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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | F | |
| MAGIC | 31 | 23 | 28 | 32 | - | 114 |
| KNICKS | 29 | 23 | 21 | 29 | - | 102 |
Recap:
NEW YORK (AP) -- Rashard Lewis scored 13 of his season-high 26 points in the third quarter, and the Orlando Magic beat the New York Knicks 114-102 on Sunday night for their sixth straight road victory.
Dwight Howard had 24 points and 16 rebounds for the Eastern Conference leaders, who capped a perfect three-game trip over the holiday weekend that started with an impressive win at division rival Atlanta on Thanksgiving. Orlando improved to 50-14 in November the last three years, best in the NBA.
Reserve Nate Robinson scored 24 points for the Knicks, who lost their fifth straight in the opener of a difficult stretch of four games in six nights against teams playing .700 ball. They host Phoenix on Tuesday, visit the Magic on Wednesday and travel to Atlanta on Friday.
Orlando needed a big second-half rally to pull out a 100-98 victory at Milwaukee on Saturday night, but seized control of this one midway through the third quarter.
Lewis' 3-pointer tied it at 57 early in the period, kicking off a 14-4 run during which he added another 3 as Orlando opened a 68-61 lead. He followed Danilo Gallinari's free throw with another 3-pointer, and the Magic led by as much as 11 in the period before settling for an 82-73 advantage after Mickael Pietrus' basket at the buzzer.
The Magic pushed it to 12 early in the fourth, but Robinson scored or assisted on the Knicks' first 22 points of the period, and his basket cut it to 92-86 with 6:15 to go. New York could come no closer, and Orlando put it away when Lewis hit a 3-pointer and converted a three-point play in a 40-second span that made it 106-92 with 3:19 remaining.
Vince Carter finished with 23 points for the Magic, who were far too deep for a Knicks team that had little besides Robinson once it fell behind.
Jason Williams made a 30-footer to beat the buzzer to end the first quarter, giving the Magic a 31-29 lead. The Knicks opened a six-point advantage on Al Harrington's three-point play with 4:25 left in the second, but Carter hit a couple of jumpers in the final 1:50 as Orlando went into halftime with a 54-52 edge.
David Lee had 20 points and 12 rebounds for New York.
NOTES: The Knicks played without C Eddy Curry, who missed his third straight game with a sore left knee. ... Orlando's longest road winning streak is seven games, set from Nov. 3-19, 2007, its first seven road games that season. ... Orlando is 7-0 against the Atlantic Division, including 5-0 on the road.
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VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:
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Preview:
STATS -- The Orlando Magic have needed impressive second-half comebacks to win their past two games, but they might not have to worry about falling into a similar hole against the New York Knicks.
The Magic look to build on the Eastern Conference's best record and notch their sixth straight road win Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks will try to snap a six-game slide at home.
Orlando (13-4) let a fourth-quarter lead slip away in a 99-98 home loss to Miami on Wednesday, and looked like it might be headed for back-to-back losses when it fell behind Atlanta by 12 at halftime Thursday.
The Magic stormed back, however, outscoring the Hawks 54-25 in the second half en route to a 93-76 win, and used a similar blueprint Saturday in Milwaukee.
Down 68-53 with 6:59 left in the third quarter, Orlando closed the period on a 20-4 run. The Magic went on to win 100-98 behind 25 points apiece from Dwight Howard and Vince Carter, who had 19 in the second half after receiving four stitches for a cut lip he suffered earlier in the game.
"That's big time, you could tell he had the fire in his eye in the fourth quarter when we really needed him,'' forward Rashard Lewis said of Carter. "He stepped up big, made big shots and brought it home for us."
Howard finished with 25 points and 20 rebounds - his second 20-20 game of the season - with 15 points in the second half after scoring 16 in the final 24 minutes in Atlanta.
"It was a war down there and luckily we just wanted it more than they did," Howard said.
Part of the Magic's success can be attributed to simply getting Howard more involved offensively. They're 9-0 when he takes 11 or more shots and 4-4 when he shoots it 10 times or fewer.
Howard has 25 career 20-20 games, three of which have come against New York (3-13). Howard averaged 26.5 points, 17.5 rebounds and 4.0 blocks as the Magic won both trips to MSG last season.
This will be the first time the Knicks have seen Vince Carter in an Orlando uniform, and the eight-time All-Star has routinely enjoyed playing in New York. He's averaged 27.3 points and 6.5 assists while shooting 55.9 percent in his last three visits to MSG, notching one of his five career triple-doubles there with New Jersey on April 16, 2007.
The Knicks have dropped six straight at home by an average of 8.6 points, most recently falling 107-105 in overtime last Sunday against Boston. They last lost seven straight at MSG from March 3-24, 2008.
A three-game road trip didn't help put New York back in the win column this week. The Knicks lost all three, falling 128-125 in Denver on Friday despite Al Harrington delivering 41 points off the bench.
Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony scored a career-high 50.
"I felt like we played hard and took a step forward," Harrington told the NBA's official Web site. "If we play like this against most teams we can win our fair share of games."
Harrington, the NBA's leading bench scorer at 20.3 points per game, averaged 17.8 points against Orlando last season.
The Magic found it more troubling to guard Nate Robinson. The 5-foot-9 guard - who jumped over Howard to win the Slam Dunk contest in February - averaged 22.0 points against Orlando in 2008-09, and he's scored 17.5 points in his last four games as he works his way back from a sprained right ankle.
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Game Notes:
Nov. 29 @ New York: Orlando is 40-38 all-time vs. New York (22-17 at home, 18-21 on the road) during the regular season…The Magic went 3-1 last season against the Knicks...Orlando has won 11 of the last 16 meetings overall...The Magic have won six of the last eight outings at home, and 10 of the last 15 at MSG…Matt Barnes played with the Knicks during the 2005-06 campaign…Head Coach Stan Van Gundy is the brother of former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, and attended college at SUNY-Brockport…Assistant Coach Patrick Ewing had his #33 retired by the Knicks in February 2003…He is New York’s all-time leader in games played, points, minutes, field goals made and attempted, free throws made and attempted, rebounds, steals, blocked shots and 40-point games…Assistant Coach Brendan Malone served in the same capacity with the Knicks on three separate occasions (1986-88, 1997-2000, 2003-04)…Assistant Coach Steve Clifford spent three seasons with the Knicks – two as an assistant coach (2001-03) and one as an advanced scout (2000-01)…Assistant Coach Bob Beyer is a native of LeRoy, NY and was the head coach for Siena College from 1994-97.
BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. KNICKS: 41 pts., Shaquille O’Neal (@ Orlando, 2-28-95; @ Orlando, 2-5-95; @ New York, 11-10-94)
BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. MAGIC: 39 pts., John Starks (@ New York, 1-4-94)
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