Portland’s Pippen Flashes Old Form

Tuesday night felt like old times for Portland’s Scottie Pippen.

Pippen had his first double-double of the season with 25 points and 17 rebounds, both seasonhighs, and had seven assists in the Trail Blazers’ 96-89 victory over the Magic at Orlando, Fla.

Portland Coach Maurice Cheeks won’t be surprised if Pippen, 37, produces repeat performances during the season’s final stretch.

“I don’t think that people underestimate him that much now,” Cheeks said. “He’s still got a lot left in him. I didn’t know, and I think a lot of people didn’t know, how much he had left overall.”

Rasheed Wallace had 15 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots for Portland, which defeated Orlando for the eighth consecutive time. Bonzi Wells and Ruben Patterson each had 12 points.

Cheeks credited Portland’s defense, and particularly Wells and Patterson, for containing Tracy McGrady. McGrady’s streak of scoring at least 30 points ended at eight games when he finished with 24 points on 10-for-27 shooting.

McGrady had three first-half fouls that limited him to 16 minutes in the half and did not make his three shots in the third quarter.

“They both did excellent jobs,” Cheeks said of Wells and Patterson. “When you know that a guy’s going to get 25-30 shots a night, it makes it even tougher. We tried to keep the ball out of his hands.”

Orlando’s Mike Miller had 20 points but was five for 17 from the field. He has made only 24 of 81 shots in his last five games. Pat Garrity had 15 points and reserve Darrell Armstrong scored 10.

McGrady agrees the All-Star break is coming at a good time for the Magic, which has lost five of six.

“As a matter of fact, it’s a good thing the break’s here,” McGrady said. “Give myself and these guys a chance to rest and gather themselves and think what we have to do for the second half of the season. Somehow, some way, we’ve got to find a way over this hump, start winning some basketball games.”

Minnesota 103, Houston 89 -- Kevin Garnett had 23 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, and Rasho Nesterovic scored 19 points and played tough defense against Yao Ming to lead the Timberwolves at Minneapolis.

The Timberwolves lost by 20 points at Houston on Friday.

Steve Francis led Houston with 31 points, but started losing his shooting touch down the stretch, making only two of seven shots in the fourth quarter.

Washington 93, Cleveland 84 -- Michael Jordan, two weeks shy of his 40th birthday, scored 27 points in 43 minutes to help lift the Wizards at Washington.

Jerry Stackhouse, the Wizards’ leading scorer, sat out his second consecutive game because of a groin injury.

Despite constant double-teams, Jordan made 13 of 26 shots and had eight assists.

The Wizards held off a stubborn challenge by the team with the league’s worst record.

Toronto 98, Milwaukee 95 -- Vince Carter, chastised by many for accepting a starting spot in Sunday’s All-Star game, scored 25 points -- two fewer than his season high -- and blocked the potential tying shot by Ray Allen just before the final buzzer to spark the Raptors at Milwaukee.

Denver 102, Chicago 100 -- Juwan Howard scored 30 points and Chris Whitney made five free throws in the final 20.6 seconds of overtime to help the host Nuggets win consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 8-10.

Donyell Marshall led Chicago, which owns the league’s worst road record at 2-24, with 21 points.