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Howard, Magic look to right ship vs. Nets

Feb 2, 2007 - 4:31 PM New Jersey (22-24) at Orlando (24-22) 8:00 pm EST

ORLANDO, Florida (Ticker) -- All-Star Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic may have hit a wall.

Howard and the struggling Magic hope to build off a recent win and continue reversing their poor play Friday when they host the New Jersey Nets.

After being at or near the top of the Eastern Conference for most of the season, Orlando went 6-8 in the month of January.

However, the Magic capped their subpar month with a 98-73 triumph over Milwaukee on Wednesday. Hedo Turkoglu scored 17 points and Tony Battie added 15 for the Magic, who won for just the second time in their last 10 games.

Orlando's leading scorer and rebounder, Howard struggled once again, collecting just six points and seven rebounds. He is averaging just 12.3 points and 8.5 rebounds over his last six contests.

Howard on Friday hopes for a better performance against the Nets, who held the 6-11 center to a career-low one point in a 101-94 victory on January 20, the only time these clubs met this season.

New Jersey hopes to bounce back from Wednesday' 113-89 loss to Detroit.

Mikki Moore scored 20 points and Jason Kidd added 15 for the Nets, who have lost four of their last six games and trail the first-place Toronto Raptors (23-23) by only one game in the Atlantic Division.