Howard, Magic dominate Bobcats

Jameer Nelson scored 20 points and Hedo Turkoglu finished with 14 points and five assists for Orlando, which has won three in a row.

Matt Carroll had a team-best 19 points off the bench while Raymond Felton donated 11 points and seven assists for the Bobcats, who have dropped two in a row.

"We didn’t put up much of a fight in the second half," said Carroll.

The Magic led 56-50 at intermission behind 16 points and seven boards from Howard.

Charlotte whittled the deficit down to four on an Adam Morrison jumper with 4:04 remaining in the third, but Orlando closed out the frame with nine unanswered points to build a nice cushion.

Nelson had five points in the run, including a three-pointer in the waning moments that made it 73-60 with 12 minutes to play.

The outburst continued in the fourth, with the Magic scoring the first seven points of the stanza to make it 80-60. Howard netted the first four points of the frame before Carlos Arroyo sank a jumper with 10:14 on the clock. Turkoglu went 1-for-2 from the foul line on the next trip down to polish off the 16-0 run.

The Magic cruised from there.

"Once you’ve got a team down, you don’t want to let them back," said Nelson.

Game Notes

Orlando’s Darko Milicic left in the second quarter with a sprained right midfoot and did not return...The Magic are 3-0 so far on their four-game homestand...This was the opener of a three-game road trip for Charlotte...Orlando outscored the Bobcats in the paint, 40-20.