Remember Grant Hill, that player the Orlando Magic stole from the lowly Detroit Pistons, lined his pockets with $93 million over seven years, then watched him play only 18 games in the last two years?

Word out of Orlando is that the pain is gone and Training Camp 2002 is the target date for his return to the court.  He has been primarily undertaking exercises in the pool to help strengthen the ankle, which has now had three successive surgeries, the Magic and Hill hoping three is a charm.

"Once I get on the court I'm just going to appreciate being out there," said Hill. "That's first and foremost. But I believe I will be able to come back and play at a high level. Now, what exactly will my numbers be, and will I be the man? I don't know and I don't care. I just think that physically I'll be able to come back and be somebody that my teammates can be confident in. And I don't think I was confident the last time around."

John Denton of the Florida Today reports: A day after his Magic were pushed to the brink of elimination,Tracy McGrady boldly guaranteed that Orlando would win Tuesday's Game 4 and force a return to Charlotte for a Game 5. McGrady also stressed that despite Davis' magnificent triple-double performance on Saturday, he was indeed the best player on the floor.
"Oh, I am. No question," McGrady said with a playful smile and his usual confident swagger. "He's not the best player. You look at Baron's team and look at my team, then you understand that he has a lot more help. He has guys who can score, guys who can rebound on a nightly basis.

"Our guys are kind of inconsistent and we're always searching for guys to come in and rebound. All the focus and attention really isn't on him. With their defense, all the focus is on shutting me down."

Despite the dire circumstances the Magic are in, McGrady feels his Magic can rally to win the next two games and ultimately the series. The basis for his argument is that the series has been so close throughout. Each of the past two games have gone to overtime and Game 1 was decided by one point.

"Yeah, I'm going to guarantee it," McGrady said. "I don't want to go on vacation right now. So I have to guarantee that there's going to be a Game 5."

"I'm not running from anything," McGrady added. "I'm not afraid of anything."

Added McGrady: "I'm trying to carry the load, and it's not easy doing it by myself. I need some help and these are the guys on my team and they're the ones who have to help me."

He issued a 'guarantee' on Sunday that the Magic would take this series back to Charlotte, the city he called (to be kind) "a boring place."

He reassured everyone that he's still the best player out there, as if he merely loaned the title to Baron Davis for Game 3.

He shouted in mock disgust, "I'm not afraid! I'll take the blame here!" after being asked about Allen Iverson's public sprint from responsibility as Philly's franchise player.

Tracy McGrady then ambled out to one of the 12 cars he owns after practice. (Who needs 12 cars -- other than Jeff Gordon?)

McGrady, 22, is a rich, brash, fun-loving kid, but we're lucky he's mature beyond his years.

We're lucky he doesn't take up too many parking spaces. We're lucky he sees the big picture and L.A.'s not in it. We're lucky, most of all, that he's patient.

"I have patience," McGrady said, leaning against his Mercedes. "A lot of patience."

The Magic should not test it.

McGrady wants to play for a contender. He needs help in Orlando. He needs Grant Hill to be healthy, of course. He needs a good big man for his team to be taken seriously.

Tracy once said he wanted to be the "winningest cat" in the NBA and he'd prefer to be purring here until retirement. He's at his home-base, having grown up in Auburndale.

He believes he'll be well on his way to wrestling Shaq and Kobe for rings by the time he can become a free agent again. He is doing the math and figures that he'll be only 25 when he can exercise an "out" in the fifth year of his seven-year $90-million contract he signed in the summer of 2000.

"I don't want to think about that," he said.

"How long did it take Michael Jordan to win a championship? Seven, eight years? I feel the help is going to come."

All the same, General Manager John Gabriel better realize T-Mac's contract countdown is on.

Gabriel has three seasons to keep his superstar happy ? and keep him from even listening to recruiting pitches. Teams will come a'courtin' T-Mac in the summer of 2005. This time, it'll seem like the Great California Gold Rush compared to his exit from Toronto as a promising but uncertified star.

