Orlando Magic veteran forward Horace Grant met with head coach Doc Rivers before Sunday's game to discuss the brewing controversy surrounding his illness and absence from the past three games.

Grant did not play Wednesday against the Los Angeles Lakers and did not make the trip to Detroit for Friday's game because of a case of food poisoning. Rivers was upset that Grant was not at the arena Wednesday, saying "show up and at least give it a go."

"There was no animosity," said Grant, who did not play Sunday against the San Antonio Spurs. "It was just a meeting to kind of nip it in the bud.

"From (Rivers') standpoint, he considers me valuable to this team. And he wants all the valuable pieces out on the floor."

Rivers was upset that the Lakers made light of Grant's illness with a sarcastic message on a blackboard inside of their locker room. The message inferred that Grant skipped the game because of his matchup that night with Shaquille O'Neal. It read, "Where's Horace? Shaq-ahhrea."

"I thought the Lakers tried to make him look bad," Rivers said of Grant, who played for the Lakers last season. "If it were me, my pride would have been hurt by that. I'd be (upset). He won, what, four titles for (Lakers coach Phil Jackson)? If (Detroit's) Ben Wallace would have been sick (Friday), I would have never had that put up on our board."

Grant said he ordered take-out food last Tuesday and became sick later that night. He attended Sunday's game but said he was too weak to play. He hopes to return by Tuesday when the Magic host Cleveland.

"It was really bad, so bad that I couldn't even get out of the bed to go to the doctor," said Grant, 36. "I cramped for two days and had diarrhea really bad. It was worse than any flu I've ever had."


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Magic forward Mike Miller aggressively attacking the basket Sunday came as no accident. Rivers has been pleading with the bulked-up Miller to stop settling for so many jump shots. Miller had 18 points Sunday.

Miller added 12 pounds of muscle in the offseason and was a force on the low block early in the season against smaller forwards. But for whatever reason, Miller has seemed reluctant to post up or attack the basket. One telltale statistic: In the seven games before Sunday, Miller had attempted far more 3-pointers (34) than free throws (22).

"That's just not enough (free throws) from your second-best player," Rivers said. "We've got to keep pushing him. He has it in him, but we have to get him to believe that he does.

"Billy Donovan (Miller's coach at Florida) told us the biggest thing with Mike was getting him to stay engaged in the offense. Sometimes, he just withdraws and floats on the perimeter. Billy said he was unsuccessful in doing that for two years, so we'll stay after him."

Said Miller: "There are times when I'm being aggressive. But the bottom line is I've got to be more consistently aggressive."


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San Antonio point guard Tony Parker has been one of the most surprising rookies of the season. The native of France fell all the way to 28th in the draft, the last pick of the first round.

Needing point guard depth behind Darrell Armstrong, Orlando seriously contemplated taking the 19-year-old Parker. But they eventually decided against it because they already have two smallish point guards in Armstrong (6-foot-1) and Troy Hudson (6-foot-1). Instead of taking the 6-foot-2, 177-pound Parker, Orlando opted for 6-foot-6 Jeryl Sasser. Sasser has played in just five games and has spent most of the season stashed away on the injured list.

"We would have drafted him, no doubt," Rivers said. "Another one was Earl Watson. But we really liked Parker."


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Sunday's game was the 1,000th in the Orlando Magic's history. The Magic are 505-495 all-time. . . . San Antonio hosts Minnesota tonight. It also will be the 1,000th game for the Timberwolves. . . . Magic rookie Steven Hunter played meaningful minutes Sunday for the first time in more than a month. Without Grant and Ewing, Hunter entered the game in the first half and held his own inside against San Antonio's Tim Duncan and David Robinson. He started 21 games early in the season, but since has been used solely off the bench. He played 18 minutes Sunday, scoring seven points and grabbing two rebounds. . . . Sunday's game originally was scheduled to be televised by NBC. The network dropped the game, the second in as many weeks for the Magic.