Dwight Howard passed Wilt Chamberlain as the youngest NBA player to reach 5,000 rebounds as the Orlando Magic withstood Dwyane Wade's 42 points for a 101-95 away victory over Miami Heat on Monday. Howard, 23, collected 22 points and 18 rebounds to boost his career total to 5,007. Chamberlain, the all-time NBA rebound leader with 23,924, was 25 when he reached 5,000.
"The big guy was really aggressive," the Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. Rashard Lewis added 21 for Orlando (55-18), who won their sixth consecutive game to stay percentage points ahead of Boston (56-19) for second place in the Eastern Conference. Hedo Turkoglu (16), Rafer Alston (13) and Courtney Lee (10) also were in double figures for the Magic. Wade now has had 12 40-point games this season. "Wade is great every night," the Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said.
However, the NBA's leading scorer found little help with Mario Chalmers scoring 13 points and Jermaine O'Neal 10. The loss left fifth-placed Miami (39-35) just a game ahead of Philadelphia (37-35) in the East. Wade's lay-up gave Miami a 92-91 lead with 2:51 to play, but the Magic scored six consecutive points, on a free throw by Howard, Lewis's three-pointer and again a lay-up by Howard to take control.
Elsewhere in NBA action, the Utah Jazz overcame the New York Knicks 112-104. Deron Williams had 24 points and 13 assists, Carlos Boozer added 21 points and 11 rebounds and Kyle Korver scored 16 as the Jazz won their 15th consecutive home game. Al Harrington scored 24 to lead the Knicks before getting himself ejected from proceedings with two technicals for arguing a foul call with 22 seconds left.
The Memphis Grizzlies won for just the fourth time in 22 games with a hard-fought 114-109 success over the Golden State Warriors. OJ Mayo scored 24 points and had a career-high 10 assists to complete an impressive day at the office. Rudy Gay added 21 points while Mike Conley had 21 points and six rebounds for the victorious Grizzlies. Monta Ellis had 29 points for Golden State, who only had eight players available again due to injuries, as they crashed to their fifth consecutive loss.
Finally, the Milwaukee Bucks ended a five-game losing slide with a 107-78 victory over the New Jersey Nets, who in turn have now lost five on the run as their poor end to March continued. Richard Jefferson had 29 points and 10 rebounds against his former teammates. Charlie Villanueva added 20 points for the Bucks, while Chris Douglas-Roberts poured in 14 points and Brook Lopez had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds for out of form New Jersey.
* With agencies
