season, playing the Heat on Wednesday with homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs at stake, the Magic barely had enough players to raise a white flag in a 103-89 loss. Patrick Ewing had a 103-degree fever. Tracy McGrady's doctor made a house call from Atlanta to treat his ailing back. Mike Miller was on the injured list with a bum ankle. Grant Hill was a fading memory. So, a team playing for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference showed up with Monty Williams, Jud Buechler and Troy Hudson in the starting lineup. "It's just one game. You can look at the bright side," Rivers said. "I think that's the bright side." Actually, it is difficult to find a bright side. Yes, you can say McGrady probably will be fit for the first playoff game. Miller might be too. But the Magic has the feel of a team finishing up, rather than starting over. This was the reward for a season of accomplishment. Sort of like reaching the end of a marathon with burning lungs and blistered feet, and discovering a 15-kilometer race has broken out. Time and again, Orlando has risen above its limitations. It has accomplished more than a team has a right to without a legitimate center and with a centerpiece player missing a second straight season. Other teams play above the rim. The Magic plays above its head. "I think our role players are as good as any in the league," Rivers said. "They're not as talented, but they understand their role as well as anyone and they do a hell of job in those roles." How else do you explain a team making the playoffs when it ranks 28th in the league in rebound differential? Allen Iverson misses a few weeks and the 76ers do a nosedive. Hill disappears in December and the Magic improves for the second season in a row. So praise the Magic for its grit. Admire how the pieces create a greater whole than most of us could envision. Just understand it is not likely to continue beyond the first round of the playoffs. The way things are going, it may not even continue beyond the first three games of the first round. Even if McGrady, Miller and Ewing recover, this team has too many shortcomings to overlook. Consider the importance of the homecourt advantage that was so easily surrendered Wednesday. The Magic won 66 percent of its home games, a respectable figure. It lost 41 percent of its road games, a frightening thought. Then there is the issue of inside strength. The Magic has none. Orlando was able to disguise its lack of rebounders by playing smarter and harder. That won't fly in the playoffs. This makes the loss of Hill even more devastating. At the same time Orlando was wooing Hill, it lost forward Ben Wallace to Detroit. Wallace is now one of the top rebounders and shot-blockers in the league. The Magic does not have anyone among the NBA's top 25 rebounders. "It's a big problem and I think everyone knows it," said Horace Grant, who is planning to retire when the Magic season ends. "If you don't rebound in the playoffs, you go home quickly." This was the reality Rivers was facing when he awoke Wednesday. Having lost three of four games along with a grip on the fourth seed, he headed to the yoga class looking for a respite. It lasted until he returned to his car in the parking lot. This is where trainer Ted Arzonico reached him on a cell phone to tell him the lineup was going to have to be adjusted against Miami. "I call him the grim reaper because he never calls you unless it's something horrible," Rivers said. "He says Tracy is out for sure. Don Reid, by the way, has been suspended. And then he says Patrick Ewing has strep throat and he won't be at the game either. I actually called him out on that one. I said, 'Stop (messing) around.' But he was serious. "I should have went back in and done more yoga." At least he is getting used to the heat.
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