Dwight Howard scored 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, passing Wilt Chamberlain as the youngest NBA player to reach the 5,000-board mark as the Magic kept their grip on the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference by beating the Heat 101-95 last night.
Rashard Lewis scored 21 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:32 remaining for Orlando (55-18), which stayed five games behind Cleveland and percentage points ahead of defending champion Boston in the East race.
Dwyane Wade scored 13 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter for the Heat (39-35), whose edge over Philadelphia for the East's No. 5 seed was trimmed to one game.
The loss was especially costly for the Heat as backup point guard Luther Head broke his left hand during the game and will miss four to six weeks.
Bucks 107, Nets 78
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Richard Jefferson had 29 points and 10 rebounds against his former teammates as the Milwaukee Bucks snapped a season-high, five-game losing streak.
Charlie Villanueva added 20 points for the Bucks, who kept their slim hopes for a playoff berth alive by snapping a seven-game road losing streak and sending the Nets to their fifth straight loss, matching their season high.
The win was only the fifth in 19 games for Milwaukee, which is four games behind Chicago in the race for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. The Bucks (32-43) have seven games left.
Chris Douglas-Roberts had 14 points for New Jersey, which suffered its second embarrassing loss in 24 hours. Minnesota ended a seven-game losing streak by beating the Nets on Sunday.
Jazz 112, Knicks 104
At Salt Lake City, Deron Williams had 24 points and 13 assists for Utah, which rallied after blowing a huge lead at home for the second straight game.
The Jazz led by 24 early in the third quarter, but fell behind by a point in the fourth before regrouping and closing the game on a 20-11 run.
Carlos Boozer added 21 points and 11 rebounds and Kyle Korver scored 16 as the Jazz won their 15th straight home game.
Al Harrington scored 24 to lead the Knicks before getting ejected with two technicals for arguing a foul call with 22 seconds left.
Grizzlies 114, Warriors 109
At Oakland, California, O.J. Mayo scored 24 points and had a career-high 10 assists and Rudy Gay added 21 points as the Memphis Grizzlies rallied from nine points down in the fourth quarter to beat the short-handed Golden State Warriors.
Mayo struggled with his shot most of the night, but made a pair of free throws on technical fouls in the fourth quarter and added a driving layup with 2 minutes left to cap a 25-5 run for Memphis.
Mike Conley added 21 points and six rebounds for the Grizzlies (19-54), who won for just the fourth time in 22 games.
Monta Ellis had 29 points for Golden State, which suited up just eight players for the second straight game and lost its fifth in a row.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily March 31, 2009)
