Dwight Howard was back in uniform, but oddly, he still was sort of missing. With Howard in foul trouble and disguised this time as a 6-foot-11 cheerleader, other players wearing Magic colors stepped out of his immense shadow in a 90-78 rout of the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday.
The Magic are getting pretty good at winning without their all-star center, having captured the last two games of their recent road trip with Howard resting a sore left knee. Orlando won its 20th game of the season, and the victory in front of a sell-out crowd and on national television improved its home record to 10-3, matching their sparkling road mark.
Howard returned to face the Spurs, but left the game with a little more than eight minutes to go after picking up his fifth foul.
The Magic's mammoth lead, built to as many as 21 points in the third period, was shrinking. San Antonio point guard Tony Parker's two free throws cut it to 71-65 with seven minutes left. Marcin Gortat was standing in for Howard.
"A lot of guys have to step up when Dwight's not there. It's different," point guard Jameer Nelson said. "He makes the game easy for us. We had to go out there and block out the big guys and be aggressive."
What Nelson and the rest did was launch a 12-2 run to seize an 83-67 lead with three minutes left.
Howard was either cheering from the bench or at the scorers table as he waited to re-enter the game, rooting on every one of Nelson's four baskets in the stretch, including a driving lay-up past Parker. A 3-pointer by Rashard Lewis also kept San Antonio at bay.
Gortat hit a hook shot and grabbed a rebound to hold off the Spurs before Howard checked back in with 3:04 remaining.
Nelson led the way with 24 points on 11-of-18 shooting and dished seven assists. Lewis added 15 points and rookie Courtney Lee continued his stellar play with 10 points.
"Dwight was out [with foul trouble], but Jameer was just tremendous," Coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We had some big defensive stops. We were able to push the ball down the floor and make some plays."
Nelson scored 11 points in the final seven minutes. He is playing the best Basketball of his career, and Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich seconded the motion.
"Jameer had a great game," Popovich said. "He hurt us more than anybody on the court, made big shots and got everyone involved."
The Spurs lost Wednesday night and didn't arrive until 3 a.m. They never seemed to get a wake-up call as the Magic brought energy and aggression, elements missing last season at Amway Arena.
Howard (14 points, 13 rebounds) started a new streak for consecutive games played (one). He has been dealing with inflammation in his left knee, but Van Gundy said, "He didn't complain about anything [with his knee]. He looked good running the floor and, overall, he was pretty good."
The game against the Spurs (15-10) was the eighth in a 12-consecutive game stretch against Western Conference teams.
The Magic just returned this week from a 4-1 West trip, having beaten the Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz and Golden State Warriors but losing to the Phoenix Suns. Orlando is on the heels of the franchise's all-time best start of 22-6.
Howard's knee looks fine.
His team is looking better and better.
