Dwight Howard had 20 points and 17 rebounds, and the Orlando Magic rolled to a 108-91 victory over the host New Jersey Nets on Wednesday night.
Howard, who can become a free agent in July if the Magic don’t trade him by the March 15 trading deadline, got the loudest cheers from the crowd of 15,364 in the pregame introductions.
And the center didn’t disappoint in leading the Magic to their ninth straight win over the Brooklyn-bound Nets.
“Right now my only concern is winning games, playing as hard as I can every night,” said Howard, who rocked the rim several times with monster dunks in making 9 of 13 from the field.
“That’s the only thing I can control. I put all the other thoughts aside.”
Glen Davis, who hit his first seven shots, added 16 points for Orlando, which won for the eighth time in 11 games.
Deron Williams had 23 points, six rebounds and eight assists to lead New Jersey.
KNICKS 99, HAWKS 82 Jeremy Lin had an easy night ahead of his toughest opponent yet, and host New York tuned up for tonight’s trip to Miami by beating Atlanta.
Lin had 17 points and nine assists, sitting out most of the fourth quarter in a rare game during his remarkable run that the Knicks needed little from him.
Carmelo Anthony scored 15 points in his second game back from injury for the Knicks, who led the depleted Hawks by 25 points at halftime. New York bounced back from a loss to New Jersey on Monday and won for the ninth time in 11 games since Lin joined the rotation.
THUNDER 119, CELTICS 104 Russell Westbrook scored 31 points, Kevin Durant added 28, and host Oklahoma City beat Boston for its 11th straight win at home.
Kevin Garnett’s return after a two-game absence wasn’t enough to lift the Celtics, who were still without point guard Rajon Rondo as he served the second game of a two-game suspension.
Paul Pierce and Garnett scored 23 points apiece to lead Boston, and Garnett also had 13 rebounds after missing the previous two games for personal reasons. The Celtics head into the All-Star break on their second five-game losing streak of the season, both punctuated by losses to Oklahoma City.
BULLS 110, BUCKS 91 Carlos Boozer scored 20 points, Derrick Rose and Luol Deng each added 16, and host Chicago beat Milwaukee.
Joakim Noah had 13 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for the first triple-double by a Bulls center in roughly 35 years, and Chicago simply ran away with this one. The Central Division leaders built an 11-point halftime lead and broke it open in the third quarter, a nice sendoff for the All-Star break.
Brandon Jennings led the Bucks with 20 points.
ROCKETS 93, 76ERS 87 Luis Scola had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Kyle Lowry added 13 points and two crucial three-point plays down the stretch, and host Houston beat Philadelphia.
Kevin Martin scored 16 points, and Patrick Patterson added 12 off the bench for the Rockets, who’ve won three in a row and snapped a four-game home-court losing streak to the 76ers.
TIMBERWOLVES 100, JAZZ 98 Luke Ridnour hit a floater in the lane at the buzzer, capping host Minnesota’s comeback from 18 points down in the fourth quarter as the Timberwolves beat Utah.
RAPTORS 103, PISTONS 93 DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points, Aaron Gray set season highs with 12 points and 12 rebounds, and host Toronto snapped a three-game losing streak.
HORNETS 89, CAVALIERS 84 Chris Kaman scored 21 points, and visiting New Orleans held off a late Cleveland rally.
KINGS 115, WIZARDS 107 Marcus Thornton scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half, rookie Isaiah Thomas had 16 of his 18 after halftime, and visiting Sacramento beat Washington in a nonstop points-fest that looked like an All-Star game preview minus the All-Stars.
PACERS 102, BOBCATS 88 Tyler Hansbrough had a season-high 22 points and nine rebounds as visiting Indiana continued its dominance of Charlotte.