As bleak as the prospects for big men might be, Gabriel has to somehow find McGrady a rebounder. Or the climate will turn and it could be Gabe looking for another team.

The Magic don't look that far away from contending in the pliable East. They've spotted the Hornets a few good men and are still within a play or two of sweeping them, given two close losses. Looks can deceive.

"You look at Baron's team and you look at my team," McGrady said, referring to the Hornets' spectacular point guard. "He has a lot more help. He has guys who can score and rebound on a nightly basis. Our guys are kind of inconsistent."

The Magic must assemble the parts while McGrady is young and too full of fame and faith to doubt the future. Because down the road, the stars who carry the load and the burden of blame eventually discover the role wears on them like wool underwear.

Hill left Detroit to get out from under that weight. It's enough to make Iverson lose his head and foolishly proclaim he's not the Sixers' best player. "You don't want Tracy to panic. He won't. I won't," Coach Doc Rivers said. "I don't think Tracy gets discouraged. He's still learning."

Learning and earning a Ph.D in patience.

The Charlotte Hornets returned to practice Sunday mellow, focused and intent on trying to end this series in Game 4.

Despite all the theatrics of Saturday's 110-100 overtime victory, which included an explosive run in overtime after a blown call on Baron Davis' last-second 3-pointer, the Hornets did not want to roll around in the past.

After a night of watching the replay of Davis' shot, they jokingly expressed their second-day frustration, but left it at that.

There's too much left to accomplish.

With a 2-1 series lead, the Hornets can advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals with a victory at TD Waterhouse Centre on Tuesday night.

They have also regained homecourt advantage, should the Magic win Tuesday and force a Game 5. But they don't want to think like that. They know that, in the playoffs, the great teams close out.

"We have to get it right now," forward Robert "Tractor" Traylor said. "It can't wait. We need to work hard and try to end it and have time to get ready for the second round. We know Orlando is going to be ready. I think we have a great chance of winning the game."

The return of forward Jamal Mashburn, the team's leading scorer, would give the Hornets a boost.

But the Hornets have been waiting for that boost since Mashburn left 10 minutes into Game 1 with a virus, vitamin B-12 deficiency and mild anemia. Coach Paul Silas was to speak with Mashburn by phone Sunday night and gauge his readiness.

A decision on Mashburn, who is still in Charlotte, will be made today.

By now, though, the Hornets have found a rhythm without their star. In a way, Mashburn's absence has made room for point guard Baron Davis to emerge.

Davis, the Hornets' most explosive player, has averaged 24 points in this series, six more than his regular-season average. In Game 3, he finished with 33 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.

Despite shooting 36.8 percent from the floor, Davis' energy and intensity has led the Hornets. And by being so aggressive, Davis has made his primary defender, Magic star Tracy McGrady, work harder on his sore lower back.

"We're just trying to tire him out toward the end of the game," Davis said. "As long as you keep keep attacking his body on the offensive and defensive end, you can, hopefully, tire him out."

When the Hornets lost Game 2, giving the Magic a chance to win out at home and close the series, reporters asked the team if they had thought it could be their last game at Charlotte Coliseum. The franchise plans on moving to New Orleans in the off-season.

Guard David Wesley gave what seemed like an odd answer at the time.

"Why does everybody keep talking about this being our last game?" Wesley asked. "Y'all act like we won't get to play at home in the second round."

He had subconsciously slipped. He had his mind set on finishing off the series in Orlando.

Now, Wesley and the Hornets have that chance.

Tracy McGrady looked pretty silly, and he felt that way too, lying atop a boulder-sized big yellow rubber ball. A few seconds later, his arms and legs were tied together with elastic ropes.

But it was working.

It's all part of the latest therapy to reduce the pain in his sore lower back. It's the therapy prescribed by Alex McKechine, a back/stomach specialist from Vancouver.

