Howard’s 33-19 pull Magic even

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Dwight Howard had 33 points and 19 rebounds, Jameer Nelson added 13 points and eight rebounds and the Orlando Magic held off the Atlanta Hawks 88-82 on Tuesday night in Orlando, Fla.

The Magic evened the best-of-seven series, with Game 3 on Friday night in Atlanta.

Orlando used a 10-1 run to close the third quarter to take an 11-point lead into the fourth and fought off a late Atlanta charge down the stretch.

After allowing the Hawks to become the first opponent in 16 straight playoff games to score 100 points against it in Game 1,
Orlando’s defense tightened around
Atlanta’s shooters in Game 2. The Hawks shot 39 percent.

Jamal Crawford led Atlanta with 25 points and Josh Smith added 17.

Celtics overcome Anthony’s 42

Kevin Garnett sank the go-ahead basket with 14 seconds left, then stole the ball as the host Boston Celtics beat the depleted New York Knicks 96-93 to take a 2-0 lead in their playoff series.

Carmelo Anthony scored 42 points, but that wasn’t enough for the Knicks. They played the second half without Amare Stoudemire, who had back spasms. Chauncey Billups missed the game with a sore left knee.

Garnett hit the decisive jump hook after backing Jared Jeffries into the lane. The Knicks then got the ball to Anthony in the left corner, where he was double-teamed by Paul Pierce and Glen Davis. Anthony passed inside to Jeffries, but Garnett stole the ball and called timeout with 4 seconds remaining.

The Knicks then fouled Delonte West, who made two free throws with 0.6 seconds to go.

Rajon Rondo led the Celtics with a career playoff-high 30 points. Pierce scored 20 after missing his first five shots.

Anthony matched his career playoff high for points and set a new high with 17 rebounds.

Mavs’ Nowitzki hot in 4th

Dirk Nowitzki scored 14 of his 33 points in the final quarter as the Dallas Mavericks whipped the visiting Portland Trail Blazers
101-89 to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round series.

Peja Stojakovic tied his career playoff best with five three-pointers and had 21 points, and Jason Kidd added 18 points for Dallas, which hadn’t won the first two games of a playoff series since the 2006 NBA Finals.

Portland led most of the first half, but the Mavericks went ahead on a three-pointer by Kidd seconds into the second half and never trailed again.

Odom wins Sixth Man

Los Angeles Lakers forward
Lamar Odom won the NBA’s Sixth Man award as the league’s top
reserve by vote of a media panel.

Odom averaged 14.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3 assists per game this season while playing in every game for the Lakers. Odom was a starter for long stretches of the season while center Andrew
Bynum was sidelined with injuries, but came off the bench 47 times.

AP