NBA

Magic struggles to 2nd win in row

ORLANDO - The Magic wasn't going to grumble about the quality of play after gaining a much-needed victory to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Orlando had a double-digit lead for most of the game and forced 23 turnovers, but still struggled to put away the Toronto Raptors 108-96 Wednesday night.

The Magic turned those 23 miscues into 34 points, and that was clearly the difference in a game in which neither side sustained the momentum. Grant Hill led Orlando with 21 points, and rookie Dwight Howard contributed 18 points and nine rebounds.

"At this point, we don't care who it is, we just got to hop on teams early and that's what we did," said forward Pat Garrity, who had 16 points off the bench for Orlando. "We're a little short-handed right now, so to win convincingly at home should be a good boost."

It was the second straight win for the Magic. Both came against last-place teams - Toronto and Atlanta - but after previously losing 10 of 11 games, none of the players was complaining.

"We've lost quite a few games to teams with losing records this season, so it's not like we can look down our noses at anybody," Hill said. "We need to start building momentum so winning and winning at home is a good start."

The Raptors clearly were disgusted by their performance. Though they shot 49.3 percent, they kept stifling themselves with careless ballhandling.

Rookie Chris Bosh had 16 points and 11 rebounds, but six turnovers. Point guard Rafer Alston had 17 points, but only two assists and four turnovers. Toronto cut what had been a 17-point deficit to nine, 87-78, with 9:15 left in the game, but that was the only time in the fourth quarter when the deficit was under 10 points.

"We are not playing to win," said forward Jalen Rose, the only starter not to have a turnover. "We don't play together. We are just out there playing because it's on the schedule. We need to develop maturity and responsibility, a know-how, a willingness to play to win instead of playing just to play."

BULLS 102, BOBCATS 99: Ben Gordon showed Emeka Okafor why the rookie of the year award is still up for grabs, scoring 22 of his career-high 35 in the fourth quarter to lead visiting Chicago. Gordon drained a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 42.8 seconds left, then gave Chicago a 101-97 lead with another 3 with 21.7 seconds left. It was the Bulls' seventh straight victory despite being without their top two scorers. Eddy Curry was a late scratch with flu-like symptoms, and Kirk Hinrich missed his fifth straight game with a strained left hamstring.

PISTONS 99, KINGS 82: Richard Hamilton scored 24 and Ben Wallace added 19 and 14 rebounds for host Detroit, which had lost four of its last five games. The Pistons were coached by assistant Gar Heard for the 10th straight game as Larry Brown recovers from urinary-tract surgery. He is expected back for Friday's game against the Clippers. Mike Bibby led the Kings with 26 points.

SPURS 89, SONICS 76: Tony Parker scored 28 as San Antonio let a 20-point fourth-quarter lead dwindle to 10 before holding off visiting Seattle. Late in the game, SuperSonics coach Nate McMillan sat down star guard Ray Allen, who was pestered defensively all night by Bruce Bowen.

WARRIORS 113, BUCKS 109: Baron Davis scored 25 and handed out 15 assists, and Mickael Pietrus scored 21 off the bench to lead visiting Golden State to its sixth win in seven games and the second win over Milwaukee in five days. Michael Redd scored 24 and Maurice Williams added 21 and 10 assists to lead the Bucks, who lost their seventh straight game.

WIZARDS 102, HAWKS 99: Gilbert Arenas scored nine of his 36 in the final 31/2 minutes, including the go-ahead basket on a driving layup in traffic with 34 seconds to play, leading host Washington over Atlanta.

NETS 95, CLIPPERS 78: Vince Carter scored 31 and Jason Kidd had eight points and 13 assists as host New Jersey kept its playoff hopes alive.

MAVERICKS 112, CELTICS 100: Dirk Nowitzki had 36 points and Keith Van Horn added 21 points off the bench to lead Dallas and send Boston to its season high-tying fourth straight loss.

NUGGETS 109, JAZZ 98: Andre Miller had 24 points and nine assists and led a key fourth-quarter run for visiting Denver. With the win, Denver (39-31) tied Memphis for the No. 7 spot in the Western Conference playoff race.

JAZZ: Forward Carlos Boozer will miss the rest of the season while he recovers from a foot injury in February. He has been ordered by his doctor to wear a boot over his right foot for at least three more weeks. Trainer Gary Briggs said Boozer's condition has improved and surgery has been ruled out for now. Boozer, averaging a team-high 17.8 points and 9.0 rebounds, sprained his foot at Phoenix on Feb. 14.

MAVERICKS: Jerry Stackhouse was activated from the injured list Wednesday. Stackhouse, out since March 6, missed 20 of the team's last 24 games because of a groin injury. He is third on the team with 15.6 points per game, and is averaging 3.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists.

With less than a month left in the season, the Mavericks want to ease Stackhouse back into the rotation in time for the playoffs. Dallas also is waiting for starting center Erick Dampier to return from a stress fracture in his foot.

To open a roster spot for Stackhouse, the Mavericks put rookie center D.J. Mbenga on the injured list with a strained right hamstring.

LAKERS 117, KNICKS 107: Los Angeles ended an eight-game losing streak, the second-longest in franchise history in front of 18,997 at Staples Center. The victory, coming two days after Chucky Atkins derisively called Kobe Bryant the Laker general manager and 17 days after the Lakers defeated the Charlotte Bobcats, perhaps ended the frustration.

[Last modified March 31, 2005, 01:28:16]