Like almost everybody else in Georgia, Doc Rivers was tempted to buy a Big Game lottery ticket Tuesday. Even NBA coaches can use a spare $325 million.

"I'm feeling lucky," Rivers said before the Magic played the Hawks.

Three hours later, he was probably glad he passed. The Magic won a Big Game, but it was far from the playoff jackpot it could have been.

Down in Miami, the Heat blew it against Charlotte. Now the Magic must win tonight to assure themselves of home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

A couple of problems immediately come to mind. At the end of the game, Tracy McGrady was moving as if his back needed a couple of cases of WD-40. Mike Miller's left ankle was in a walking boot.

Nobody was feeling very lucky.

"We're just trying to survive," Rivers said.

The Magic badly need the home court in the playoffs, but they need a healthy McGrady worse. Now they must play another Big Game -- maybe more -- without their two best players.

Throw in Grant Hill's ankle, and you'd be tempted to say somebody up there doesn't like this team. That's not a plea for sympathy or an excuse for failure.

"It is what it is," Rivers said.

And that isn't good for the Magic. Even before the latest medical development, the Magic were a mentally tough but physically fragile group. Now it's time for the cavalry to again ride in and save the day.

That would be Pat Garrity, Monty Williams, Troy Hudson, Don Reid and everybody else previously considered an NBA role player. That's not the most flattering thing you can call a guy. It implies they can do some things well, other things not so well.

One thing they don't do well is impress the casual observer. Orlando may have the least glamorous roster of any team in the Eastern Conference. But with McGrady's MVP charge, role players have gotten the Magic this far.

"Man to man, our roster doesn't really stand up to a lot of other rosters," Rivers said. "But sometimes, the sum is greater than the parts."

The main part Tuesday was Williams, who had 23 points and one behind-the-back bounce pass to a streaking Andrew DeClercq for a dunk. It was role playing at its best.

Then there was Reid, who fouled Jason Terry with such force the little guard got up and punched the back of Reid's head. Both were thrown out of the game.

Even if he didn't mean to sacrifice himself, Reid taking Terry out of the game was a tradeoff the Magic would take any day.

"Our role players don't get enough credit," Darrell Armstrong said. "They've been coming through all year."

He was once a role player who became a featured performer. That opportunity keeps presenting itself in Orlando, but how many times can role players answer the bugle call?

"I'd rather be good than lucky," Rivers said.

Since he can't be one, however, he'll take the other. That's the spirit that drove a few zillion people to line up Tuesday to buy Big Game tickets, even though the odds of winning were 76 million to 1.

For a little perspective, they were 25 times more likely to get hit by lightning.

They were 16 times more likely to be killed on the way to buy lottery tickets.

They were 61 times more likely to be eaten by a flesh-eating virus.

Unless they played for the Magic. Then it was probably even money.