Orlando's Dwight Howard (right) fights for the loose ball as Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade defends during Monday's NBA game in Miami.
MIAMI – On the night Miami retired Alonzo Mourning’s number, Orlando’s big man wrecked the party.
Dwight Howard scored 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, passing Wilt Chamberlain as the youngest NBA player to reach the 5,000-board mark, and the Magic kept their grip on the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference by beating the Heat 101-95 on Monday night.
Rashard Lewis scored 21 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:32 remaining for Orlando (55-18), which stayed five games behind Cleveland and percentage points ahead of defending champion Boston in the East race.
“It wasn’t the prettiest game,” Lewis said, “but we were able to stick around and get the win at the end.”
Dwyane Wade scored 13 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter for the Heat (39-35), whose edge over Philadelphia for the East’s No. 5 seed was trimmed to one game.
Miami backup point guard Luther Head broke his left hand during the game and will miss four to six weeks, meaning there likely will be no way he will be available for Miami’s first-round playoff series.
“It means other guys will have to step up more,” Wade said. “I’m fine having the ball in my hands more. That’s no problem at all.”
The series has been one-sided, with Orlando having won 12 of the last 13 meetings between the clubs.
This game, most assuredly, was not.
Hedo Turkoglu scored 16 points, Rafer Alston added 13 and Courtney Lee finished with 10 for Orlando. Mario Chalmers scored 13 points and had seven assists for the Heat, and Jermaine O’Neal added 10 for Miami.
Bucks 107, Nets 78: At East Rutherford, N.J., ex-Arizona Wildcat Richard Jefferson had 29 points and 10 rebounds against his former teammates and the Bucks snapped a season-high, five-game losing streak.
Charlie Villanueva added 20 points for the Bucks, who kept their slim hopes for a playoff berth alive by snapping a seven-game road losing streak and sending the Nets to their fifth straight loss, matching their season high.
Jazz 112, Knicks 104: At Salt Lake City, Deron Williams had 24 points and 13 assists and the Jazz beat the Knicks, rallying after blowing a huge lead at home for the second straight game.
The Jazz led by 24 early in the third quarter, but fell behind by a point in the fourth before regrouping and closing the game on a 20-11 run.
Grizzlies 114, Warriors 109: At Oakland, Calif., O.J. Mayo scored 24 points and had a career-high 10 assists, Rudy Gay added 21 points and the Grizzlies rallied from nine points down in the fourth quarter.