RIVERS STICKS UP FOR THE FIRED

NBA coaches have been vanishing right and left of late and Magic head coach Doc Rivers stood up for recently departed Bulls coach Tim Floyd on Wednesday night.

"He was in an impossible situation," Rivers said. "He didn't do anything wrong, except maybe taking the job."

Jeff Van Gundy of the Knicks, he added, was the only one of the three whose situation was was possibly salvageable.

And Dan Issel of Denver got into a mess that that's not really fair -- (Issel responded to curses from a fan with an ethnic slur -- but still coaches know they can't do that.

Rivers said he usually just ignores whatever heckling he hears from the stands, and has never responded with anything other than a humorous comment to try to get the heckler laughing.

T-MAC SEEING 20/20

The Magic's Tracy McGrady leads the NBA with 22 games of 20 or more points. Tied for second place are Vince Carter of the Raptors (20) and Peja Stojakovic of the Kings.

Shaquille O'Neal is in a group of four with 18 games of 20-or-more points.

McGrady also leads the league in games of 40 or more points with four.

MILLER CLOSING ON MARK

Going into Wednesday night's game, Pacer Reggie Miller needed only 181 points to reach the 22,000 mark. He will be only the 19th player in history to reach that milestone.

Miller recently passed Larry Bird, his hero and former coach, on the NBA's all-time scoring list.

For every 3-pointer he hits this season, Miller is donating $1,000 to the Red Cross Disaster Relief fund. Going into Wednesday's game, he had contributed $174,000.