ORLANDO, Florida - This was a win that really meant something for Orlando.

Dwight Howard had 31 points - 19 in the second half - and 13 rebounds as the Magic earned their first victory over a winning team in more than a month, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 89-75 on Sunday.

"This was kind of to prove to ourselves that we can beat the best teams in the NBA," Orlando forward Ryan Anderson said. "It was a must-win for us in a sense that we haven't been playing well against good teams."

In the nearly two months since they reshaped their roster with a pair of blockbuster trades, it's been hard to tell whether the new-look Magic have the chops to make a deep playoff run. Those questions still linger, but a decisive win over the defending NBA champs was the starting point they've been looking for.

"We haven't played an entire 48 minutes in a long time," Anderson said. "Everybody really came to play and we had everybody contribute tonight. We played great defense and just had it in our mind to play hard the entire game."

Jason Richardson chipped in 12 points for the Magic.

Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum each scored 17 to lead the Lakers, held to a season low in points. Lamar Odom added 15 and Pau Gasol 11.

"Offensively we were really stagnant. Defensively we could have been a little better. But they had 89 points. It was a winnable game as far as points go. But we didn't put any up," Bynum said.

Orlando rebounded from a six-point home loss to New Orleans on Friday and a snapped a string of eight straight losses to teams with winning records. Orlando's previous victory against a team above .500 was on Jan 8 at Dallas.

The Lakers' loss snapped a four-game winning streak. They conclude their seven-game road trip with visits to Charlotte on Monday and Cleveland on Wednesday.

Howard scored his eighth straight point to give the Magic a 71-60 edge with just under 10 minutes to play.

The Lakers scored five straight, but the Magic quickly responded with six consecutive points - including a pair of baskets by Brandon Bass - to increase their lead to 77-65 at the 7:48 mark.

Bass, who missed the previous six games with a sprained left ankle, didn't start on Sunday, but made his first appearance since Jan 31 with 7:56 left in the first quarter after Anderson picked up his second foul.

Howard was fouled on a putback dunk by Gasol with 5:38 left and his free throw made it 84-69. The Lakers closed within 13, but never got closer.

Associated Press

(China Daily 02/15/2011 page24)