The Orlando Magic started strong in 2006-07 under Brian Hill, but finished with a losing record for the fourth straight season. Led by first-year coach Stan Van Gundy and a breakout season from center Dwight Howard, the Southeast Division leaders hope a similar letdown can be avoided.

The Magic look to continue their strong play on Monday when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers to begin a season-high five-game West Coast road trip.

Orlando won 13 of its first 17 games last season, but finished 40-42 and were swept by Detroit in the opening round of the playoffs. This year, the Magic (12-3) are off to their best since 1995-96 and hope to sustain that success before thinking about going deep into the postseason.

"We just want to keep winning," Van Gundy said after Saturday's 120-99 victory over Miami, the team he coached from 2003-05. "I've said all along if you start putting more importance on one game than another, then you're going to end up in trouble, because it's an 82-game grind and you've got to play every night."

That message seems to be coming through to Howard, who showed improvement in each of his first three seasons since being selected first overall out of high school in 2004. Matched up against former Magic star Shaquille O'Neal, Howard had 17 points and 13 rebounds for his 13th double-double this season.

"Whoever we play, we always have a mismatch, so we want to take advantage of that," Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu said. "Maybe tonight was different because Shaq isn't used to running. And Dwight runs better than all of us, so we have to take advantage of his attack and just play through him."

Howard is averaging 27.3 points and 15.3 rebounds while shooting 75.9 percent from the field in his last four games. In six career games at the Rose Garden, Howard is averaging 15.7 points and 13.5 boards.

Howard's dominant inside presence also has opened up outside shots for perimeter players like Turkoglu, who scored a team-high 27 on Saturday while going 5-for-7 from 3-point range. He's averaging a career-high 18.5 points, but just 13.4 in 20 career games against Portland.

The Trail Blazers (5-8) have their own emerging star in second-year forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who's averaging 18.8 points and 7.8 rebounds while shooting 52.7 percent from the field after a forgettable rookie season coming off the bench.

Aldridge had 28 points and 12 boards on Friday to help Portland top Sacramento 87-84 and snap a five-game skid.The Blazers had been outscored by an average of 8.4 points in the fourth quarter during their slide, but outscored the Kings 25-19 in the final period.

"Hopefully we can do this the rest of the season," said point guard Steve Blake, who had 13 points with three 3-pointers - all in the second half. "We needed to make something happen tonight and we did it."

Friday's win improved the Blazers to 5-1 at the Rose Garden, where they're shooting 49.1 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from 3-point range - both among the top home percentages in the league.

Orlando swept the two-game season series against the Blazers last season and has won four of the last five overall against them.