NBA Scores & More: LeBron James, Heat Finally Beat Bucks, Mavs Edge Clippers

With their big man, Dwight Howard, in foul trouble the Orlando Magic got a balanced effort from just about everybody else on the roster to take control of the lead late in the first half and hold the Minnesota Timberwolves at bay the rest of the way for a 102-89 win in Orlando.

Howard played only 28 minutes due to that foul trouble and ended the game with only 11 points and 7 rebounds, his lowest numbers in over a month. Picking up the slack was the rest of the team as five other Magic players had double digit nights in scoring, led by Jason Richardson's 17 points.

Each quarter saw a different Magic player stepping up to score. In the first, it was Ryan Anderson, who scored 10 of his 13 in the first quarter, helping the Magic get off to a 29-26 lead after the initial quarter.

In the second quarter the Magic bench took charge, led by J.J. Redick and Earl Clark who had seven and eight points respectively in a second quarter that saw the Magic grab the double digit lead they wouldn't relinquish. Clark's eight points tied a season high and represents only the second time all year he scored more than five in a game, providing solid relief for Howard.

The Timberwolves got good efforts from their frontcourt duo of All-Star Kevin Love (19 points, 15 rebounds) and Nikola Pekovic, who went for 16 points and 13 rebounds himself. Pekovic's rebound total included seven offensive rebounds, all of which occurred with Howard on the court and five occurring in two separate sequences that ended with Pekovic layups.

Minnesota never could find their range to make any meaningful runs after halftime and hurt themselves with 18 turnovers while only forcing nine from Orlando.

The Magic, meanwhile, kept getting meaningful efforts from different contributors as the third quarter was Richardson's turn to shine, scoring 13 of his 17 in that period. The final quarter was closed out by Jameer Nelson, who hit two threes and his only two assists of the game in the fourth.

The Magic were led in assists by Hedo Turkoglu, who made the pass of the night to Howard, a lob-dunk sequence reminiscent of their run to the Finals a few years back. As Howard landed and began to come back down the floor, there was an obvious "Finally!" from the All-Star center while Turkoglu raised his arms to the heavens with a smile.

It was a tough night for the Timberwolves backcourt, who got beat by Richardson, Redick and Nelson while struggling to get their own games on track. Ricky Rubio had 11 points and 8 assists in 39+ minutes but turned the ball over five times. J.J. Barea was worse, stumbling to a 4-10 shooting night with seven turnovers against a single assist. The indignity of the evening was sealed for Barea as he seemed to get shoved down on the baseline defensively against Redick later in the fourth quarter. As Barea staggered to his feet, looking for a foul call, he watched as Redick, now wide open, hit a three.

For the Timberwolves take on the game, check out Canis Hoopus. For a peek behind the Winner's Curtain, stand in the Magic line at Orlando Pinstriped Post.

If the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks meet in the Western Conference playoffs this postseason, we can probably expect a close and exciting series. At least that's what the first two regular season meetings would indicate.

When the two teams played in L.A. last month, the homestanding Clippers had a seemingly safe five-point lead with less than a minute left, only to let the visiting Mavs take the lead with a couple of three pointers sandwiched around a turnover. Chauncey Billups' last second three saved the game for the Clippers. Monday night in Dallas, that same scenario almost played out in reverse.

The Mavs led by five on a pair of Dirk Nowitzki free throws with just 21 seconds left. On the next Clippers possession, Chris Paul nailed a tough three to bring the Clippers within two. A few seconds later, Paul deflected a pass that wound up in Blake Griffin's hands. Vinny Del Negro eschewed the time-out and decided to attack the Dallas defense in transition. Caron Butler, who had a game high 23 points and five three pointers on the night he received his Mavericks' championship ring, got a wide open look from behind the arc for the lead, but it wouldn't fall. The Mavericks got the rebound and Delonte West's free throws completed the scoring in Dallas 96-92 victory.

The Clippers will no doubt look at this as a game of missed opportunities, and not just because Butler's potential game-winner rimmed out. Griffin, who had made 22 of 27 free throws since introducing three rhythm dribbles into his charity stripe routine four games earlier, had a nightmare from the line. He missed his first seven free throws, including five in the fourth quarter, and finished 2 for 9. Speaking of nightmares, Randy Foye, starting in place of the injured Billups, missed all seven of his shot attempts. And if that weren't enough, the residents of Lob City missed three uncontested dunks on the evening.

The ending was exciting, but it was really a stretch earlier in the fourth that decided the game. The Clippers had used a 7-0 run to go up by four with seven minutes left, matching their biggest lead of the night. Over the course of a little more than five minutes, the Mavs went on an 11-1 run to take a six-point lead -- and those were surely the worst five minutes of Griffin's NBA career. He twice drew a shooting foul -- and missed both free throws. His confidence was so low at that point that Rick Carlisle had his team foul Griffin intentionally off the ball on the next Clippers' possession; he managed to make the second shot that time. All the misses clearly had shaken Griffin, as the next time he had the ball, he seemed to panic completely and threw the ball directly to Shawn Marion. It was a sequence the young superstar would love to forget.

Credit the Mavericks defense for forcing the Clippers into myriad mistakes. L.A. is among the league's best in turnovers committed, but Dallas hounded them into 21 miscues Monday night, including a season-worst five from Paul. Dallas was no doubt aware going into the game that the Clippers are 12-0 when Paul scores 17 or more points in a game. With the 6'7 Marion as the primary defender, and constant double teams, the Mavs wouldn't give Paul any room to operate, and they held him to 16, the magic number to get the win.

