Tracy McGrady's lower back hasn't been the only unpleasant thing to flare up again lately for the Orlando Magic.

While losing five times during their six-game road trip and falling back below the .500 mark, the Magic lapsed back into the tendencies which predated the arrivals of McGrady, Grant Hill, coach Doc Rivers and almost everybody outside of Darrell Armstrong.

Rivers had sworn before the season that the Magic would be improved on defense, a category in which they finished 18th among 29 NBA teams a year ago. Almost a third of the way into this season, he'd gladly settle for giving up an average of 96.5 points a game on 43.5-percent shooting.

Instead, only the Dallas Mavericks are surrendering more points than the Magic thus far. They are allowing an average of 99.3 points a game and failed to hold any of the six opponents on their trip to less than 100.

In their 14 losses, the Magic have let teams average 108.4 points a game and shoot 49.4 percent from the floor. The last of those defeats was a 114-91 drubbing Sunday night at Seattle in which McGrady sat out the final three quarters after a recurrence of the strained lower back which he suffered during the preseason.

McGrady, who missed four games in October, is listed as day-to-day. If he can't go Wednesday night against the Utah Jazz, it may not matter that the Magic have returned home after playing a league-high 16 road games.

During Penny Hardaway's last season with the Magic, he expressed frustration more than once about playing for a team that he accused of being too nice overall and too soft in the middle. Despite almost a total overhaul in personnel, the Magic remain unchanged in that area.