NBA Game Summary - Philadelphia at Orlando

Orlando, FL (Basketball News) - Dwight Howard poured in a season-high 28 points and pulled down a career-high 26 rebounds, as the red-hot Orlando Magic held on to their slim playoff hopes while seriously hurting Philadelphia’s chances with a 102-97 victory over the Sixers at TD Waterhouse Centre.

Jameer Nelson, who attended Philadelphia’s St. Joseph’s University, tallied 21 points and dished out eight assists while Hedo Turkoglu contributed 23 points in the Magic’s eighth straight victory. Orlando also won its 12th in a row at home and now sits 2 1/2 games behind idle Chicago for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Magic host the Bulls next Monday night.

"We’d love to make the playoffs," said Orlando head coach Brian Hill."But I’ve said all along that the key thing is that we finish up this season on a positive note so that these guys, whenever the last game is, and they walk out of here that they feel good about themselves and they feel good about what we can accomplish next year because that’s going to be the impetus for them to work hard during the offseason."

Allen Iverson scored a game-high 36 points in the losing effort while Chris Webber posted a double-double with 20 points and 11 boards. Steven Hunter recorded 12 points and six rebounds in Philadelphia’s second straight loss. The late-season slide significantly hurts the Sixers’ playoff hopes, as the club now finds itself 1 1/2 games behind the Bulls with Chicago holding all tiebreakers.

"We have to win thse last two," said Philadelphia’s Andre Iguodala. "All year long it has been like a roller coaster ride. It has been one of those seasons."

Iverson’s driving layup with 10:41 to play in the game gave the Sixers an 84-83 advantage, their first lead since the 11:02 mark of the first stanza.

Later in the period, Iguodala’s tough fadeaway jumper from the left elbow and Samuel Dalembert’s free throw gave Philadelphia a 95-92 lead with 3:58 left.

Howard then drained two free throws and the big man converted a short hook to give the Magic a one-point edge. Next, Nelson connected on a pull-up jumper from the right wing to expand the edge to 98-95 with 2:24 on the clock.

Iguodala responded with a tough scoop shot in the lane, but Nelson scored amongst the trees in the paint to again increase the lead to three.

Webber missed an easy bucket in the paint with about 40 ticks remaining, and the Sixers couldn’t corral the rebound off of Tony Battie’s missed jumper. Turkoglu drained a pair from the charity stripe to make the score 102-97, and Iverson missed a three on the other end to end any hope of a comeback.

The Magic jumped to an early double-digit lead due in large part to a heavy helping of Howard. The forward scored 10 straight Magic points, with his slam giving Orlando a 20-14 lead with 5:05 left to play.

Iverson answered by scoring seven straight points for the Sixers, but the Magic expanded their lead to 37-27 at the end of the first period. Nelson and Darko Milicic combined for Orlando’s final 10 points, with the former first- round selection of the Pistons draining a jumper to close out the scoring with two ticks remaining.

The Sixers battled back in the second stanza behind Iverson and an active supporting cast. Philadelphia outscored Orlando 29-21 in the period, as Kyle Korver just beat the buzzer with a jumper that cut the deficit to 58-56.

Orlando held an 83-80 edge after three stanzas.