On offense the Mavericks were led, as you might expect, by Dirk Nowitzki's 22. He made just 5 of 15 shots, but did manage to get to the line 15 times. Shawn Marion contributed 16, and five other players in the deep and balanced Mavs attack scored either 9 or 10.

In addition to Butler's 23 and Paul's 16, Griffin finished the game with 20 points. But it's those free ones he didn't score that he'll be thinking about on the flight back to L.A.

With the result, Dallas improves to 18-11 and the Clippers fall to 17-9.

For more on the Mavericks, head over to Mavs Moneyball. To read up on the Clippers, visit Clips Nation.

Back when the Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat met at the Bradley Center on Feb. 2, LeBron James outscored the entire Bucks roster in the first period -- which happened to be the most points scored by any player in any single quarter this season -- but Brandon Jennings and the Bucks got the last laugh in a 21-point comeback win. This time around, James saved his most explosive quarter for after halftime and propelled the Heat to a comfortable 114-96 win.

LBJ scored a game high 35 points on a stunning 16-21 shooting, as he pushed the ball effectively in transition, dominated in halfcourt offense with his mid-post game and put together a 16-point third quarter on 70 percent shooting that featured both methods of attack and put the game out of reach. James consistently dominated in the post, hitting a perfect 5-5 turnaround shots in the left short corner and scoring so well inside that he never had to attempt a shot beyond 18 feet on the night. He built a great first quarter on Feb. 2 with a deadly jumpshot that went sour in the second half, but this time King James focused on attacking the rim and getting more efficient looks to seal the win. LeBron has always loved playing at the Bradley Center, and Monday night was no exception.

A few stray Bucks fans might have quietly thought "bring on the Heat in the first round of the playoffs" after Milwaukee earned upset wins in the first two meetings this year, but this third and final head-to-head matchup served as a reminder of why the Heat are an NBA juggernaut. Dwyane Wade got off to a fast start, slicing through the defense and scoring 16 of his 22 points in the first half and looking like he might grab the headlines at his old Marquette stomping grounds, but James used the third quarter to punctuate his own stellar night and turn the final period into garbage time. With Wade and James combining for 57 points, Chris Bosh's quiet night -- 8 points and 7 rebounds -- didn't really matter. Besides, Bosh had his signature moment in the post-game interview. Things went well enough for the Heat that Eddie Curry made a three-minute cameo at the end of the game and tallied one rebound, one assist, two fouls and a turnover.

The Bucks managed to keep the game close in the first half by hitting six threes, but poor shooting overall prevented them from getting the lead under double digits at any point in the final 22 minutes of the game. Carlos Delfino hit 5-8 from beyond the arc and put in a team-high 24 points to establish one bright spot for Milwaukee. It marked the continuation of a streak hot shooting for the Argentinian swingman, who has now made 16 of his last 24 three-point attempts. No other starter for the Bucks shot over 50 percent from the floor, and the team only managed 39.3 percent accuracy for the game. Although Milwaukee matched Miami on points in the paint with 34, the mid-range onslaught by Wade and James helped the Heat convert 51.8 percent of their looks in the win.

Brandon Jennings opened the game by attacking in transition and generating 8 quick points, but he faded from there and finished with just 12 points and 4 assists. After playing a disturbingly passive game in a loss to the Phoenix Suns last Tuesday and then missing out on the 2012 NBA All-Star game, Jennings landed in the headlines over at ESPN for telling Chris Broussard he is considering leaving Milwaukee when he gets the chance. This was just another concerning effort in a string of underwhelming games from Milwaukee's young star over the last seven days. His 31-point, 8-assist and zero turnover performance that knocked off LeBron and company happened less than two weeks ago, but that swagger seems completely out of reach for Jennings at the moment.

Even Drew Gooden's suddenly sizable swag took the night off. He came into the game averaging 18.6 points on 55.1 percent True Shooting and 6.9 rebounds during the month of February, but couldn't keep up the production against Joel Anthony. Gooden has been feasting on 15-18 foot jumpers out of pick-and-pop during his surge, but Anthony bellied up and played him for that shot all night long. After falling for Gooden's first pump-fake and getting reminded by teammate Mario Chalmers to stay disciplined on defense, Anthony held Milwaukee's big man to just 2-14 from the field (34.2 percent True Shooting) for 12 points. Drew Gooden had more missed shots than LeBron and D-Wade combined. Miami is one of the few teams in the league without a true center anchored to the painted area, so perhaps Gooden can get back on track in the pick-and-pop against Chris Kaman and the Hornets on Wendesday.

The Heat (22-7) have now won 14 of their last 17 games -- with two of those losses and now one of those wins coming against the Bucks -- while the Bucks (12-16) are now stuck in their fourth losing streak of the season and currently rank as the No. 9 team in the Eastern Conference standings.

For anyone wondering exactly when the game turned into a garbage time laugher, LeBron was kind enough to punctuate that transition with a highlight dunk. Take a look:

For more on the Miami Heat, visit SB Nation's Heat blog Peninsula Is Mightier. Milwaukee Bucks news and analysis is available at SB Nation's Bucks blog, Brew Hoop.