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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)—Dwight Howard(notes) insists he didn’t intend to hurt Derrick
Rose(notes). He was just protecting the basket.

So when Rose drove the lane hard and tried to finish over the towering
center for the second time this season, the man who goes by “Superman” again
delivered on his nickname.

The Man of Steel.

“I think if you hit something that doesn’t move,” Howard said, “you
usually end up falling.”

Howard went up. Rose went down. Two teams continued to head in opposite
directions.

Vince Carter(notes) had 23 points to help the Magic pull away early and cruise past
the injured Bulls, 111-82 on Thursday night for a season-high seventh straight
win.

Matt Barnes(notes) added 14 points, and reserve Brandon Bass(notes) scored 13 in another
blowout victory against a struggling team for the Magic.

“That’s what we should’ve done,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “They
started the game a little undermanned, and then obviously when Rose went down,
they were very undermanned.”

Rose sprained his left wrist in the midair collision with Howard in the
first quarter and didn’t return for the Bulls, the latest setback in a season
that’s quickly going sour. Taj Gibson(notes) and Hakim Warrick(notes) had 12 points apiece,
not nearly enough to prevent Chicago’s sixth consecutive loss.

“We’ve got to find a way to get healthy and weather the storm,” Bulls
coach Vinny Del Negro said. “But there’s no question we are a battered bunch
right now.”

The Magic have left their mark on the Bulls this season—a big bruise the
last two meetings for Rose.

The play was almost identical to the one that sidelined the Bulls star when
the teams last met Feb. 10. Rose clutched his lower back and wrist before slowly
rising to his feet, making one of the free throws.

“He’s going full speed, and he’s hitting basically an immovable object,”
Van Gundy said.

Rose stayed in the game before being taken to the locker room after the
quarter for an X-ray, which came back negative. He will have an MRI on Friday in
Miami.

Howard he said he offered a suggestion to Rose during the All-Star break:
jump off two feet to keep balance.

“I just want him to save years on his body,” Howard said.

The Magic had their way without Rose.

Howard had an alley-oop dunk on a pass from Jason Williams(notes). Marcin Gortat(notes)
had a one-handed slam on an alley-oop from Williams. Four different Magic
players made at least one 3-pointer.

And that was just in the opening half, with Orlando going ahead 65-33.

Things got so out hand that fans chanted at full throat, “We want Foyle,”
referring to 35-year-old third-string center Adonal Foyle(notes), the only Orlando
player who hasn’t played this season. Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was even booed
after he didn’t give in during a late timeout. Van Gundy could only chuckle.

After all, this was a laugher.

The Bulls were outhustled by a Magic team playing its best basketball of the
season. At a time when teams are trying to make a push toward the postseason,
the Bulls couldn’t be playing worse.

Or be missing so many key pieces.

They’re already without their leading rebounder and inside defender, Joakim
Noah(notes), sidelined with plantar fasciitis in his left foot. And the Bulls’
second-leading scorer, Luol Deng(notes), is out with a strained right calf.

The injuries have led to poor play and pushed Chicago out of the Eastern
Conference’s final playoff spot. The Bulls are 1 1/2 games behind Miami, Charlotte
and Toronto for the eighth seed.

The Magic moved 4 1/2 games behind first-place Cleveland—and 4 1/2 ahead of
Boston—in the East. They have taken advantage of talent-deprived and
injury-riddling teams the past two weeks.

Mixed in with a big win against the Lakers, the Magic have beaten the
Clippers, Golden State, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Miami during their streak.

“Right now, we’re trying to play the best basketball we can,” Carter said.
“Hopefully, roll it into the playoffs.”

NOTES: Magic backup SF Mickael Pietrus(notes) missed the game with a strained neck.
He is day to day. … Yankees ace CC Sabathia was sitting in the front row on
the baseline for the third straight Magic home game.

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP)—Cavaliers star LeBron James(notes) is tired of watching
basketball and ready to start playing again.

James missed two games after twisting his right ankle last Friday against
Detroit, but is likely to play at Philadelphia on Friday night.

“I’m always a guy who wants to play every game, but I think now looking
back it was definitely the right decision to give the injuries I had some
rest,” James said Thursday after practicing for the first time this week.
“It’s not often you can look in the schedule and get a week off and only miss
two games, so we took advantage of it.”

He says he would have played through the injury had it been the playoffs,
but instead the team chose to be cautious. While sidelined, James watched his
alma mater, St. Vincent-St. Mary, win an Ohio high school playoff game on
Wednesday.

He also watched NBA games on a wall of televisions in the basement of his
35,000-square foot house.

“I’m very excited,” James said about playing the 76ers. “It’s going to be
a good, fun night.”

The news isn’t as good for teammate Antawn Jamison(notes). Cavs coach Mike Brown
said on his radio show Thursday night that Jamison will sit out Friday’s game
because of a cyst behind his left knee. Jamison, acquired in a trade last month
from Washington, sat out the fourth quarter of Cleveland’s win Monday against
San Antonio.

