NBA.com by Brain Mahoney

By BRIAN MAHONEY

"NEW YORK(AP) Rashard Lewis scored 13 of his season-high 26 points in the third quarter, and the Orlando Magic beat the New York Knicks 114-102 on Sunday night for their sixth straight road victory.

Dwight Howard had 24 points and 16 rebounds for the Eastern Conference leaders, who capped a perfect three-game trip over the holiday weekend that started with an impressive win at division rival Atlanta on Thanksgiving. Orlando improved to 50-14 in November the last three years, best in the NBA.

Reserve Nate Robinson scored 24 points for the Knicks, who lost their fifth straight in the opener of a difficult stretch of four games in six nights against teams playing .700 ball. They host Phoenix on Tuesday, visit the Magic on Wednesday and travel to Atlanta on Friday.

Orlando needed a big second-half rally to pull out a 100-98 victory at Milwaukee on Saturday night, but seized control of this one midway through the third quarter.

Lewis' 3-pointer tied it at 57 early in the period, kicking off a 14-4 run during which he added another 3 as Orlando opened a 68-61 lead. He followed Danilo Gallinari's free throw with another 3-pointer, and the Magic led by as much as 11 in the period before settling for an 82-73 advantage after Mickael Pietrus' basket at the buzzer.

The Magic pushed it to 12 early in the fourth, but Robinson scored or assisted on the Knicks' first 22 points of the period, and his basket cut it to 92-86 with 6:15 to go. New York could come no closer, and Orlando put it away when Lewis hit a 3-pointer and converted a three-point play in a 40-second span that made it 106-92 with 3:19 remaining.

Vince Carter finished with 23 points for the Magic, who were far too deep for a Knicks team that had little besides Robinson once it fell behind.

Jason Williams made a 30-footer to beat the buzzer to end the first quarter, giving the Magic a 31-29 lead. The Knicks opened a six-point advantage on Al Harrington's three-point play with 4:25 left in the second, but Carter hit a couple of jumpers in the final 1:50 as Orlando went into halftime with a 54-52 edge.

David Lee had 20 points and 12 rebounds for New York."-Brain Mahoney

NBA.com   "DENVER (NBA.com exclusive) -- Carmelo Anthony toed the foul line with 16.7 seconds left and a heavy burden on his shoulders.
The Nuggets' star had 48 points, but more importantly his team held a precarious two-point lead on the feisty Knicks. With the game on the line and the first 50-point game of his NBA career in sight, the pressure was magnified.
"They might have been the two toughest free throws I've shot in a while," Anthony said. "We've got the game on the line, 50, you're right there and you want to get it."

Anthony didn't flinch. He swished both free throws and the Nuggets held on for a 128-125 win Friday night.
After coming close to 50 a couple of times -- he had 49 against Washington two seasons ago -- he finally got the magic number, and his teammates couldn't be happier.

"That was a treat," said Chauncey Billups, who had 32 points and eight assists. "He got real close, had 49, but couldn't get over the hump. That's one you remember for a lifetime."
Getting the win will help keep the memory pleasant, but it wasn't easy. Despite their 3-12 record coming into Friday's game, the Knicks were formidable, battling Denver to the final buzzer. Al Harrington came off the bench to score 41 points and pull down 10 rebounds and David Lee had 23 points and 10 rebounds.

"I felt like we played hard and took a step forward," said Harrington, who now has three 40-point games in his career. "If we play like this against most teams we can win our fair share of games."
They nearly pulled out Friday's game. After trailing for most of the first half, Denver rallied and took an eight-point lead on Anthony's three-point play early in the fourth quarter. But New York's shooters closed the gap, and Nate Robinson tied it at 100 with a five-foot hook with 7:56 left

Denver appeared to take control again when Billups nailed a 3-pointer to push the lead to 118-112 with 2:26 left, but the Knicks never quit. They had a chance to tie it with a 3-pointer in the last 4.4 seconds but Larry Hughes couldn't get off a shot.
"They are a difficult team to play," Billups said. "They have so many shooters, they run a great system [Mike] D'Antoni has, and when they have that many guys scoring it's going to take an unbelievable effort to beat them. If their scorers had played that well the first 15 games they'd probably be over .500."
The Knicks haven't played that well, which is why they're 10 games under .500 just 16 games into the season. But D'Antoni saw progress in Friday's loss.
"I think we found a formula that we can stick to. I thought we really competed tonight," he said.
Against a team playing as well as Denver, the Knicks needed a little more, especially when Anthony got hot. New York tried to guard him with multiple defenders, but that just opened up things for Billups and J.R. Smith, who had 12 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter."- NBA.com