Jerry Brewer of the Orlando Sentinel reports that the Magic are hopeful that Tracy McGrady?s back will be improve with rest. He sat out Friday?s game, a win over Denver, so that he would get a full four days rest before attempting to return on Monday.

The Denver game is the second he?s missed during their current west coast trip. His back was injured last Sunday and the team decided that rest was more important than trying to play through the injury. "Playing him while he's been hurt really hasn't benefited him or us," Magic Coach Doc Rivers said. "We have an important stretch of the season coming up, and we need him healthy and ready."

McGrady insists that this injury is not related to the lower back strain that hampered him last season. This is only a bruise, the result of an elbow from Los Angeles guard Kobe Bryant.