The Atlanta Hawks showed up with just half their team Tuesday night, and a half-full TD Waterhouse Centre crowd was there to greet them.

Fittingly enough, the Orlando Magic delivered a half-hearted effort that was just enough to win. Nothing more, nothing less.

Orlando slogged its way through a dreadful first quarter, but eventually woke up and had enough firepower to dispose of the depleted Hawks 100-86 before a season-low crowd of 12,474.

Orlando shot a gaudy 56 percent and got more scoring from reserve forward Don Reid (15 points) than it did star guards Tracy McGrady (nine points) and Mike Miller (five points) combined.

Atlanta (14-27) featured a lineup Tuesday night that might have had a CBA team licking its chops with overconfidence. The Hawks were without their top two leading scorers, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Jason Terry, because of their part in a brawl with the Houston Rockets on Monday. Abdur-Rahim was suspended three games and fined $15,000 for punching Houston's Kenny Thomas in the face. Terry, the Hawks top scorer in the previous four games, was suspended a game and fined $7,500 for throwing a punch during the fight.

In all, Atlanta was without its top seven players. Theo Ratliff, Toni Kukoc, Alan Henderson, Emanual Davis and Chris Crawford were out with injuries. As a result, the Hawks started a point guard who missed his first 22 shots of the season (Jacque Vaughn), a CBA refugee (Mark Strickland) and a struggling second-year guard (DerMarr Johnson). And off the bench, the Hawks used Cal Bowdler, Ira Newble and Leon Smith.

"To be honest, I didn't even recognize some of those guys out there," said McGrady, who sat out most of the fourth quarter and missed out on a chance to get his first career triple-double. "It's hard to get too excited in a game like that. I didn't even care about scoring and that's why I only shot it seven times."

Orlando (22-21) won for the ninth time in its past 13 games. It's just the second time in six weeks the Magic have been above .500 in the past six weeks. But to keep their hot streak alive, they will have to play much better Thursday night when they host the surging Miami Heat. Miami defeated Chicago 92-79 for its sixth consecutive victory.

Magic coach Doc Rivers sounded almost apologetic after the game and was somewhat perturbed by his team's sloppy play to start the game. Orlando had nine turnovers in the first quarter and remarkably trailed 24-19 after a period.

"It was a struggle for us focus-wise in the first half, but in the third quarter we were a little more professional," Rivers said. "I'm glad they don't draw pictures of wins. I'm glad they just put up numbers."

Rivers also said he understood why the crowd was as small as it's been all year long. He said the reason had to have been that Atlanta was without Abdur-Rahim and Terry.

"Our crowd has been great all year, but I'm sure they read the paper and saw who wasn't playing," he said. "I wouldn't have paid to see a game like this. And we've got Miami and L.A. (Lakers) coming up. The economy isn't so great right now, so I understand."

Pat Garrity continued his strong play as a starter, pouring in a season-high 23 points. He made nine of 13 shots, including three 3-pointers. Darrell Armstrong added 15 points by hitting six of eight shots.

Reid's 15 points were a season high. He beat the Hawks inside time and again for layups. As a result, he missed just one of his eight shots.

"I'm just getting more confident with the offense and knowing better where to go now," said Reid, the Magic's top reserve the past two weeks. "We knew this game was going to be a mental challenge for us and we had to stay focused."

Orlando was far from focused early on with a lifeless and sloppy start to the game. And the crowd let the Magic know about it, showering them with boos as they trudged to the bench.

But the Hawks were so depleted by suspensions and injury that the Magic easily came back and took the lead. McGrady hardly played in the second quarter, the Magic went almost six minutes without a point and had 11 turnovers in the game's first 15 minutes, but still managed a 47-41 lead by halftime.

Orlando came out inspired in the third quarter and quickly put the game out of reach. The Magic hit four 3-pointers in the period and took a 14-point lead into the fourth quarter.

"We knew that they had lost their top two scorers, but they were out there playing with nothing to lose," said Miller, whose five points were a season low. "It's a team we had lost to earlier so we had to get some revenge. And nobody felt sorry for us when we lost Grant Hill. So we weren't going to feel sorry for them."