Vince Carter had 24 points with some big shots late and Rashard Lewis finished with 20 points, leading Orlando's 19-2 run in the fourth quarter. The perennially poor free-throw shooting Howard also was 13 for 18 from the line.
“Every time I step up there, just believing it was going in,” he said.
After a 43—point loss in the opener, Atlanta led early but head home still searching for a way to stop the Magic's 12-game winning streak. Al Horford led the Hawks with 24 points, and Joe Johnson had 19 points.
Game 3 is Saturday in Atlanta.
Howard made a layup as he was slapped in the face inadvertently by Horford to start the third quarter, the blood pouring from the Magic center's nose. Howard shot the free throw — and missed — with plugs in his nostrils, holding back laughter, and then left for about 2 minutes so trainers could stop the bleeding.
The play started an 11-2 run that erased Atlanta's early nine-point lead and put the Magic ahead 62-59. The topsy-turvy starts by the two centers — Howard had 18 points in the first, and Horford scored 14 points in the second — were merely offsetting.
A flurry of Magic 3-pointers sent the Hawks packing with another loss to their Southeast Division rival, which has won eight of the last nine games between them. Carter, Lewis, Jameer Nelson and Mickael Pietrus all made one from beyond the arc during the big fourth-quarter spurt that put Orlando ahead by 19.
“We didn't play our best basketball in the first half but we were still within arm's reach,” Carter said. “In the second half we played like the Orlando Magic.” Not even a near—perfect night on free throws for the Hawks (30 for 31) could prevent another loss in Orlando, which moved just two games away in the best-of-seven series from returning to the conference finals.
