Hot Nelson leads Magic to 5th straight win

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-23 15:51

MIAMI - The Orlando Magic won their fifth straight game as Jameer Nelson's 22 points and seven assists led them to a 113-81 home rout of the Golden State Warriors on Monday.

Orlando Magic guard Jameer Nelson (L) pitches out around Houston Rockets Yao Ming during second-half NBA basketball action in Orlando, Florida November 22, 2008. [Agencies]

Nelson was named the NBA's player of the week for the first time in his career and followed that with another solid performance, hitting all nine shots he took from the field, including four 3-pointers.

"I'm just trying to help us win games," Nelson told reporters. "Honors like that, they'll come to somebody on a team that's winning, but we've got to keep winning.

"It's not about individual performances and things like the Player of the Week. It's about winning basketball games and it's about the standings. Where we are in the standings is the most important thing."

Southeast Division leading Orlando improved to 22-6, the third best record in the Eastern Conference. Rashard Lewis added 21 points and Dwight Howard contributed 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Magic, who held Golden State to just 31.9 percent shooting.

"We played great defense and that was just as important as anything I did," Nelson added.

The Magic led by 17 points in the first half but that advantage was cut to just four at 58-54 in the third quarter. However, Orlando took over from there, ending the third quarter on a 22-9 run to lead 87-66.

Orlando led by as many as 35 points in the fourth with reserve players taking over to complete the Magic's seventh straight home win.

Jamal Crawford led the Warriors with 18 points. Anthony Morrow added 13 points and Marco Belinelli had 12 for the Warriors, who have lost six of their last seven games.

"We got shots we're used to making, but we pretty much struggled from the field the whole night," Crawford said. "You shoot like we shot, you don't win games very often, that's all there is to it."