San Antonio’s Tim Duncan had a night to forget as the Spurs slumped to a 110-84 loss to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday.
Duncan, a 12-time All Star and three-time NBA Finals most valuable player, finished with five points and was one-for-10 from the field, the worst shooting performance of his career.
“Just a bad game, mostly myself,” Duncan told reporters. “It kind of starts with me. We got caught in a rotation early and missed some shots, but I just didn’t play well.”
After the Charlotte Bobcats snapped Orlando’s eight-game winning streak on Sunday, the Magic responded with an impressive performance against the Spurs.
Vince Carter had a game-high 24 points, with eight assists, and Rashard Lewis scored 20 points as the Magic opened up a big lead in the third quarter and were able to rest their starters for much of the fourth.
“It’s not about who makes the most points, it’s who has the open shot gets the ball,” Carter said. “I think we’ve done a great job of exploiting different situations throughout the course of the game. We knew Dwight [Howard] probably wouldn’t have a great night scoring, but it was important for us to give him the ball to draw those double-teams.”
The Magic (48-21) led by 10 at halftime and outscored San Antonio 28-16 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. Orlando’s scoring leader Howard finished with nine points.
Richard Jefferson had 20 points for the Spurs (40-26), who entered the game having won eight of their last nine.
The defeat dropped the Spurs one spot to seventh in the Western Conference, a game behind the Phoenix Suns.
All-Star point guard Tony Parker is still out with a broken finger, but the team have managed to go 4-2 without him.
The Magic are in second place in the East, six games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers.
■CAVS CLINCH CENTRAL
AP, CLEVELAND, OHIO
LeBron James had 32 points, nine rebounds and nine assists as the Cleveland Cavaliers clinched consecutive outright Central Division championships and the third in their history, beating Indiana 99-94 on Wednesday night.
Cleveland (54-15) are the first team this season to clinch their division.
After Cleveland’s 18-point lead was cut to one, James had six points, two blocks, two steals and an assist in the final four minutes, including a dunk behind his head after catching a pass from Anderson Varejao.
Troy Murphy had 19 points and 15 rebounds, while Roy Hibbert had 20 points for Indiana.
Mavericks 113, Bulls 106
In Dallas, Caron Butler scored 27 points, Dirk Nowitzki had 26 points and J.J. Barea scored 10 straight when things tightened up in the fourth quarter for Dallas.
Dallas native Acie Law scored a season-high 22 points for the Bulls.
Wednesday’s other results:
• Bobcats 100, Thunder 92
• Rockets 107, Grizzlies 94
• Celtics 109, Knicks 97
• Jazz 122, Timberwolves 100
• Raptors 106, Hawks 105
• Warriors 131, Hornets 121
• 76ers 108, Nets 97
• Clippers 101, Bucks 93
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