Pacers’ Jackson kicked off bench in 107-75 loss

Stephen Jackson didn’t last until halftime. By then, the Indiana Pacers were done anyway.

LeBron James scored 24 points -- mostly with Jackson trying to guard him -- in the first half and finished with 27 to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 107-75 victory over the Pacers on Saturday night at Cleveland.

Indiana’s ugly loss was compounded by an incident in the first half involving Jackson, who was kicked off the Pacers’ bench by Coach Rick Carlisle.

Late in the second quarter, Jackson was pulled by Carlisle and the two had words. Carlisle then pointed for Jackson to leave the bench area, banishing the fiery guard to the locker room for the remainder of the game.

“I substituted for him. He came to the bench and an exchange ensued that I thought was inappropriate and detrimental to the team,” Carlisle said. “So I made a decision to remove him from the bench.

“These games are difficult. If you don’t have everybody with a laser-like focus on one task, which is playing like a team and competing hard, it gets even more difficult.”

The Pacers were without forward Jermaine O’Neal, who sat out his second straight game because of a strained left hamstring.

Orlando 86, Philadelphia 84 -- Dwight Howard’s rebound and short bank shot gave the host Magic an 85-81 lead with 52.9 seconds left.

Kyle Korver cut the deficit to one with a three-point play, but the 76ers wasted two opportunities to tie or take the lead when Chris Webber and Kevin Ollie attempted difficult shots that failed to hit the rim.

New York 115, Milwaukee 107 -- Eddy Curry powered his way to a career-high 36 points to lead the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Curry surpassed the 20-point mark for his ninth straight game. He scored 14 points in the third quarter, when the Knicks opened a 17-point lead by outscoring the Bucks, 36-22.

Houston 114, Washington 109 -- Yao Ming scored 23 of his season-high 38 points in the fourth quarter to help the Rockets end the host Wizards’ winning streak at three games.

Gilbert Arenas finished with 41 points for the Wizards, who were bidding for their first four-game streak since winning five in a row from Feb. 4-12, 2006.

Boston 92, New Jersey 90 -- Paul Pierce made an off-balance, 22-foot basket at the final buzzer for the visiting Celtics, who rallied from a 22-2 deficit in the first quarter to end a five-game losing streak.

Minnesota 91, Chicago 81 -- The Timberwolves ended the host Bulls’ seven-game winning streak. They built a 21-point lead in the third quarter and withstood a push by the Bulls on the way to their fourth consecutive victory.

Dallas 105, Denver 90 -- Carmelo Anthony, who started the night as the NBA’s top scorer at 31.7 points per game, had 18 points on eight-for-26 shooting at Dallas.

The Nuggets were on the second leg of a tough back-to-back in less than 24 hours against the teams that played in the NBA Finals last season, and they set a season low for points.

Golden State 101, New Orleans 80 -- It took five tries, but Don Nelson finally became the second coach in NBA history with 1,200 wins after the host Warriors broke open the game in the fourth quarter. Nelson joins Lenny Wilkens (1,332) as the only coaches with at least 1,200 wins.

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Portland Trail Blazers forward Zach Randolph was suspended for today’s game at Toronto for an obscene gesture he made to the crowd during Friday night’s 108-95 loss at Indiana, the team announced.