Jamison has been bothered by stiffness in his knee all season. He says he
can manage it with rest and rehab.

WASHINGTON (AP)—As he sits on the bench at the start of each game, Jamal
Crawford(notes) analyzes the opposition, the defenses they are employing, and the flow
of the game. The Atlanta Hawks are sure glad their sixth-man extraordinaire is a
quick study.

Crawford scored 29 points and the Hawks avoided a three-game losing streak
by beating the Washington Wizards 105-99 Thursday night.

“You get a chance to see what teams are doing on coverage and how you can
kind of pick them apart and dissect them,” said Crawford, who has led the Hawks
in scoring 21 times this season. “Then I can come in and try to help do that.”

The Hawks were unable to shake the Wizards for nearly three quarters before
Crawford scored 12 points in the final 3:37 of the third quarter, connecting on
two of his four made 3-pointers and then finishing with six free throws.

“I just wanted to mix it up,” Crawford said. “I didn’t want to settle
just for threes after that. I knew they would get up closer so I wanted to get
by them and get to the free-throw line and kind of slow the game down a little
bit.”

The free throws spurred a 13-1 run bridging the third and fourth quarters to
help the Hawks take an 85-73 lead.

“He just comes in and changes the game,” Al Horford(notes) said of the Hawks’
super sub. “He really gave us a lift when we needed him to. It was tied 66-66
and he came in and made two threes and I think that changed the complexion of
the game.”

Horford and Joe Johnson(notes) each scored 18 points in Atlanta’s first trip to the
nation’s capital this season for the makeup of a game that was postponed Feb. 6
due to a blizzard which left 2 feet of snow in the area.

Andray Blatche(notes) had 30 points and 10 rebounds for Washington, in the midst of
a stretch of three games in three nights because of the schedule change. The
Wizards have lost five straight and seven of eight.

Blatche’s putback with 4:53 remaining pulled the Wizards to 92-89, but they
would get no closer.

The Hawks pushed the lead back to eight, but JaVale McGee(notes) rammed home his
eighth dunk of the game to pull the Wizards back to 101-97. Blatche missed a
jump shot with a chance to get them closer and the Hawks made four of six free
throws to seal the win.

While the Hawks had a strong shooting night, including making 8 of 17 from
beyond the arc, their defense was from stellar and they were also outrebounded
42-29

“We can’t have nights like this,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “We were
fortunate to get out of here with a win tonight.”

They are also fortunate to have a long-range shooter like Crawford. The
Hawks improved to 16-5 when the 10th-year pro makes at least three from 3-point
territory.

“He’s been fantastic all year He’s a big part of what we do,” Woodson said
of Crawford, who scored five points in the final 29.3 seconds of the first
quarter to put Atlanta ahead 27-22. “He’s made big shots for us. He’s run our
offense. He’s put us in position where we are today.”

McGee finished with nine rebounds and scored 10 of his career-high 20 points
in the fourth quarter. His eight dunks ties Orlando’s Dwight Howard(notes) with the
most in a game this season.

Both teams shot well in a tight first half, but also struggled to maintain
possession of the ball. The Hawks shot 65 percent in the first quarter—62
percent in the half—and Joe Johnson led the way with 14 points, but also had
three of the Hawks’ 11 turnovers.

Following a turnover by Randy Foye(notes), the Wizards 13th of the half, Marvin
Williams(notes) took a halfcourt pass down the right side and dribbled up before
swishing a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Hawks a 54-51 halftime lead.

Blatche connected on five of six shots from the field to lead the Wizards
with 13 points, but also committed six of his seven turnovers in the first half.

“I’m not used to getting double-teamed”, said Blatche, who has become the
focal point of the Wizards offense following their trading deadline deals. “I
just have to keep on learning from it, keep on trying to make better passes.”

Blatche may have been the biggest culprit, but he was far from alone when it
came to giving up possession as the Wizards had 20 turnovers, many of which lead
directly to points on the other end.

“When the other team scores 32 points off turnovers, you really don’t give
yourself much of a chance,” Wizards coach Flip Saunders said. “They were
aggressive. They switch a lot, and we didn’t make good reads, just turned the
ball over.”

Nick Young(notes) scored 13 points of his 17 points in the second quarter for the
Wizards, who dropped their fifth straight at home in front of a crowd of 13,625.

Mike Bibby(notes) finished with 16 points for the Hawks, who have won five straight
over the Wizards, including three this season.

NOTES: Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas(notes) has submitted paperwork to go from No. 0
to No. 6, and the NBA approved the change, league spokesman Tim Frank confirmed
in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Thursday. Arenas was given a
season-ending suspension by the NBA for bringing guns to the locker room. He
pleaded guilty to a felony gun possession charge in January and is scheduled to
be sentenced March 26. … Atlanta has now gone 31 games without a three-game
losing skid, matching Denver for the longest active streak. … Alonzo Gee(notes),
signed by the Wizards to a 10-day contract on March 7, made his NBA debut in the
second quarter. The undrafted rookie guard from Alabama scored two points in
seven minutes.