"I can't even tell you what we were doing. It was all new to me," McGrady said after Sunday's workout. "At first, I was like, 'What the hell is this?' But it's working. I can feel the difference."

Quiet in North Carolina

Darrell Armstrong said he laughed at McGrady's earlier comments that Charlotte was "a boring [expletive] city with nothing to do."

Armstrong, though, didn't totally disagree. He is from Gastonia, N.C., which is about 30 minutes away.

"North Carolina is like a retirement state. It's where you go to relax. When I was growing up, we thought Charlotte was a party city," Armstrong said Sunday. "Tracy obviously has never been to Gastonia, where I'm from."

When reminded that McGrady also was from an even smaller town (Auburndale), Armstrong laughed.

"I didn't even know where Auburndale was," he said. "I've been driving to Tampa from here for the last eight years, and I never once saw a sign that said Auburndale. Finally, my daughter pointed it out. It just shows you that big things can come from small towns."

4,000 tickets remain

There are 4,000 tickets remaining for Tuesday's Game 4 at TD Waterhouse Centre, but that isn't surprising. The Magic fell about 500 tickets short of a sellout in Saturday's Game 3.

On the rebound

Magic Coach Doc Rivers was the first to admit that the Magic have been hurt badly in the series by an inability to rebound, but he wasn't blaming his front-court players.

The problem, he said, was his guys in the backcourt. Center Horace Grant and power forward Pat Garrity each had 10 rebounds in Game 3 when the Magic were outrebounded 52-38.

"Everyone likes to point to Pat and Horace, but in Game 1, it was their guards that destroyed us on the boards. And it was the same way in Game 3," Rivers said.

Particularly galling was the 14 rebounds by Charlotte point guard Baron Davis.

"We can't let that happen again," the coach said.

?It is NBA policy that officials are prevented from seeing the television replay monitors that everyone else analyse, but what if these two moments occured deep in the NBA finals with a championship on the line?? ? RealGM Heads Up. March 24th, 2002.

The above quote was in the main article on RealGM Wiretap back in March of this year after guard Lamond Murray of the Cleveland Cavaliers? shot counted after the clock did not start in a timely manner to defeat the New Jersey Nets.  Only weeks before this there was controversy again, this time the Chicago Bulls? Jalen Rose still had the ball in his hands when the clock clearly read 0.0 on replays in double overtime down in Houston.  It counted giving the Bulls the win.

Saturday night in the first round playoff series between the Orlando Magic and the Charlotte Hornets controversy struck once again.  With the scores tied at 92 and only 0.7 seconds remaining on the clock the Hornets game plan was to lob the ball towards the rim and hope for a tip in.  But as the players returned to the court guard Baron Davis decided to change the play, opting for a three point shot which he made.  

Television replays showed that the clock still had 0.2 seconds remaining on it when the ball left Davis? hands, yet official Bernie Fryer waved it off ruling the ball left Davis' hands too late.  Tough call, but what if the Magic ended up defeating the Hornets in overtime after the Hornets had really won the game in regulation?  The Hornets would be down 2-1 in the series and facing elimination.

According to the Charlotte Observer after the mistake everyone from Charlotte coach  Paul Silas to NBA Commissioner David Stern was calling for closer consideration of instant replay.

"In that (Hornets-Magic) situation, with replay, it would have been reversed," Stern told a CBS.Sportsline.com reporter while attending Sunday's San Antonio-Seattle game. "If you're going to go with the clock, you have to go with it."

"It was discussed during the Board of Governors (owners) meeting in April and is going to be raised in accordance with the Board of Governors discussion with the competition committee," he said.

"I think they have to really look at that because on the last-second shot of a quarter or anything of that nature, you have to determine whether it was a legitimate shot or not. And the instant replay is going to show it,? added Silas.  "So at this point it's time to move into the 21st century."

A bizarre twist to the issue came when Fryer explained his decision after the game, stating that he decided before the game that he was not going to allow a shot.  He believed that seven tenths of a second was not long enough for a player to "catch, cock for a three-pointer and let go?.

