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Dwight Howard Leads Magic Past Jazz
Dwight Howard's 21 Points, 16 Rebounds Lead the Orlando Magic Past the Utah Jazz
This road trip out West isn't looking so daunting for Orlando, not with Dwight Howard dominating inside and the Magic playing better than they have in years.
Howard had 21 points and 16 rebounds to help Orlando beat the Utah Jazz 88-75 Monday night in a matchup of the teams with the best records in each conference.
Howard recorded his sixth straight double-double and ninth this season. He is averaging 19.1 points and 15.8 rebounds in seven road games this season and Orlando won the opener of a six-game, 11-day Western Conference trip.
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"We couldn't do anything with Howard," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "He's so big and long, we couldn't keep him off the boards. He got huge rebounds, and he obviously made his free throws."
Howard shot 13-of-16 from the foul line and Grant Hill, who missed Saturday's game to attend a funeral for his grandmother, scored 16 points for Orlando.
The Magic went a combined 3-26 against Western Conference teams on road trips the past three seasons. But this year they're off to their best start through 15 games (11-4) since the 1998-99 season, when they reached the playoffs but lost in the first round.
"Last year, we may have kicked it away but this year is a new year," said Jameer Nelson, who finished with 15 points. "This is a big win. This is a big start for us."
In other games, it was: Miami 103, Philadelphia 91; Dallas 93, Minnesota 87; and Golden State 111, San Antonio 102.
Led by Howard, the Magic outrebounded the league's top team in rebounding margin, 45-36, and outscored the Jazz in the lane, 40-32.
"The big thing is we were able to get stops at the other end of the court," Orlando coach Brian Hill said. "We did a good job getting to the free-throw line and getting balls off the glass that gave us a lot of extra possessions on a night where we frankly didn't shoot the ball well."
Howard's two free throws lifted the Magic to their biggest lead of the night at 81-60 with 5:28 remaining. The Jazz (12-3), who have twice come back from 16-point deficits to win games in the past two weeks, rallied to get within eight. |
