Magic Coach Doc Rivers is starting yoga classes.

Yes, yoga.

"Actually, yoga is supposed to help give you patience," Rivers said, "and I do need to have patience this season."

Some meditation, stress management and maybe a little burning incense couldn't hurt, either. Rivers is trying to nurse the Magic (34-30) into the playoffs, and the club continues its push tonight against the Denver Nuggets (19-42) at TD Waterhouse Centre.

The Magic lost guard/small forward Grant Hill (again) early in the season to injury, and have now lost Hill's replacement. Mike Miller has missed the past two games with a severely sprained ankle and could be out another two weeks.

Rivers figured he'd never have to worry about a lack of depth at the "smalls" -- the guard/small forward positions, the source of quickness and athleticism for most teams. But that's exactly what has happened.

Now the undersized Magic -- whose "bigs" are small, if you follow the coaching lingo -- are scrambling to match up with the opposition.

The Phoenix Suns employed their potent small lineup Wednesday night, and the Toronto Raptors went to theirs Sunday in Orlando. Each time, however, the Magic -- thanks to Tracy McGrady's heroics -- prevailed. Rivers expects more Eastern Conference teams to follow the pattern.

"New Jersey will probably do it a little bit because they have a bunch of them [smalls], too," Rivers said. "Milwaukee will do it, there's no doubt."

At one point in the second quarter against Phoenix, Rivers was forced to use point guards Darrell Armstrong and Troy Hudson and newly signed shooting guard Dee Brown to match up against the Suns. And he had to ask forward Pat Garrity and center Horace Grant to guard smaller, faster players, causing defensive nightmares.

Rivers thought the Suns were one move away from winning the overtime thriller. If Joe Johnson, a 6-foot-7 guard, had gone in for 6-8 forward Bo Outlaw, that would have given the Suns a quick lineup that included Penny Hardaway, Shawn Marion and Stephon Marbury. "Thank goodness, he didn't. I don't think we had enough to match up. We just ran out of smalls. We didn't have enough left so we had to use Pat Garrity and Horace to guard smaller guys, and we got away with it."

Rivers shouldn't worry about making such adjustments against the floundering Nuggets. Denver has lost 10 of its past 13 games and is 0-8 on the road against East teams.

The Magic have won their past three games after returning from a 2-5 road trip. But after Denver, their next four games are against Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Charlotte and the Bucks again -- teams that are in the playoff hunt. "We're back on the boat," Rivers said at the close of practice Thursday.

Just then, Rivers spotted Hill hobbling around. "Boy, I need some yoga," he said.