The NBA rulebook does not specify how much time a player needs to successfully attempt such a shot. However, in what league officials refer to as their "case book" -- a manual of interpretations of various rules -- there is a standard that officials go by.  It allows a shot with at least four-tenths of a second left, but only a lob, requiring just a tap into the basket, with less four-tenths left.

And had the Magic defeated the Hornets in overtime what would have happened?

"That's why we're discussing (instant replay)," Stern said. "Tenths of a second are very difficult for humans to deal with. So we have to come up with an answer."

Tracy McGrady, the star shooting guard from the Orlando Magic, Thursday flew in his therapist after the Magic decided to take a more aggressive approach to his strained back, Ken Hornack of the Daytona Beach News-Journal is reporting.

"He has me working muscles that I've never in my life worked before," said McGrady.

Alex McKechnie, who has worked with Shaquille O'Neal and former Magic forward Dennis Scott when they had injuries in their back and lower abdomens, spent three hours Friday with McGrady,  employing a series of exercises to try and help McGrady get better.

The (AP) reports: Jamal Mashburn will remain in Charlotte to be treated for anemia and vitamin deficiency while his Charlotte Hornets teammates play Game 3 in their playoff series against the Orlando Magic.

The Hornets practiced in Charlotte on Friday, then boarded a plane for Orlando without their leading scorer. The best-of-five series is tied 1-1, and Game 3 is Saturday.

Charlotte has not ruled out the possibility of Mashburn playing in Game 4 on Tuesday.

"I talked to him yesterday and he's still a little lightheaded and weak," Hornets coach Paul Silas said. "So we'll just plan that day-to-day. I'll give him a call over the weekend and see how he is feeling.

"If he's feeling fine, then he'll come down and play Tuesday. If not, we'll have to do without him."

Now that Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons has emerged as the most dominant inside player in the Eastern Conference, there is some curiosity and confusion about how the Orlando Magic "let him get away."

It seems incomprehensible, especially for the franchise that lost Shaquille O'Neal to free agency, to have a player like Wallace on its roster and allow his contract to expire. If you were to draw a description of the type of player the Magic most need right now, it would look suspiciously like Wallace -- big, rugged, intimidating, major hops, selfless, motivated, coachable, relentless and willing to play hurt. His drawbacks -- undeveloped offensive skills and poor free-throw shooting -- could be compensated for by other Magic players, as they are in Detroit.

You may well decide that it was inexcusable for Magic General Manager John Gabriel to lose Wallace. But first, understand how it happened.

Wallace came to the Magic in the summer of 1999 the year Gabriel hired Doc Rivers and completely overhauled the roster in a series of transactions that would earn him the NBA Executive of the Year Award. One of his best moves was getting Wallace in the trade that sent Ike Austin to the Washington Wizards. Some would argue that unloading Austin's contract was an even better move than acquiring Wallace. Certainly it was more important in Gabriel's master plan, which was to clear enough salary-cap space to pursue two major free agents in the summer of 2000.

Washington's trade of Wallace shows that the Magic were not the only team failing to comprehend how good Wallace would be. He was an undrafted 25-year-old power forward out of Division 2 Virginia Union who had played more football than basketball while growing up in rural Alabama. Though listed at 6-foot-9, he is closer to 6-8 unless you count the 'Fro.

No doubt there are personnel experts around the NBA who would tell you they knew all along how good Wallace would become. The obvious question: "Why didn't you draft him?"

Rivers had an inkling in the summer of '99. While most observers considered Wallace a throw-in who might be thrown out by the time the season began, Rivers said he would probably be in the starting lineup. And he was -- for 81 games.

But even Rivers admits he didn't know Wallace would be this good.

