Dwight Howard scored 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, passing Wilt Chamberlain as the youngest NBA player to reach the 5,000-board mark as the Magic kept their grip on the number two spot in the Eastern Conference by beating the Heat 101-95 on Monday night.

Rashard Lewis scored 21 points, including the go-ahead three-pointer with 1:32 remaining for Orlando (55-18), which stayed five games behind Cleveland and percentage points ahead of defending champion Boston in the East race.

Costly loss

Dwyane Wade scored 13 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter for the Heat (39-35), whose edge over Philadelphia for the East's number five seed was trimmed to one game.

The loss was especially costly for the Heat as back-up point guard Luther Head broke his left hand during the game and will miss four to six weeks.

At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Richard Jefferson had 29 points and 10 rebounds against his former teammates as the Milwaukee Bucks snapped a season-high, five-game losing streak, beating New Jersey Nets 107-78.

Charlie Villanueva added 20 points for the Bucks, who kept their slim hopes for a play-off berth alive.