<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>SAN ANTONIO, April 13 (Ticker) -- Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic continue to perform as if they are preparing for the postseason. Howard collected 22 points and 13 rebounds and Jameer Nelson added 19 points as the Magic posted their seventh consecutive win, a 92-80 victory over the San Antonio Spurs. Hedo Turkoglu and Darko Milicic scored 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Magic (35-44), who continue to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. Orlando trails idle Chicago and Philadelphia by 2 1/2 games for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with just three contests left. "It feels good," Howard said. "From the get-go, we knew we could beat these guys. The story all year has been us not playing up to our potential, not playing as well as we can. When we do that, we lose, and that happened a lot earlier in the season. We've learned that we have to come out with the kind of intensity we had tonight every night." "This is a great win for our guys," Magic coach Brian Hill said. "We know that with Manu (Ginobili) not playing and Tony Parker feeling under the weather, it's not quite the same. But to play this type of game against this type of team on a back-to-back ... this is a special win for this locker room. We held a very good team to 30 points in the second half and 11 points in the fourth quarter. I am proud of that defensive effort." The Magic took control of the game with a 9-2 burst capped by a three-point play by Howard for a 62-54 lead with 8:15 left in the third quarter. "I came out and hit a couple of shots early in the game and then I thought to myself, 'We are not losing this game,'" Howard said. "The Spurs are a great fourth-quarter team. We knew that. You have to really focus on Tim Duncan and do a good job on him. But at the same time, you can't let them dish it out to the perimeter and the wings. We kept them from doing that." The visitors held a 78-69 advantage after three periods and managed to trade baskets in the closing quarter and hold on for the win despite scoring just 14 points in the frame. "We came out with a lot of intensity, and we had to because they knew we played last night," Nelson said. "We knew they were going to come out and throw a big first punch. We survived that and threw some of our own." Duncan tallied 31 points, 13 rebounds and six assists for San Antonio. Michael Finley added 16 points and Parker contributed 12, but committed seven turnovers as the Spurs maintained their 1 1/2-game lead over Dallas for the best mark in the Western Conference. "We didn't have the edge we needed tonight," Duncan said. "They shot 50 percent from the floor. We need to shore up our defense right now going into the final few games of the season." With the loss, San Antonio also allowed Detroit to clinch the best overall record in the NBA. "Orlando did a great job," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "They showed us why they are the hottest team in the league. They did a very good job. I thought it was a bad performance on our part."</div> Article SourceDarko had a pretty good game and would be great to see him scoring 15 points, and 5 rebounds a game for the Magic