When the 1999-200 season ended, so did the contracts of most Magic players including Wallace. That was by design; it left enough salary-cap room to offer maximum contracts to Tim Duncan and Grant Hill. For a long time that summer it appeared the Magic had a chance to sign both players. Hill decided early to accept the Magic's offer. When Duncan elected to stay in San Antonio, the Magic settled for a 20-year-old kid who hated Toronto winters and was anxious to come home to Florida. His name was Tracy McGrady. I think we can all agree he was an acceptable alternative.

Meanwhile Wallace and Chucky Atkins, who had helped Rivers become NBA Coach of the Year in his first season, were also on the open market. So was forward Bo Outlaw, and here is where the Magic lost Wallace.

By then it had become the Magic's habit to make wink-wink agreements with players who wanted to remain in Orlando but could not be paid their market value because of the salary cap. They would agree to play for minimum compensation with the understanding that their loyalty would be rewarded when cap space permitted.

Outlaw had played two seasons under those conditions and the bill was due. The Magic gave him a five-year, $28 million contract and hoped Rivers could convince Wallace to wait a year. But the Pistons had something a little more concrete -- $30 million over six years. That's what is known in the NBA as a no-brainer.

Detroit also signed Atkins that summer. The free-agent movements of Hill, Wallace and Atkins went down officially, and somewhat misleadingly, as one trade. In fact, they were separate sign-and-trade transactions, combined for the purpose of getting Hill the maximum $93 million for seven years.

Given Wallace's emergence as the NBA's top rebounder and shot blocker and Hill's two seasons of being sidelined by injuries and surgeries, it is reasonable to conclude the Magic got burned. Even if Hill returns to form next season -- and that's a big if -- Wallace would have been a better fit for Orlando's positional needs.

The need could have been filled by Duncan. But if the Magic had signed Duncan, McGrady would probably be playing in Chicago, where his agent had been trying to steer him all along.

If nothing else, the Magic scrapped their wink-wink policy, which certainly violated the spirit of NBA salary-cap rules. John Amaechi learned about the policy change the hard way the following summer after turning down a lucrative offer from the Lakers to remain in Orlando.

It's history now. Rear-view mirror, as Chuck Daly would say. The Magic are still weak in the middle, where Wallace looks very strong for Detroit.

Strong enough to make a Lakers-Pistons NBA Finals a distinct possibility, and a rather depressing one for the Magic.

To truly put Troy Hudson's rapid rise and game-saving, 26-point performance in Game 2 of the Orlando Magic's playoff series into perspective, you must flash back to his lowly status a year ago.

When Orlando played Milwaukee in the playoffs last season, Magic head coach Doc Rivers had such little faith in the reserve point guard that Hudson barely played 14 minutes a game and scored just 17 points the entire four-game series. Rather than playing Hudson, the Magic reluctantly had to leave a battered and gimpy Darrell Armstrong on the floor an average of 42 minutes a night.

Now, fast-forward to this postseason, one in which Hudson has remarkably zoomed to the forefront with his free-wheeling, furious style of breakneck basketball. He took a major portion of the scoring burden off Tracy McGrady's ailing back in Tuesday's Game 2 by pumping in 26 points, a career best in the postseason.

Hudson's surprising boost allowed the Magic to split the two games in Charlotte and control homecourt advantage as the two teams prepare for Game 3 Saturday afternoon in Orlando. Hudson now being cast a playoff hero is a fitting ending to what has been one of the NBA's most remarkable turnarounds of the season.

"Last season when I'd make a turnover or take a bad shot, I'd look over to the bench and see a grimace on Doc's face," Hudson admitted. "But now, he just tells me to keep attacking. That gives me the confidence to stay aggressive. That's the way I like to play. When I have that freedom and don't have to worry about mistakes, that's when I'm at my best."

Hudson's best this season has been a welcome relief to a Magic team that was close to giving up on him last year. Not only did he double his scoring average (11.7 compared to 4.8), he improved in nine statistical categories this season. He didn't win the NBA's Most Improved Player award -- he finished tied for seventh behind winner Jermaine O'Neal -- but few players have come farther in one season's time than Hudson.

