A crowd of 14,555 showed up TD Waterhouse Centre Saturday night clearly intent on booing New Jersey forward Kenyon Martin for his flagrant foul and subsequent fight with Orlando Magic star Tracy McGrady a week earlier.

But by the end of the game, most of the boos were directed at a suddenly slumping Magic team that again fizzled like a deflating balloon.

Orlando played from behind most of the night and then frittered away the lead it finally got in the fourth quarter by going more than 6 minutes without a basket in a 91-85 loss to the Atlantic Division-leading Nets.

"Instead of giving everybody Ali-Frazier like they wanted, I don't know the hell that was," Magic coach Doc Rivers said afterward. "Both teams were flat all night. It had to be a horrible game to watch. Most of the game, it was who was going to miss the most shots?"

Not only did the Magic look fatigued after playing their sixth game in nine nights, but the team also seemed distracted. The Magic matched their season high with a fourth consecutive win earlier in the week, but has lost consecutive games since the news surfaced that the franchise is up for sale.

Owner Rich DeVos addressed the team before the game and told them of his plans to sell the team, a meeting that proved emotional for both the players and the 76-year-old owner. Team president Bob Vander Weide met with NBA commissioner David Stern on Thursday and told him DeVos intends to sell the franchise because of his inability to win approval of a new $250 million arena. Estate issues also are a concern for DeVos. He claims to have lost approximately $40 million the past four years. The team, which DeVos has owned since 1991, will soon begin trying to locate potential buyers who will keep the team in Orlando.

"It was kind of sad because you know he's not a guy who had the team and didn't care," said Magic forward Pat Garrity, who had 17 points. "He talked to us and told us we'd always been like family to him. It's tough because he feels at his age and for his family this is something he has to do."

Orlando's second home loss in as many nights left the Magic (19-20) a game under .500 and searching for answers.

"It gets really frustrating when you get wide-open looks and you can't knock them down,'' said Magic point guard Darrell Armstrong, who missed his last nine shots and scored just two points. "It seems like just the other day we were talking about a four-game winning streak and now we're two games down. We've got to find it again real quick. We need a win in the worst way. But we still believe in ourselves.''

The Magic have little time to rest. They face the red-hot Dallas Monday night. The Mavericks defeated Orlando 102-82 in Dallas on Dec. 22.

Orlando led 80-77 with 6 minutes, 31 seconds remaining to play, but didn't have another field goal in the game's next 6 minutes. By then, the Nets had an 88-81 lead.

McGrady, who had 35 points in the 109-96 defeat of the Nets last week, was bothered by a groin strain Saturday night and scored just 17 points. He missed 14 of his 20 shots. And his teammates weren't much better, shooting just 38.2 percent from the floor and 23.1 percent from the 3-point line.

Martin finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and four assists. The second-year power forward infuriated the Magic a week ago when he clubbed McGrady in the side of the head during a layup attempt under the basket. Martin was assessed a flagrant foul and ejected. Following his second ejection for a flagrant foul in the past month, he was suspended two games without pay and fined $15,000.

"I wasn't really thinking of that situation or trying to take over the game by myself because of what happened that first game,'' McGrady said. "We were right there all night, but if we knock down two or three more shots we win this game.''

Martin was booed when he was announced as part of the Nets' starting lineup and then each time he touched the ball. He and McGrady brushed by one another prior to the opening tip, avoiding any kind of handshake.

"Immaturity,'' Martin said of McGrady not shaking his hand.

Martin seemed to thrive in the hostile environment. During one timeout in the second quarter and a camera zoomed in on his face, Martin smiled as fans booed his image on the video board. And when he buried a 3-pointer as the third quarter ended he slowly walked to the bench, taunting the booing crowd with his finger over his lips. And he said he actually enjoyed the booing from the fans.

"That was nice,'' he said. "It showed me they were thinking about me. I was on their mind for about a week now. I'm just glad we won. If we wouldn't have won it wouldn't have been as great.''

Trailing by five at the half, the Magic got back into the game with their 3-point shooting. They missed all 11 3-point tries in the first half, but hit three shots from afar in the third period. Orlando finally got the game tied 90 seconds into the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer by Garrity. Three minutes later, Orlando took its first lead since the first quarter on -- what else? -- a 3-pointer from Troy Hudson.

Just as they were a night earlier in a 92-84 loss to Portland, the Magic were sluggish and out of synch offensively most of the night. They shot a horrendous 36 percent in the first half and were fortunate to be trailing only 47-42 at the break.

"Twenty-six 3-pointers is just way too many,'' Rivers said. "We're settling for too many jump shots early in the shot clock. When you're jump-shooting as much as we are it just means that you're a tired team. Shooting is a lot easier than driving.''