Magic top 76ers to even series at 1-1
76ers 87 at Magic 96
Fouled out and reduced to a spectator, Dwight Howard stood on the Orlando Magic sidelined with one thought as he watched the Philadelphia 76ers erase another big lead. “Man, I hope these boys don’t come back again,” Howard said. They nearly did. Rookie Courtney Lee had a career-high 24 points, Hedo Turkoglu added 16 and the Magic nearly blew another 18-point lead before beating Philadelphia 96-87 on Wednesday night to even the series at a game apiece.
Wade on fire as Heat down Hawks to tie series
Heat 108 at Hawks 93
Dwyane Wade didn’t call “bank.” No need. This was the playoffs, not H-O-R-S-E. With 13 straight points to close the first half and an unlikely 3-pointer off the backboard in the waning minutes, Wade showed it’s hard to keep him down two games in a row. He scored 33 points in all, leading the Miami Heat to a 108-93 victory over the Atlanta Hawks that evened their playoff series at one game apiece Wednesday night. “This is where amazing happens,” Wade said.
Billups leads Nuggets in Game 2 rout of Hornets
Hornets 93 at Nuggets 108
Chauncey Billups hasn’t had this much fun on the basketball court in Denver since he was winning two high school state titles back in the mid-1990s. var pollWidth=250; Billups led the Nuggets to another blowout of the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday night, scoring 31 points in Denver’s 108-93 win. “I do want to kind of apologize. I said he’s a player without skills” after the series opener, Nuggets coach George Karl said. “He’s very skilled.