"Coming from where I was last year," Hudson said with a sigh, "just being nominated for the award is like winning to me."

With Mike Miller hobbled by a sprained left ankle, Hudson came to the rescue Tuesday and provided the Magic with a reliable second scorer behind McGrady. When McGrady went to the bench midway through the second quarter, Hudson took control of a see-saw game that had featured 11 lead changes. He battered Baron Davis and David Wesley with 10 points off a flurry of quick-release jumpers. His scoring keyed an 18-4 run that allowed the Magic to build a 15-point lead by halftime.

Hudson's obvious aggression and oozing confidence were factors that were missing in Game 1, when he had taken just seven shots and played passively. Rivers impressed upon him before the game that if he didn't attack in Game 2 he wouldn't keep him on the floor.

On Tuesday, Rivers rewarded Hudson's revived spark with playing time when the game mattered most. He was on the floor for the entire fourth quarter and overtime. In all, he made 10 of 18 shots, including a key jumper in the extra period that put the Magic up five.

"We want him to be as aggressive as possible, but also under control," Rivers said. "There was one stretch there in the third quarter where he got out of whack a little bit, but we let him play through it. We had to because he's the only guy other than Tracy who can break their defense down and get his own shot."

McGrady, who played through the back injury and had 31 points and 11 rebounds in Game 2, might have been the most delighted player to see Hudson's improvement.

"That's what we've got to get Troy," McGrady said. "Basically you've got them all keying in on me, so there's a lot of pressure there. But if a guy like Troy is able to play free, he's going to burn defenses. That a huge help to me."

Hudson, a 6-foot-1, 170-pounder out of Southern Illinois University, was little help to the Magic last season when he was signed as a free agent to back up Armstrong. A shooting guard in college, the Magic tried to turn him into a traditional point guard. But he struggled mightily with his decision-making, turning the ball over repeatedly in crucial times. And with his confidence at an all-time low, Hudson's shot (33 percent from the floor, 20 percent from 3-point range) also left him. He was benched for long stretches and was hardly a factor in the playoffs, when Armstrong was playing on a badly strained groin muscle.

But quite possibly the turning point in Hudson's career came in January of this season when Rivers called him into his office prior to a road game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Basically, Rivers admitted that his plan of making Hudson into a point guard had failed and he was issuing him what the two now refer to as "The Freedom Act."

"We were in Memphis and he just told me, 'I've been on you hard for more than a year now and I think it's time for you to go out and play your style. I want you to play free and put some big numbers up for us,' " Hudson recalled. "I kind of was shocked. Going through the season I did last year, I never thought I'd get the freedom and the green light I've gotten this year."

That night in Memphis, Hudson responded with 18 points, setting the stage for his stellar play down the stretch. For the year, he topped 20 points 12 times compared to just four times last season. He led the Magic in scoring six times compared to just once last year. And the freedom to shoot produced 48 double-digit scoring nights compared to only eight last season.

"Doc always told me last season he knew I could really score," he said. "But last year helped me because I've learned to play point guard better. Now, my game is a better combination. If I need to run the team I can. If I need to score I can. Before, I could just score and now I can do both."

Financially speaking, Hudson's timing couldn't be better. He is a free agent at season's end and is making the veteran's minimum of $590,850 this season. He'll surely command some interest from other teams this summer and will likely get a contract offer worth $3-4 million from the Magic.

Said Rivers: "It will be tougher to keep him now, but we're going to fight to keep him. I'd really be surprised if Troy isn't here. I think he'll be here next year."

For now, Hudson is simply concerned with repeating his Game 2 performance in Saturday's Game 3. With Charlotte's Davis slowed by back spasms, Hudson said he has no plans of backing off his aggressive, free-spirited style of play.

"I may not hit shots, but as long as I'm aggressive, I think I can cause a lot of havoc," he said. "I can hurt Charlotte by pushing the ball up the court and getting to the basket. I won't stop being aggressive."