By JOHN DENTON
Florida Today

PHILADELPHIA - Surviving in the NBA is usually difficult enough for Pat Garrity, an undersize power forward who must fight and claw every night to make up for being slight of build and slow of foot.

But factor in a nagging groin injury, few breaks from the officials and an unrelenting schedule, and the Orlando Magic forward can get pretty run down.

Such is life in the NBA, where the games often seem to come one right after another.

Not only do NBA teams play as many as five times a week, the 82-game schedule often calls for them to play on consecutive nights - back-to-backs, as they are referred to by players and coaches. Football teams get a week to rest and heal up and baseball players usually spend days at a time in one city, but teams in the NBA often feel as though they are constantly on the go.

As if playing two games in two nights weren't taxing enough, there's usually extensive travel involved in between the games. That means players must play a game, ride a bus, take a flight, ride a bus, sleep in a strange bed and then play again. Nothing tests the mental and physical fortitude of a basketball team more than this, Garrity said.

"They call these the dog days of the NBA," he said. "It's at this point of the season when the back-to-back games really start to take their toll."

And because their depth isn't what it used to be, the Magic have been particularly prone to struggling in back-to-backs this season. After wins Tuesday and Wednesday, the Magic are 9-13 in back-to-back sets - 5-6 on the first night and 4-7 on the second night.

Over the course of the next three months, Orlando will play eight more back-to-back sets of games. The next pair is scheduled for Feb. 13 in Detroit and Valentine's Day in Philadelphia.

Because the Magic don't have a traditional back-to-the-basket power forward capable of gobbling up rebounds and swatting shots, the 6-foot-9, 238-pound Garrity has been the starter at that position for much of the past two seasons. That often means he has to battle inside against players such as Jermaine O'Neal, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Anthony Mason, Kurt Thomas and P.J. Brown on a nightly basis.

His reputation as one of the NBA's best 3-point shooters also carries along with it a stigma - that he's "soft" and probably shies away from contact. But don't let the Boy Scout looks and brains fool you. He is arguably Orlando's toughest player - be it his willingness to take the pressure-packed shots at the end of games or his refusing to back down against power forwards 50 pounds heavier than he is.

Magic coach Glenn "Doc" Rivers' favorite Garrity story happened two seasons ago during a game in Boston. During one scramble under the boards for a loose ball, then-Celtics center Vitaly Potapenko drilled Garrity in the head with a flagrant elbow.

"There was a free throw and Pat runs over to me and says, 'Coach, can I waste (a hard foul)?"' Rivers recalled with a laugh. "I told him to hold on because there were just nine seconds left and we were about to win the game. But you could see he wanted to go at it. You like that passion. He has great passion. He's one of the great spirits on this team."

One player's journey through back-to-back basketball games

Playing in the NBA is hard enough. But playing on back-to-back nights makes it especially difficult and physically taxing. Pat Garrity's diary on a recent three-day journey by the Orlando Magic, as told to Florida Today NBA writer John Denton, illustrates that.

Saturday, Jan. 11

3 p.m. We are leaving for Philadelphia, where we will play (Jan. 12) before returning home to Orlando to face Detroit the following night. Winning the first game on the road during a back-to-back - when we have fresh legs - will be key. Doing so will allow us to come back to our home court ... with a chance to win two in a row and put our recent skid of losses behind us.

3:30 p.m. We're a half-hour into our flight. Guys usually sit in the same places on each flight. Mike Miller sits at a table with me, looking bored out of his mind. Everyone else is watching DVDs on either their PCs or portable DVD players.

7:30 p.m. We arrived at the Four Seasons in downtown Philadelphia at about 6 p.m. Even though we travel a great deal, we don't exactly rough it. Paula (Garrity's wife) says the NBA has turned me into a hotel snob. After staying in Four Seasons almost everywhere we go, it's hard not to be.

9 p.m. It's too cold here in Philly to go anywhere, so I'll probably just order room service and watch the NFL playoff games on TV.

