NBA ROUNDUP : Magic Bombs Away to Beat Knicks

While Shaquille O’Neal, Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley hammered each other under the basket, Orlando’s artillery brigade won the battle of three-pointers Monday night at New York.

The Magic made 11 of their 24 long-range shots and the Knicks nine of 23 as the two teams set an NBA record with 47 three-point attempts in Orlando’s 108-100 victory.

Nick Anderson scored 23 of his season-high 36 points in the second half and made six three-pointers as the Magic broke New York’s nine-game home winning streak.

“We’ve been playing well together,” Anderson said of his team’s four-game winning streak that has kept the Knicks from clinching the Atlantic Division and has virtually sewed up home-court advantage in the first round of their first playoff appearance. “There’s no better time than right now to get your game together.”

And no worse time for it to be falling apart. Ewing had 22 points and 18 rebounds and Oakley 16 points and a season-high 22 rebounds for the Knicks, who have lost three in a row and four of five after winning 15 consecutive games to tie the NBA season-high.

Did they peak too early?

“Our streak is history,” Knick Coach Pat Riley said. “It seems like a year ago, but if we hadn’t won 15 in a row, we would be three or four games down to Atlanta.”

Instead, the Knicks and Hawks have identical records with seven games remaining.

Charlotte 99, Miami 97--Dell Curry scored 21 points, including 14 in a row in Charlotte’s key second-half rally, to lead the Hornets to a victory at home.

It was their fourth in a row in their quest to catch a playoff berth, but they remain 3 1/2 games behind the eighth-place team, Miami, which needs only one more victory to secure a playoff berth.

Curry went nine for 16, including three for seven from three-point range, and led Charlotte back from a 74-62 deficit with 2:38 to play in the third quarter.

San Antonio 101, Minnesota 89--David Robinson scored 29 points and Willie Anderson added 23 to lead the Spurs at San Antonio as they ended a three-game losing steak.

San Antonio moved within two games of Houston in the Midwest Division race, but the Spurs have only six games remaining and the Rockets have eight.

J.R. Reid, starting in place in the injured Dale Ellis, added 14 points for San Antonio, and Sleepy Floyd had 11. Dennis Rodman grabbed 15 rebounds.

Indiana 121, Boston 108--Rik Smits scored a season-high 32 points and caused two centers to foul out as the Pacers won at Indianapolis to sweep a season series against Boston for the first time since they joined the NBA in 1976.

The Pacers shot 58%, outscored Boston, 37-16, from the free throw line and used an 8-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter to pull away.

Golden State 122, Dallas 108--Latrell Sprewell scored 33 points to lead seven players in double figures as the Warriors won at Oakland.

Chris Webber scored 13 points and Billy Owens and Chris Gatling added 12 apiece for Golden State, which beat Dallas for the 14th time in a row.