Orlando, Fla. ? Tracy McGrady’s play was mesmerizing during Orlando’s first two playoff games. Yet the Magic need to do more than gawk at their teammate to get past the Detroit Pistons.

McGrady scored 89 points in Orlando’s split of the games in Detroit, while the other 11 players on the Magic roster combined for 87. The lack of support for the superstar was glaringly obvious Wednesday night, when McGrady scored a franchise playoff-record 46 points, while everyone else totaled 31 in a loss to the Pistons.

“I think we were all waiting to see what T-Mac was going to do. You can’t do that in the playoffs,” said Magic forward Drew Gooden, a former Kansas University standout who’s a distant second in team scoring with 22 points in the series. “You’ve got to be ready to fire when he passes the ball. When the ball’s not in his hands, you have to have other guys aggressive.”

McGrady’s teammates will try to redeem themselves in Game 3 tonight.

“Guys have got to step up,” McGrady said Thursday following a brief film session at the team’s practice facility. “Just because it’s the playoffs, don’t feel like there’s pressure — just play like you’ve been playing in the regular season.”

Although the Pistons were the league’s best defensive team during the regular season, they’re having no luck containing McGrady. But they’ve compensated by clamping down on the rest of the Magic.

“My belief is that you look at the score; if one guy is putting up a ton of points and you are leading, you don’t overreact,” Detroit coach Rick Carlisle said. “In the first game, (McGrady) went crazy but a lot of other guys were scoring. That’s what hurt us. In Game 2, he scored, but we did a good job of stopping their other players, so we were in good shape.

“As long as we keep them in the 70s and 80s, it doesn’t matter who scores the points.”

Orlando's Tracy McGrady reacts to a missed shot. McGrady scored 46 points Wednesday against Detroit in Auburn Hills, Mich., in the Magic's 89-77 loss.

Pistons forward Michael Curry added: “If we can continue to stop their other players like we did this time, we’ll be in good shape.”

While the Magic complained after Wednesday’s loss about how the supporting cast can’t keep deferring to McGrady and passing up shots, those players have had trouble hitting open shots. McGrady is shooting 57 percent, the others 36 percent.

We need to keep our heads up,” said Magic forward Gordan Giricek, who’s shooting 2-for-13. “It’s the only way out.”

Giricek isn’t alone in struggling. Gooden is just 8-of-25; point guards Jacque Vaughn, another former Jayhawk, and Darrell Armstrong are a combined 6-for-18; and three-point specialist Pat Garrity, bothered by a bruised pelvis, has missed all four of his attempts.

But Armstrong adamantly opposed the suggestion that offensive problems cost the Magic a chance for a sweep in Detroit. What hurt more were defensive letdowns, he said. In the Game 2 loss, Orlando allowed five Pistons to score in double figures while being outrebounded 47-30.

“We didn’t win off offense the first game. We won off defense,” said Armstrong, who’s averaging five points and four assists in the two games.