As if being without Grant Hill, Patrick Ewing and Horace Grant wasn't bad enough Wednesday night, the Orlando Magic received another scare during the fourth quarter of their 111-93 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Tracy McGrady came up limping when he landed on the foot of Kobe Bryant after hitting a 3-point field goal with less than three minutes to go. McGrady quickly fouled Devean George to get a stoppage in play but was able to remain in the game after the Lakers took a timeout.

"I've twisted it about 100 times," McGrady said. "All I've got to do is walk it off and I'll be fine."

The same cannot be said for his lower back. McGrady has had it flare up on him three times since October -- during a preseason game in Tampa, during the first quarter of a Magic loss in Seattle and, most recently Jan. 24 against the Miami Heat. While he didn't miss any games following his latest mishap, the thought of a 22-year-old possibly having chronic back problems is unsettling to Magic coach Doc Rivers.

"I've never seen a back injury go away forever," Rivers said.

McGrady will be a reserve for the Eastern Conference in the NBA All-Star Game next weekend. Rivers wouldn't say he'd prefer that his leading scorer stay home and rest up for the second half of the season, but he is somewhat skittish about McGrady's health.

"The next movement could be a bad back movement," he said. "The back thing scares the hell out of me. We're going to have to deal with this. I don't know how."

TOO LATE TO SWITCH?

Although Mike Miller has been invited as one of the eight participants in the league's 3-point shooting contest Saturday night in Philadelphia, Pat Garrity has been more productive from long range of late than Miller.

Garrity, who was chosen for the contest a year ago in Washington, set a single-game career high against the Lakers by squeezing off 13 attempts. He made six of them. Entering today's game vs. San Antonio, Garrity has made at least one 3-pointer in 18 straight games dating back to Dec. 26.

Miller went 0-of-5 from 3-point range in 44 minutes against the Lakers. He was 2-of-3 against Detroit. Miller had connected on only six of 23 shots during a five-game stretch and was shooting barely 30 percent overall (17 of 55).

Garrity, Miller, McGrady and Darrell Armstrong combined for all but one of the Magic's 31 attempts from 3-point range in the game. The franchise record of 32 has been reached three times, most recently in April 1997 against the Philadelphia 76ers.

NIX TO KNICKS

Rivers continues to be mentioned in various New York publications as a likely candidate for a full-time head coaching job with the Knicks.

"I'm a Magic coach, and I'm going to stay a Magic coach," he said. "And that's not going to change."

The Knicks are in danger of not making the playoffs for the first time since 1987, which was Ewing's second season in the league. They had gone into a tailspin under interim coach Don Chaney, including a 43-point loss at Madison Square Garden to the Charlotte Hornets, before appearing to right themselves with four wins in a row.

Rivers was a guard with the Knicks for 2 1/2 seasons.

TAME IN TORONTO

The Magic trailed by 18 points after one quarter last Sunday in Toronto and wound up losing 106-97 to the Raptors. But McGrady claimed the slow start had nothing to do with the reaction of the fans in his second game back in the city where he spent his first three seasons.

"Last year was real crazy," he said. "When I ran out of the locker room, boos. When I touched the ball in the layup line, boos. It wasn't that this year."