George Karl might have finally done it this time.

His recent verbal attacks on rival head coach Doc Rivers had the Orlando Magic so angry, so downright defensive Tuesday night that they actually could do no wrong against a Milwaukee Bucks team that has tormented them for three seasons.

Orlando used the pent-up frustration of Karl's numerous jabs at Rivers and 13 losses in 14 tries as fuel for its impressive 101-91 thumping of the Bucks on Tuesday in front of a nationally televised audience and a TD Waterhouse Centre crowd of 16,512.

The Magic (37-30) won for the sixth consecutive time, a streak that has allowed them to pass Philadelphia and Milwaukee and move within a game of the third-seeded Boston Celtics. Also, they have won eight games in a row at home and are 22-10 in Orlando. Nine of the Magic's final 15 games are in the TD Waterhouse Centre.

Riding a five-game wave in which he has averaged 33.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.4 assists, McGrady was at his big-game best Tuesday. The NBA's reigning Player of the Week battered the Bucks all night for 48 points and 12 rebounds. When Milwaukee stubbornly refused to double team, McGrady beat them from afar (six 3-pointers) and in close (five dunks).

Veteran leader Darrell Armstrong predicted early Tuesday that Orlando would play especially hard in honor of Rivers, who was the focus of Karl's critical comments in a recent national magazine. And that was clearly the case as the Magic hustled their way to 15 offensive rebounds and 13 steals.

"Doc has had our backs since Day 1, and Karl was attacking our guy, so we were gonna attack him with any means necessary," Magic forward Monty Williams said. "Really there's no basis for (Karl's) stuff. It's just silliness. But we wanted this one for Doc to show that we support him."

Milwaukee had beaten the Magic 10 consecutive times in the regular season. And counting last season's playoff pounding, the Bucks had topped Orlando in 13 of the past 14 games. The two teams play again Sunday in Milwaukee.

"I think the rivalry might be on now," Rivers said. "You can't have a rivalry when one teams wins 10 in a row."

Rivers was cheered as he walked on the court, and Karl was booed. But Rivers tried to put an end to the feud by walking over to Karl and shaking his hand before the game.

"I though it was great," Karl said of the gesture. "I don't try to create hell for anybody. I believe in competing, and I think Orlando and Milwaukee have had great competitive spirit for three years. And there's a possibility we might see each other again this year (in the playoffs)."

McGrady, who had a career-best 50 points earlier this month against Washington, missed four free throws and then a jumper with 24 seconds remaining that would have allowed him to reach 50. It was just about the only thing that went wrong for the Magic, who led by 20 points most of the second half.

"It's a sweet, sweet win," McGrady said. "For a team to beat you 10 consecutive times it just feels like they have your number. But I had a lot of confidence because the last time we played them we basically beat them for three quarters and then gave the game away. So we had confidence that we're a better team than they are."

Pat Garrity made seven 3-pointers for the Magic, finishing with 21 points. Orlando sank 13 of its 26 3-pointers.

Orlando had just two points in the first 3 minutes of the game, but a 10-point flurry of points from McGrady jump-started the Magic offense. Orlando's ball movement and shooting were never better than in the first quarter, allowing it to score 33 points. By halftime, Orlando had made 8 of its 15 3-point tries and led 54-38.

Milwaukee tried Glenn Robinson, Anthony Mason, Darvin Ham and Michael Redd on McGrady, but none of them had much success. He was too quick for Robinson and Mason and too big for Redd and Ham.

McGrady had Orlando's first 12 points and 30 in the half. Had he not missed four free throws he could have tied Shaquille O'Neal's franchise record for points in a half (34) set in 1994 against Minnesota.

"Tracy was unbelievable," said Bucks guard Sam Cassell, who had 23 points. "To me, he is the best player in the league behind Shaq (O'Neal). He does it all. People want to talk about Kobe (Bryant) and (Allen) Iverson -- who are great players -- but Tracy is tougher."