Magic fans were seeing the future -- or at least getting a glimpse of it during Orlando 's 84-77 victory Friday night against the Celtics at TD Waterhouse Centre.

When the Magic acquired 7-foot Darko Milicic, they planned to pair him with 6-11 Dwight Howard. The hope was that they didn't look good just in a hotel lobby.

The Dwight Howard-Milicic front line framed the game, combining for 28 points, 19 rebounds and 10 blocks as the Magic posted their fourth win in the past five games.

"I think everybody's getting a good look at the future with this team," guard Keyon Dooling said.

Dwight Howard had 18 points, 13 rebounds, six blocks and a mind-boggling dunk in 42 minutes. Milicic added 10 points, six boards and four blocks in just under 20 minutes as a reserve.

The duo caused the Celtics to keep looking over their shoulders in this ragged game.

"I think we were seeing shadows every time we came into the paint," Celtics forward Wally Szczerbiak said.

The Magic led just 72-71 in the final period after forward Raef LaFrentz's 3-point shot. But Dooling drove for two consecutive baskets, and Hedo Turkoglu made two free throws for a 78-71 lead with 3:30 left.

The Celtics couldn't get any closer than five.

Dooling and Turkoglu combined to score 16 of the Magic's 25 fourth-quarter points, matching the Celtics' entire total.

Turkoglu helped hold Celtics star Paul Pierce to just 5-of-18 shooting and 19 points.

Jameer Nelson led the Magic with 19 and Turkoglu added 18.

The Magic blocked 11 shots for the second consecutive game, and displayed some textbook defense. They held the Celts to 32 percent shooting and scored 23 points off 20 turnovers. The Celts had four shots blocked in the fourth quarter and missed 20-of-23 shots (13 percent) in the period.

Dwight Howard jolted the crowd to its feet only seconds before halftime with an acrobatic highlight dunk.

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