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Howard's 31 lift Magic to 90-86 win over Cavs

The Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard scored 31 points to lift his team to a 90-86 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the closing minutes of a pre-season NBA match-up on Wednesday.

The Magic's star center, the first overall selection in the 2004 NBA draft, scored a critical post up move to tie the game at 84-all near the end of the fourth quarter to help power his team to victory after trailing most of the game.

"In the second half I tried to do a better job of getting myself open and my teammates finding me in the right spot and then finishing as strong as I could," Howard said at a media briefing immediately after the match.

"We had a couple of mental lapses on the court, but overall I think we did a great job of sticking to our game plan and we played great defense," he said.

The 21-year-old's efforts and guard Jameer Nelson's 24 points meant that the Magic outshone last year's Eastern Conference champions led by All-Star LeBron James, who scored 17 points in his team's losing effort.

The Magic were to face the Chinese national team in Macau last night, making them only the second NBA team to face China since the Washington Bullets played in 1979 in the league's first Chinese foray.

Also see: Disgruntled Kobe skips practice, but stays ready to play

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