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.