• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Turkoglu, Howard carry Magic by Sixers

Feb 23, 2008 - 6:49 AM ORLANDO, Florida (Ticker) -- Hedo Turkoglu scored 31 points and Dwight Howard chipped in 24 and 18 rebounds as the Orlando Magic rolled to a 115-99 triumph over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.

Rashard Lewis and Jameer Nelson netted 17 points for the Magic, who shot 45 percent (15-of-33) from 3-point range en route to their fourth consecutive win against Philadelphia.

The 22-year-old Howard, who dazzled fans during All-Star Weekend in the Slam Dunk competition with a series of jaw-dropping jams, recorded his 200th career double-double.

"I was just ready to go from the beginning," Howard said. "We've got to start winning a lot of games at home. My focus is on us winning and playing good defense, working on those things we need to work on so we'll be ready when we get to the playoffs."

Howard's domination in the paint opened things up for Orlando's shooters.

"Dwight draws so much attention that people are open so it makes it fairly easy to get those (3-point) shots," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "And it's interesting because three of our better 3-point shooters didn't shoot well at all. But Turkoglu and Nelson were on fire."

Orlando took control from the tip as Keyon Dooling's jumper in the lane capped an impressive 13-6 surge to close out the first quarter for a 26-16 advantage.

Andre Iguodala made things interesting in the fourth by scoring eight of his 25 points during a 10-2 run that helped the Sixers cut their deficit to 82-76 with nine minutes left.

But Lewis came to life for Orlando, pouring in eight points in an aggressive 12-4 burst to help restore order at the 5:54 mark.

"When different guys broke us down off the dribble, that allowed guys to get open threes and that's how they opened up the game," Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "And Dwight commands a lot of attention, and that opens up the floor for guys that shoot the ball like Turkoglu and Lewis."

Andre Miller scored 25 points and Willie Green added 12 for the 76ers, who shot 45 percent (36-of-79) but only hit 3-of-13 from the arc.

"It took a lot of energy to try and get that score down to six," Miller said. "They hit some threes and that was pretty much the ballgame. I thought we played hard, but when you have guys hitting shots from all different parts of the court, they're hard to guard."