ORLANDO -- In the waning minutes of the third quarter, J.J. Redick was apologetic to the referee for a foul that led to a technical, but it wasn't that big a deal. The Orlando Magic dispatched of the Houston Rockets at home tonight, 105-94.
Redick had 21 and Hedu Turkoglu scored a team-high 23, including thee 3-pointers down the stretch. Dwight Howard had a better offensive game after being held to 11 on Christmas in a loss to Kendrick Perkins and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The NBA's best center had a more respectable 20 points tonight against newly acquired Houston center Samuel Dalembert, who had 10 points.
Howard was upbeat after the game, saying it was a "a new day -- a new game." "We've just got to stay together and keep fighting," he said. "The guys shot (the ball) with confidence."
The Rockets fell behind a dozen points, but late in the fourth quarter got within four, thanks to the persistence of power Luis Scola with 19 points and former Magic guard Courtney Lee coming off the bench to score 14. Houston was led by Kyle Lowry with 20 points.
Despite Howard's dominance down low with seven rebounds, the Rockets overall out-rebounded the Magic, 20-19, with Lowry accounting for seven of them. Orlando is now 1-1 while Houston goes to 0-1.
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