Howard powers Magic over Cavs

Associated Press

ORLANDO, FLA.

Predicting which Orlando Magic team shows up from night to night has been a daily guessing game.

A recent season-high four-game losing streak was plagued with turnovers, inconsistent play on defense and stale offense.

Since then, the Magic have dug out of the muck, earning their second straight victory, 102-94 over the Cleveland Cavaliers Friday night.

Dwight Howard scored 19 points, had 16 rebounds and blocked eight shots, and hit some key late free-throws to help ward off a late Cavs’ charge.

Jason Richardson also added 19 points in his first action in two games after resting a sore knee. Hedo Turkoglu finished with 18 points and Ryan Anderson chipped in 17.

“We did good job of spacing the floor out, moving the ball and getting each other involved,” Richardson said. “It was really good for us tonight. Everybody was involved, did a good job on both ends and got the win.”

The Magic won their seventh straight over the Cavaliers, despite playing without injured starting point guard Jameer Nelson and suspended reserve big man Glen Davis.

Orlando continues a stretch of nine games in 13 days Saturday at Indiana.

Alonzo Gee led Cleveland with 20 points, followed by Kyrie Irving with 18.

The Cavs have lost three of their last four and returns home to host Dallas on Saturday before going to Miami on Tuesday.

The Magic came in averaging 15.5 turnovers per game, but had just five against the Cavs and opened up a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter.

The Cavs got it down to 95-90 with 2:12 to play by fouling Howard intentionally and sending him to the free-throw line.

Howard missed four straight attempts from the line during one stretch before sinking a pair to give the Magic a seven-point cushion and help close it out. He finished 9 for 16 for the evening.

He said he is never surprised when teams resort to fouling him, especially with the career-low 47 percent he came in shooting from the stripe.

“No, that’s the game plan,” Howard said. “Until I get better at the line they’re gonna continue to do it. It is what it is. I shot them better. I just gotta continue to work on them. They’ll fall.”