"That's going to be one boring story," Magic coach Doc Rivers joked upon hearing I was keeping a diary for Florida Today, "because Pat never leaves his room."

Sunday, Jan. 12

9 a.m. The morning was pretty typical of that of a road game. I woke up at 9 a.m. and after getting my practice gear, I had breakfast with Sass (Jeryl Sasser). I always have pancakes or oatmeal for breakfast on the road.

10:17 a.m. We arrive at the First Union Center. Doc calls the team together for a meeting at midcourt that he hoped would shake the team out the funk we've been in lately.

12 p.m. I got back to my room about noon, got out of my practice gear and here I am. I religiously take a nap from 1 to 3 on the day of a game.

4 p.m. At 3:15, I ate my pregame meal, which on the road always consists of a club sandwich and fries or chips. The bread was stale, but I managed. I don't know why, but ever since college I've always had a club sandwich when I'm on the road before a game.

5:15 p.m. We just arrived at the arena. I usually try to get some shots up before our pregame talk.

7:15 p.m. We're a minute into the first quarter. Jacque Vaughn finds me along the baseline for a 20-foot jumper.7:32 p.m. My next two shots were 3-pointers that I missed, but I got an awkward-looking shot to go from the top of the key. We're down 27-22 at the end of the first quarter because the Sixers aren't missing right now.

8 p.m. We were down by as much as 13 in the first half and went to the locker room trailing 59-47 at the break. I made both of my shots in the second quarter.

8:33 p.m. I hit my first two shots of the third quarter - a 3-pointer and a jumper that forced Philly into a timeout. The 12-2 run got us within four.

9:29 p.m. I didn't score in the fourth quarter, but I didn't really have to. We were down as many as 13 points in the second quarter and still came back and won (107-105).9:55 p.m. Before showering, I strap a big icepack to my groin. I've been icing it after games, practices and everything. It's one of those things that's hard to get rid of. The only way to cure it is to not do anything for a week. And there's no time for that.

10:45 p.m. There's no better feeling as an NBA player than winning a tough game on the road. As soon as we get on the plane, everyone hoards food - from shrimp cocktail to fruit and sandwiches. This really is a fantasy world that we live in. Chicken Parmesan is for dinner, which is served shortly after takeoff. For those who don't like that, there's Cinnamon Toast Crunch, always a popular choice.

1 a.m. We've just landed (in Orlando) and hopefully, I'll be in bed by 1:45 a.m.

Monday, Jan. 13

10:45 a.m. I just woke up about a half-hour ago and ate some breakfast. I got back to the house at about 2 this morning, but wasn't able to fall asleep until probably 3. I can never sleep after games. We'll have a meeting at 5 and tipoff against the Pistons is at 7. On days like these, I'll mess around on the computer for a while and then either read or watch TV.

Noon. For pregame lunch at home, I always have a bowl of penne pasta without any sauce, a chicken breast, two pieces of wheat toast with jelly and a bowl of fruit. It has more to do with it being something that doesn't upset my stomach than it does any kind of superstition. 4:20 p.m. Today went pretty fast and I actually feel pretty good. I can tell my legs are tired, but after the first few minutes of the game, I'll be fine. After this, we have two days off.

7:10 p.m. The game against Detroit starts. I miss my first shot in the first quarter. "Rip" (Detroit's Richard Hamilton) throws the ball back over his shoulder and it goes in. Yeah, it's going to be one of those nights.

7:55 p.m. My third foul of the first halfsends me back to the bench. I play just one minute of the second quarter.

8:31 p.m. We're up 54-53 at the half, but we let a 13-point lead slip away. The third quarter starts just the way the second one ended for me - with a foul. It was just one of those nights where it seemed like I was in the ref's eyesight all night long.

9:27 p.m. I played five minutes in the fourth quarter, and Doc pulls all the starters with 2 minutes, 59 seconds remaining. (The Pistons, who had had the previous day off, won 108-86.)