Tracy McGrady came into Wednesday's game nursing a sore back. He came out of the night with some hurt feelings and a legitimate case for nonsupport from his misfiring Orlando Magic mates.

Mike Miller couldn't shoot straight, Orlando's frontline couldn't rebound and no one bothered confronting Indiana forward Al Harrington -- all of it combining to render McGrady's magnificent 31-point effort meaningless.

And after getting battered on the glass and exposed time and again defensively in the 89-82 loss to the Pacers, Magic coach Doc Rivers even questioned the toughness of a Magic team that now seems to be teetering on the verge of disaster.

"Down the stretch they were tougher, and you just can't win a lot of games that way," Rivers said. "We're usually a team that hustles, but they were just tougher than we were. That doesn't sit very well with me right now."

Orlando, picked by many to win the Eastern Conference when it had a healthy Grant Hill, lost for the third time in a row and dropped to a disappointing 13-17. The Magic shot just 39 percent from the floor -- the third consecutive game in which it shot less than 40 percent. The top-scoring team in the NBA last week, the Magic have since scored 75, 80 and 82 points in their last three games.

"Coming into the season they had high expectations. With McGrady and Hill they figured to be one of more formidable tandems in the league," said Indiana forward Jalen Rose. "But without Grant they are searching for an identity right now."

Orlando, which has given up more offensive rebounds than any other team in the NBA, was hammered on the boards by the smallish Pacers. Indiana (17-13) outrebounded the Magic 51-35 and grabbed 17 offensive rebounds.

"Our defense was pretty good, but we just gave up too many offensive rebounds," Miller said. "The second shots is where it hurts you."

Indiana pushed its lead to 72-64 in the fourth quarter on a putback by Harrington -- the Pacers' 15th offensive rebound of the night.

Harrington, who had 16 points in Indiana's defeat of Orlando in November, scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half, including 16 in the fourth quarter.

Fumed Rivers: "Al Harrington just manhandled us."

McGrady, playing his first game in more than a week because of the back strain, hit 11 of 19 shots. The rest of the Magic were just 19 of 58 (32.7 percent) from the floor.

Miller was off the mark most of the night, missing from both afar and in close. He missed 12 of his 15 shots and is mired in a 40.9 percent funk over his past four games.

"As the game went on (Miller) got tighter and tighter and he missed a couple and a couple more," Rivers said. "Then he started to rush it. When he missed three times in a row on the block against (Jamaal) Tinsley I thought that might have been the back-breaker for him."

Darrell Armstrong had missed five of his seven shots and had just six points in 35 minutes. Rivers insisted that Armstrong is playing with a nagging back injury, and the veteran point guard could be a candidate for the injured list.

The game originally was slated to be televised nationally by TNT, but the network dropped it in order to show Michael Jordan's Washington Wizards face Charlotte. That looked like a wise decision most of the night as both Indiana and Orlando were sloppy and sluggish throughout the game. The Pacers, winners of three in a row, shot just 41.4 percent and had 16 turnovers.

Orlando fell behind by as many as nine in the fourth quarter before making a brief run to get back in it. McGrady and Miller hit consecutive 3-pointers and then McGrady added twisting runners in the lane to draw Orlando within 80-78. But Harrington converted a jumper and two free throws and Reggie Miller (16 points) stole a Pat Garrity pass for a layup to seal the game.

Orlando started slowly, but rode a red-hot McGrady in the second quarter to grab a 44-42 lead at halftime. The Magic were down 10 points just five minutes into the game and shot just 39 percent in the first quarter.

But McGrady took the game in the second period, scoring 14 of his 20 first-half points in the period. Already the NBA leader in 40-point games with four, McGrady has topped the 20-point mark a league-best 23 times.

The Pacers used Jonathan Bender, Rose and Al Harrington on McGrady, but none of the three had any luck shutting down the 22-year-old star. McGrady showed no signs of having back trouble, getting in the lane for two layups, two dunks and six free throws.

"Tracy, for his first game back, did pretty dang good," Rivers said. But he needed more help. We needed one more guy to take shots and step up."