These are not the best of times for the Magic, but they may have caught the Utah Jazz on the best of nights.

With Grant Hill out for the season and Tracy McGrady out with a bad back, the Magic (13-14) got contributions from eight players in a 98-90 victory over the Jazz on Wednesday night.

It was only the Magic's second victory in their last 11 games against the Jazz (12-14), who were playing their fourth game in six nights.

Darrell Armstrong (24 points), Mike Miller (21) and Pat Garrity (16) hit most of the big shots for the Magic. Patrick Ewing and Troy Hudson came off the bench with some huge plays before a crowd of 14,040 in the Magic's first home game in 12 days.

"It was fun because we knew we all had to chip in," said Armstrong, who had six rebounds and nine assists. "We all had to take our parts and put it together. That's how we got that win."

Karl Malone scored a game-high 28 points for the Jazz, while Donyell Marshall contributed 24 points and 20 rebounds. But the Jazz shot only 40 percent and got badly outhustled late in the game.

"They got the loose balls, the extra rebounds, all those little things," said Utah guard John Stockton.

The Magic (13-14) won the way they did two years ago before Hill and McGrady got here.

"That's what having a deep team is all about, the rest of the guys stepping up," said Ewing. "Tonight Mike stepped up, Darrell stepped up, Pat, Horace (Grant). . . Everybody did something to help us win the ball game and that's what it's going to take for us to win."

McGrady, the NBA's fifth-leading scorer with a 26.0 average, was in Atlanta having his strained lower back examined by Dr. Richard Hyberg.

That trip was made "because Coach Doc I'm paranoid about backs," said Rivers, whose playing career was plagued by back problems.

"This was more my push than anybody else's," Rivers said. "There's no reason to raise the red flag; this has nothing to do with discs or anything else. I just think with backs, if you can jump on top of it before it starts, then you can eliminate problems in the future."

McGrady will stay in Atlanta through the weekend for therapy, missing Friday's home game against Washington and Saturday's game at Dallas.

The Magic then get a three-day Christmas break before playing Indiana next Wednesday night.

Hill's third ankle operation in 18 months was performed Wednesday morning in Baltimore. He will be in a cast for about a month.

Dr. Mark Myerson issued the following statement: "The surgery was technically successful and accomplished all the planned treatment goals, with the prognosis guarded at this time. Extensive bone spurs were removed from the front of his left ankle and bone graft augmented with platelet growth factors were inserted into a defect on the front of the ankle which was communicating with his ankle joint."

Rivers' reaction was also guarded.

"Have you ever heard of a doctor come out of surgery and say: 'That just went ----; (we had) unsuccessful surgery today'?" he asked.

Hill is expected to miss the rest of the season.

MAGIC NOTES: Monty Williams took McGrady's place in the starting lineup. Rivers also replaced rookie Steven Hunter with Andrew DeClercq at center. . . Former Magic center John Amaechi played three scoreless minutes for the Jazz.