February 22, 2010 (Part 2); Vintage Carter gives Magic big W against Cavs!

This article is from NBA.com! An exclusive! :)

ORLANDO (NBA.com exclusive) -- The Orlando Magic called Vince Carter their "closer'' when they acquired him from the New Jersey Nets last summer, and he showed up just in time to close out Sunday's 101-95 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Carter and Jameer Nelson scored 16 straight Magic points during a five-minute stretch of the fourth quarter while the Cavaliers managed just two free throws. Then Carter assisted Rashard Lewis on a game-clinching 3-pointer with 20 seconds left.

It was the Magic's first win in three tries this season against the Cavaliers, who have lost three straight for the first time since March of 2008.

LeBron James scored a game-high 33 points and newly acquired Antawn Jamison rallied the Cavaliers (43-14) into their first lead of the game by scoring the first eight points of the second half.

Dwight Howard led the Magic with 22 points and 16 rebounds in a nationally televised game that had plenty of everything, including flying elbows and hard fouls and borderline calls.

"It was a playoff atmosphere with a lot of stars on the floor," noted Carter. "It makes for great TV."

And it ended with a strong sense that it might not be the last time these teams will meet in Orlando, even though their regular-season finale will be at Cleveland on April 11.

"It's a team we may see in the playoffs," James said. "It was a good test for both teams and they made enough plays down the stretch to win.

"Give them credit."

Cleveland center Shaquille O'Neal, who scored 20 points and recorded his 3,000th career assist, clearly expects a rematch in the Eastern Conference final.

"It's going to be tough," said Shaq, who wasn't with the Cavaliers when they lost in six games to the Magic. "They've got to come through us, we've got to go through them. But as long as the game is played like it was played today, I have no problem with it. It was a well played game by both teams; their shooters just hit some shots down the stretch."

The Cavaliers led, 85-80, midway through the fourth quarter, right around the time James usually takes over.

But this time it was Carter, who at that point had made one shot in six attempts in 26 minutes. He started with two free throws, then reached out for a spectacular dunk that signaled the start of a big Magic rally. By the time Nelson completed the Magic run with a 3-pointer, Orlando had a 96-88 lead with two minutes left.

Carter closed it out by feeding Howard for a free throw and then setting up Lewis perfectly.

"In the fourth quarter if you have the ball in your hands, yeah, you want to score," Carter said. "But if you can make plays by finding open guys, that's what makes it to me. Because you can shoot every time and not make it, but if I can find a guy in the paint who's wide open and make the best play, and he knocks it down, that's just like scoring to me."

The Cavaliers shot 8-for-23 in the fourth quarter and only 3-for-16 from behind the arc for the game.

In spite of the loss, they found something to be encouraged about in the contribution of Jamison. In his second game since coming over from Washington, he was the first man off the bench and finished with 19 points before fouling out in the final minute.

"It's scary what can happen with me playing along with these guys,"

Jamison said. "They make it so much easier. I just want to go out there and play my game and be aggressive and that's what they want me to do.

I'm starting to understand that and each game I start to improve on it."

Jamison will be starting once coach Mike Brown decides how best to make the transition.

"That has something to do with [the losing streak]. Our guys don't quite have a rhythm yet and I don't have a rhythm yet at what I want to do," he said. "It was kind of a hodge-podge as far as substitutions today."

In any case, it was a step up from Friday night's loss at Charlotte, in which Jamison missed all 12 of his shots in his Cavalier debut.

"The Charlotte game was hard to swallow," James said. "We just didn't play well, we had no energy, we didn't cover for each other. Today was a game where we played physical, we did everything possible, but they made a couple more shots than we did."

And now, here are the scores from today's action from the NBA!

Cleveland 95 (43-14)
Orlando (38-19)
Amway Arena, Orlando, Florida
CLE: LeBron James- 33 pts, 9 rebs, 6 assts, 2 stls.
ORL: Dwight Howard- 22 pts, 16 rebs, 2 assts, 1 stl.

Boston 105 (35-19)
Denver 114 (37-19)
Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
BOS: Ray Allen- 25 pts, 5 rebs, 4 assts.
DEN: Chauncey Billups- 26 pts, 4 rebs, 7 assts.

San Antonio 101 (31-23)
Detroit 109 (20-35)
The Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit, Michigan
SAS: Tim Duncan- 21 pts, 10 rebs, 3 assts.
DET: Richard Hamilton- 27 pts, 5 rebs, 3 assts.

Memphis 104 (28-27)
New Jersey 94 (5-51)
IZOD Center, East Rutherford, New Jersey
MEM: Rudy Gay- 29 pts, 8 rebs, 1 asst, 1 stl.
NJN: Brook Lopez- 26 pts, 9 rebs.

Oklahoma City 109 (33-21)
Minnesota 107 (13-44)
Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
OKC: Kevin Durant- 32 pts, 6 rebs, 2 assts, 1 stl.
MIN: Kevin Love- 19 pts, 14 rebs, 3 assts, 1 stl.

Houston 94 (28-27)
New Orleans 102 (30-26)
New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, Louisiana
HOU: Chase Budinger- 18 pts, 5 rebs, 1 stl.
NOH: David West- 27 pts, 9 rebs, 4 assts, 1 stl.

Atlanta 104 (34-20)
Golden State 108 (16-39)
Oracle Arena, Oakland, California
ATL: Joe Johnson- 31 pts, 5 rebs, 3 assts, 2 stls.
GSW: Stephen Curry- 32 pts, 9 rebs, 3 assts, 1 stl.

Sacramento 88 (18-38)
Phoenix 104 (34-21)
US Airways Center, Phoenix, Arizona
SAC: Carl Landry- 18 pts, 7 rebs, 2 assts, 2 stls.
PHX: Jason Richardson- 27 pts, 7 rebs, 1 asst.

Utah 93 (36-19)
Portland 89 (32-26)
Final/OT
UTAH: Carlos Boozer- 22 pts, 23 rebs, 5 assts.
POR: Brandon Roy- 23 pts, 3 rebs, 4 assts.

So there you have it! You guys have just been fed!

God bless you guys! Stay safe! Peace out! The Wizard was here... :)

Comments, questions and suggestions are highly appreciated! :)