Magic win again, send Knicks below .500 (AP)

NEW YORK (AP)—Dwight Howard(notes) had 33 points and 11 rebounds, and the Orlando
Magic won their fourth straight and sent the New York Knicks tumbling below .500
with a 111-99 victory Wednesday night.

Jameer Nelson(notes) added 19 points, Hedo Turkoglu(notes) had 16 points and 11 rebounds,
and Brandon Bass(notes) chipped in 15 points for the Magic, who held Amare Stoudemire(notes)
to his worst game this season and beat the Knicks for the sixth straight time
and 13th in the last 15.

Jason Richardson(notes) scored nine of his 12 points in the fourth quarter, when
the Magic broke away after leading by one after three.

Carmelo Anthony(notes) had 24 points for the Knicks (35-36), who lost for the
seventh time in eight games and are below .500 for the first time since they
were 8-9 after losing to Atlanta on Nov. 27.

Stoudemire was held to a season-low 13 points, shooting 6 of 20 from the
floor. Chauncey Billups(notes) and Toney Douglas(notes) each scored 17 for the Knicks.

Howard averaged 27 points and 17 rebounds in the first two meetings this
season and was largely unstoppable again in this one. He made 11 of 15 shots and
kept New York from getting close down the stretch with some surprisingly strong
foul shooting, finishing 11 for 13.

The Magic grabbed the lead for good with a 9-0 run early in the fourth
quarter. Gilbert Arenas(notes) made a pair of free throws, Richardson made a 3-pointer,
and Arenas followed with consecutive buckets to make it 90-82 with 7:55 left.

The Knicks hardly made a dent from there, as they were consistently forced
to foul Howard and he kept coming through at the line.

The Knicks once spoke of finishing fifth in the Eastern Conference, but they
might be lucky they’ve gone backward to seventh instead. Orlando seems locked
into the No. 4 seed, and the Knicks have nobody to defend Howard and are
consistently burned by the Magic’s 3-point shooters when they double-team him.

The Knicks started Ronny Turiaf(notes), who gives up an inch and 20 pounds, at
center. When Howard caught the ball with Turiaf behind him on an early
possession, a player on the Orlando bench yelled out “Too little!”

That was only one of New York’s problems in this one.

The Magic got nine points apiece from Nelson and Bass in the first quarter
en route to a 28-25 lead. Orlando led by as much as 10 in the period and was
ahead most of the second before Billups led a late surge that moved the Knicks
into the lead. They were up 59-55 after Nelson’s 3-pointer at the halftime
buzzer.

Orlando turned up the defense in the third, holding the Knicks to 7 of 23
shooting and taking a 79-78 lead to the final period after Nelson’s jumper with
15 seconds remaining.

Notes: The teams meet again here Monday as the makeup for a game that was
postponed Nov. 2, after debris fell into the arena during an overnight cleaning
of asbestos-related materials. … Former New York Yankees star Bernie Williams,
now an accomplished musician, played the national anthem on his guitar. Told
before the game that Williams would be performing, Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy,
a baseball fan, said he’d prefer to watch Williams play baseball. … The Knicks
wore “Nueva York” jerseys as part of the NBA’s “Noche Latina” (Latin night)
series.