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After controlling the middle all night and frustrating Seattle's frontline with his rebounding hustle and defense, Dwight Howard capped his night by swatting Luke Ridnour's floater four rows deep into the stands with 49 seconds left. Four of his eight field goals were dunks, he added a couple of tip-ins, too. The eight field goals made without a miss was a career-best for Dwight Howard, but Hill was most impressed with Dwight Howard's aggressiveness in drawing fouls and getting to the free throw line. Orlando improved to 12-4, one game back of Utah for the best record in the NBA. The Magic have won the first two of a season-high six-game road trip. "We're just having fun," said Dwight Howard, who turns 21 on Dec. 8. "When you're having fun, you're out there playing hard." Fun would not be used to describe Seattle right now. A team built for offense is suddenly stagnant at that end of the floor. The Sonics lost their third straight home game and shot only 30 percent in the second half. Ray Allen led Seattle with 21 points, but missed his first five shots of the second half and didn't score until there was 5:35 left - a 3-pointer that brought Seattle within 10. The Sonics never got closer than eight in the final 7 minutes. The Sonics have failed to score 100 points in six of the last eight games. "It's frustrating right now, I can't lie to you guys," Allen said. "Offensively, we do some good things, we do some bad things, but consistently, we're not getting over the hump." Carlos Arroyo scored 16 points and Darko Milicic added 14 as Orlando's bench outscored Seattle's 48-17. The Magic bench actually outscored Seattle's starters 48-46. Seattle led 59-53 on Ridnour's 3-pointer with 6:38 left in the third, its largest lead since holding an 11-point advantage early in the second quarter. Dwight Howard then scored the next six points, all on three-point plays, and Hedo Turkoglu's 3-pointer gave Orlando a 62-61 lead, all part of a 13-2 run. The Magic's lead reached 74-65 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, when Trevor Ariza capped a 6-0 spurt with a two-handed dunk. Ariza was one of a handful of Magic players Hill used to try and slow Allen. Ariza, Keith Bogans, Keyon Dooling and Grant Hill all took turns shadowing Seattle's sharpshooter. "Our bench has been doing a good job all year, whether it's scoring or defensively," Brian Hill said. "Usually they give us a big lift on the defensive end of the floor." Nick Collison finally scored on a tip-in with 9:26 left, Seattle's first field goal since the 5:30 mark of the third quarter. Seattle's only points during the stretch were free throws from Allen and Earl Watson. Orlando led by as many as 14 in the fourth. Rashard Lewis added 18 points for Seattle and Johan Petro scored 13. But Ridnour and Watson combined to make only four of 15 shots. "Dwight Howard tonight climbed over everybody's back and had his way with us," Allen said. "That's got to not be able to sit well with some of our guys, for someone like that to come and manhandle us in the paint." Notes
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