Associated Press
Associated Press
CHICAGO — The Magic had to beat the best to overcome the sting of losing to the worst.
Dwight Howard had 29 points and 18 rebounds to lead Orlando to a 99-94 win over the Bulls on Thursday, snapping Chicago’s eight-game winning streak.
The Magic bounced back from a 100-84 loss at Charlotte, beating the Bulls two nights after losing to the Bobcats, who sport a league-worst 5-32 record. Despite the loss, Chicago’s 33-9 mark is tops in the Eastern Conference.
“We stepped up tonight and everybody played great,” Howard said. “I think it was our defense that got us the lead early in the game. We forced a couple of turnovers and we were able to run and get easy buckets.
“We have to play that brand of basketball to compete for a championship. We can’t fall back and have a game like Charlotte and expect to be in the same breath as Chicago and Miami.”
Chicago twice overcame double-digit deficits and led 91-89 with 2:56 to play after Derrick Rose passed to Carlos Boozer for a jumper.
Orlando responded with an 8-1 run started by Jameer Nelson’s lob to Howard for a vicious, two-hand dunk out of a timeout. Ryan Anderson hit a 3 and a pair of free throws in the decisive rally.
“There is some luck to it,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “Towards the end, we had two guys laying on the ground and they don’t get a basket. Our offensive rebounding down the stretch was big.”
Boozer led the Bulls with 26 points. Rose added 17 points and nine assists, but shot just 6 for 22 from the field. The Bulls missed a number of layups and open 3-pointers down the stretch.
“We came out kind of sluggish, got ourselves into a hole and couldn’t dig ourselves out,” Rose said.
Designated sharpshooter Kyle Korver hit just 1 of 7 from long range, including a misfire from the corner after defender Jason Richardson fell down, leaving him unguarded.
“I thought at least three of them were in the bottom of the bucket,” Korver said. “You’ve got one play where everybody falls down and it goes in and out. I need to come through on those.”
Richardson scored 18 points and hit four 3-pointers for the Magic. Orlando hit 11 3-pointers, most of them in the early going.
“We were really moving the ball well,” Anderson said. “Moving it inside and out with Dwight. Dwight did a great job passing out of double teams.”
Suns 96, Mavericks 94
PHOENIX— Jared Dudley scored 12 of his 18 points in a third-quarter comeback and Phoenix held on to beat Dallas 96-94 on Thursday night, the Suns’ first victory over the Mavericks in nine tries.
Grant Hill scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half for Phoenix, but missed two free throws with 15.4 seconds left. Dallas had two chances after that, but Rodrique Beauboi missed a driving layup, then couldn’t hit an 18-foot jumper at the buzzer.
Marcin Gortat added 16 points and 12 rebounds as the Suns won their fourth straight home game, their longest streak in nearly two years. Steve Nash had 11 points and 11 assists.