CHARLOTTE - Dwight Howard has played a role in winning more than a few games for the Orlando Magic in his career.

On Sunday night, the Magic showed that they can win a game without him.

Hedo Turkoglu scored 20 points to lead four Orlando players in double figures in a 90-85 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.

Mickael Pietrus added 18 points, Rashard Lewis had 17 and Jameer Nelson 15 for Orlando, which overcame a five-point halftime deficit for its third straight road win.

"We have to prepare ourselves (because) sometimes even (Howard's) having an off night,'' Turkoglu said. "Tonight, we all just stepped up and did a great job as a group.''

The Magic's All-Star center was shut down by Charlotte's defense, scoring just four points (all on free throws), and he only played 7 1/2 minutes in the second half before fouling out for the first time this season with 3:18 remaining.

"Tonight just wasn't my night,'' said Howard, who had his lowest-scoring game since putting up eight points in 44 1/2 minutes in a 90-89 loss to Detroit in Game 4 of Orlando's second-round NBA playoff series last May.

"We started off pretty bad, and our effort wasn't there. I've got to be the catalyst, and I didn't have it tonight. But I'm glad my teammates stepped up.''

Gerald Wallace scored 17 points, and Raymond Felton and Adam Morrison had 14 each for the Bobcats, who led 51-47 with seven minutes left in the third quarter.

But Pietrus capped a 7-point run with a 3-pointer to put Orlando up 54-51 with 5:45 left, and the Magic never trailed again.

"They did a good job, and they exploited mismatches,'' Charlotte coach Larry Brown said. "They've got some pretty good players ... and they just find a weakness and exploit it.''

Still, Charlotte wouldn't go down without a fight, pulling to 70-69 with 9:31 remaining in the fourth quarter on Morrison's jumper and two free throws.

However, Pietrus' layup 25 seconds later kicked off a 7-1 run that pushed it to 77-70, and the Bobcats would pull no closer than five points the rest of the way.

"We played at a very, very low energy level, but we hung in and did some good things in the second half to get the win,'' Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "This did give our guys some confidence ... with Dwight not into the flow of things and sitting on the bench the whole time.''

Notes: The last time Howard went without making a field goal in an NBA game came on Jan. 20, 2007, when he went 0-for-6 from the field and scored just one point in 26 minutes in a 101-94 loss at New Jersey. ... Charlotte forward Sean May scored four points in 12 1/2 minutes in his second consecutive start. However, Brown said that May - who missed the 2007-08 season after having surgery on his right knee, and was held out of five straight games this season for "conditioning issues'' - wasn't at the level he needs to be yet. "He's not ready to play like he's capable of playing,'' Brown said before Sunday's game. ... The Bobcats wrap up their six-game homestand on Tuesday against Dallas. ... The Magic will play three of their next four at home, beginning Tuesday against Toronto.

Bobcats Head Coach Larry Brown
(On the team)
"I hope we keep people in front of us and not let them make lay-ups, and for us to somehow figure out a way we can get to the free-throw line instead of settling for jump shots. You’ve got athletes against a team that’s not quite that athletic. We dribble-drive they block 11 shots, they dribble-drive they make lay-ups; that’s a big factor."

(On tonight’s game)
"They (the Magic) have some pretty good players – (Hedo) Turkoglu, (Rashard) Lewis, Jameer (Nelson). I thought Jameer Nelson controlled the whole game. He got up on our people and impacted our pick-and-rolls, and he got the ball wherever he wanted on their pick-and-rolls. They did a good job, they exploited mismatches. I thought Emeka (Okafor) the first eight minutes played about as good as I’ve ever seen him play."

(On the difference between the first and second halves)
"The first half I thought we were great on the boards. They were taking a lot of jump shots but usually you’re inside when a guy’s taking a jump shot. The second half was a little more difficult, but they made a lot of lay-ups."

Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace
(On the difference between the first and second halves)
"(You’ve got to) take the time to execute your offense. Just like Coach (Larry Brown) told us, if we are able to swing the ball, then swing the ball. We had it going pretty good in the first half, but in the second half we got complacent with what we were doing. We were taking a lot of shots with the shot clock winding down and they forced a lot of turnovers. There are other things we’ve got to fix, especially in the third quarter. It’s one thing if (you do things wrong) in the first quarter because you’ve got three more quarters to fix it, but in the third quarter, when you start off slow, that momentum carries on throughout the (rest of the) game. Tonight, we weren’t able to catch back up."

(On the importance of finishing the six-game homestand strong)
"We knew the first month of the season was going to be pretty hard because we were going into a new offense. The good thing is that we’ve had a lot of those games at home. Our main focus is that if we can come out of this (homestand) .500, then we’ll feel like this is a success considering the point that we’re at. We’d like to be better and we feel like there have been games that we could have won and we should have won that we gave away, but to finish at .500 (on the six-game homestand) at this point in the season gives us a lot of room to improve."

(On tonight’s game)
"We should have won this game. With Dwight Howard out of the game, we could have easily taken a 10-, 15- or 20-point lead. We were rotating very good on defense in the first half, but in the second half our rotations kind of slacked off and they (the Magic) were getting open shot after open shot. They were penetrating and breaking down our defense. That’s something that we can’t do coming out of halftime."

Bobcats guard Raymond Felton
(On what went wrong in the second half)
"A lot of things – the ball wasn’t falling in the basket and we didn’t execute at crucial times and it hurt. (Against) a team like that, when you don’t execute they capitalize. The next thing you know, you’re down five. Against a team like that, when you’re down five with three or four minutes left in the game, they know how to close games. It’s tough to come back against them."

(On the game against Dallas on Tuesday)
"We’ve got to get (a win Tuesday). It would be against a good team in Dallas. If we get that win, it will boost everyone’s confidence back up after this loss going into the Atlanta game to try to get a win on the road."

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