NBA \ Wednesday’s games

January 1, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

Pistons 83, Nets 75

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Allen Iverson scored 19 points, and Tayshaun Prince added 16 to help the undermanned Detroit Pistons win their fifth straight game. Both teams lost key players during the game. New Jersey’s Vince Carter was ejected after for arguing a second-quarter call with referee Derrick Stafford, and Rasheed Wallace didn’t play in the second half after injuring his foot in the first quarter. Detroit’s Richard Hamilton (groin) missed his third straight game, and Antonio McDyess sat out after injuring his ribs Monday in a win over Orlando. Rookie Brook Lopez led the Nets with 23 points and 12 rebounds in their lowest-scoring game of the season. Devin Harris added 19 points.

Magic 113, Bulls 94

CHICAGO — Rashard Lewis set the tone by scoring 16 of his 21 points in the first half and Orlando rolled over Chicago for its eighth win in nine games. Hedo Turkoglu added 18 points. Dwight Howard scored 15, and the Southeast Division leaders came through with a dominant performance after their seven-game win streak ended in a six-point loss at Detroit. The Bulls were coming off a 13-point win at New Jersey, but instead of building on that, they got blown out of their own building. Joakim Noah came through with a season-high 19 points and 11 rebounds. Larry Hughes scored 15 and Ben Gordon 18, but Chicago shot just 42 percent. Derrick Rose had a rough afternoon finishing with just 11 points and no assists.

Rockets 85, Bucks 81

HOUSTON — Yao Ming had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Luis Scola added 11 points and 10 boards. Ron Artest had 15 points and reserve Carl Landry added 14 as the Rockets beat the Bucks for the eighth straight time, bouncing back from an embarrassing loss to Washington. Artest was disgusted with the way the Rockets played, and how they’ve played lately in losing three of their previous four. “We’ve got to play better and that’s it,” Artest said. “There’s so much of the game where we have to play better. To sum it up, that win was not even a win.” Imagine how the Bucks felt about it.

Michael Redd scored 20, Richard Jefferson had 16 and Luke Ridnour dished out 11 assists for the Bucks, who’ve lost nine consecutive games in Houston. Milwaukee was outrebounded 40-34 and committed 17 turnovers — six in the second quarter, when Houston stretched its early lead to 15. “We were a step slow and we just had too many turnovers to overcome,” Bucks coach Scott Skiles said. “We were sloppy with our offensive execution and it haunted us.”

Nuggets 114, Raptors 107

TORONTO — Nene scored 21 points, Carmelo Anthony added 20 and Denver beat Toronto to give coach George Karl his 900th regular-season victory. Chauncey Billups scored 18 points and J.R. Smith had 16 for Denver, with Kenyon Martin adding 15 points and reserves Linas Kleiza and Chris Andersen each scoring 10. Andrea Bargnani scored 26 points and Chris Bosh added 24 points and 11 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough for the Raptors, who have lost 13 of 17.

Thunder 107, Warriors 100

OKLAHOMA CITY — Jeff Green scored 26 points, Kevin Durant added 25 and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Golden State Warriors for just their fourth victory of the season. Green scored 18 in the second half for the Thunder, who got 23 points from reserve Chris Wilcox. Durant recorded his fifth double-double of the season, adding 10 rebounds and six assists. Golden State shot 54 percent from the field in the opening half, but failed to make a field goal in the first five minutes of the third quarter, allowing Oklahoma City to take control of the game. Kelenna Azibuike came off the bench to score a season-high 24 points for the Warriors.

Associated Press