Pacers Can’t Handle Upstart Magic

The Orlando Magic had a dismal start, with its coach getting fired after losing 10 in a row, and then having the streak reach 19 games.

None of that mattered Wednesday night against the Eastern Conference-leading Indiana Pacers.

Rod Strickland’s jumper with 14.4 seconds left lifted the Magic to a 94-90 victory over the Pacers at Indianapolis. Orlando trailed, 90-89, before Strickland’s shot, and iced the game with three free throws.

“This was a tremendous win and a building block for our team,” said Orlando Coach Johnny Davis, who replaced the fired Doc Rivers on Nov. 17. “We were able to come in and beat a quality team like Indiana on the road.”

Tracy McGrady had 21 points and 11 assists to lead five Orlando players in double figures. It was the fourth win in the last six games for the Magic, which started the season 1-19.

“They were able to make one more play than we could make, “ Pacer Coach Rick Carlisle said.

Jermaine O’Neal had 24 points, 17 rebounds and five blocked shots for the Pacers.

Boston 105, Dallas 103 -- Antoine Walker was overshadowed in his return to Boston by his former co-star.

Paul Pierce made the winning jumper over Walker with 20 seconds left and Walker missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.

That ended a bad night for Walker, traded to Dallas in a six-player deal on Oct. 20. Greeted with a standing ovation, Walker had seven points and was three-for-14 from the field, missing all six of his three-point attempts. He had seven rebounds and eight assists.

Jiri Welsch, one of the players the Celtics obtained for him, had a career-high 21 points. Pierce led the Celtics with 25 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Ricky Davis, acquired Monday from Cleveland, had eight points in his Celtic debut.

Denver 99, Seattle 98 -- Carmelo Anthony scored 14 points, including a layup with six seconds left at Seattle, to move the Nuggets within one victory of last season’s win total. Denver is percentage points ahead of San Antonio atop the Midwest Division.

Andre Miller led Denver with 20 points. Rashard Lewis and Ronald Murray had 19 points each for Seattle.

New Jersey 87, Utah 74 -- The Nets improved to .500 for the first time since Nov. 11 with a victory at East Rutherford, N.J.

The teams combined for the second-lowest point total in NBA history for an opening quarter, with the Nets leading, 13-9..

Kenyon Martin had 22 points for the Nets. Raul Lopez had 15 points for the Jazz, which missed 12 of 31 free-throw attempts.

Houston 89, Cleveland 85 -- Cuttino Mobley and Steve Francis scored 18 points apiece and each made three-pointers down the stretch as the Rockets rallied at Cleveland.

The Rockets used a late 12-0 spurt to make up a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter to end a losing streak at three games.

In a game featuring the NBA’s last two No. 1 overall draft picks, Cavalier rookie LeBron James outscored the Rockets’ Yao Ming, 17-12.

San Antonio 73, Toronto 70 -- At San Antonio, Tim Duncan had 30 points and 13 rebounds to help the Spurs increase their winning streak to eight. Before the streak, San Antonio was in last place in the Midwest Division.

Donyell Marshall had 14 points for Toronto, which lost its fourth in a row.

Both teams struggled to score in the fourth quarter with San Antonio finishing with a 12-10 edge.

Philadelphia 87, Miami 76 -- Aaron McKie scored 20 points, including three three-pointers in a key stretch of the third quarter, at Philadelphia to help the 76ers prevail.

Dwyane Wade scored 22 points for the Heat, which had a four-game winning streak snapped.

Golden State 98, Atlanta 85 -- Mike Dunleavy made five of the Warriors’ season-high 10 three-pointers, scored 25 points, and grabbed 14 rebounds in a victory at Atlanta.

Detroit 77, Chicago 73 -- Richard Hamilton scored eight of his 20 points in the fourth quarter at Auburn Hills, Mich., to help the Pistons end a losing streak at four games.

The victory was Larry Brown’s 1,300th as a coach -- 894 in the NBA, 229 in the ABA and 177 in college.