those are all dwight howard generated, because no one wants to leave dwight alone.s what i mean by we have to do a better job. i thought it was mostly dwight generated. >> doc, how have you been able to get your defensive rotation so tight in the playoffs after such a difficult time just getting your players on the floor together over the course of the regular season? how big an achievement is it do you think that your defense is just playing so tight as a team after all you've been through during the season? >> well, we're old, and so i think a lot of our guys during the regular season, with the injuries and stuff, very difficult. the guys who -- you've been around and covered us. it's tough to -- to work on your defense when you don't have a lot of practice, and it's tough to work on your defense when you don't have eight games to practice a lot of times during this regular season. everybody's healthy. everybody's focused. everyone's listening. and everyone's buying in to the defensive schemes, and when you get that, with the health, and then you have a chance, an

they call an offensive foul on dwight howard. possibly a phantom foul.'s >> nominations for best actor in a playoff series. >> glen davis right up there with it. maybe a flop, but they get the offensive foul. under two minutes to go, magic down seven. it's j.j. reddick. he had nine off the pine. boston went scoreless over five-plus minutes late in the fourth quarter. dwight howard, seven turnover,ts just 3-10 from the field, but he pulled the magic within three. moments later vince carter at the line. the magic down four. the intentional miss and check out jameer nelson cleaning up. timing things perfectly. magic back within two. but after a pair of ray allen free throw, six seconds to go, rashard lewis, no dice. and the celtics take game one in orlando 92-88. it's the first loss for the magic since april 2nd. magic had won 14 in a row dating back to the regular season. 25 for ray allen. he is... the celtics are 7-0 in the postseason when he scores 18 or more. back down to orlando for live coverage. paul pierce at the podium. >> when you started out, did

mientra que en orlando, dwight howard aportó 21 puntos y 12 rebotes, y el magic propinó una de las palizas en su historia, al aplastar 114-71 a los hawks de atlanta, en el primer partido de las semifinales de la conferencia de este. sólo un triunfo por 47 puntos sobre los celtics boston, en la primera ronda de la postemporada de 1995 supera a la paliza de anoche. . para hoy solo hay un partido, y que partido. suns de phoenix usarán camisetas con la frase "los suns", en lugar de sólo "suns", la iniciativa busca "honrar a nuestra comunidad latina y la diversidad de la nba en el estado de arizona y la nación", dijo el dueño del equipo robert sarver. hoy los suns reciben esta noche a los spurs de san antonio en las grandes ligas, los orioles no pudieron con los yanquis en nueva york, pero los nacionales siguen ganando, ayer otra victoria mas en casa. el cubano liván hernández lanzó su menor número de entradas y máximo de lanzamientos de la temporada, pero se las arregló para mantener su buen promedio al llevar anoche a los nacionales de washington a una victoria 6-3 sobre los bravos

. >>> plus, abracadabra, dwight howard and the magic down the hawks. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. >>> our warm spring is going to come to an end as one more shot of cold air from canada is on the way. your regional forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." >>> good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports it's rare to see a blowout in the nba playoffs. well, last night the orlando magic not only enjoyed a blowout they notched one of their biggest playoff victories of all time. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. with all eyes on the lakers and cavs in these playoffs it's easy to overlook what the magic are doing. last night they flat out embarrassed the atlanta hawks. second quarter off the turnover. jaysle williams lobbed it to mickael pietrus. up 20 at the half. if you like that alley-oop, you're going to love this. orlando led by as many as 46. went on to win it 114-71. it was a much closer game between lakers and jazz. milsap got

. >>> in orlando the magic got 21 points and a dominating performance from dwight howard in the opener series against atlanta. and the magic beat the hawks 114-71. game two is thursday in orlando. >>> in baseball, a walk-off win for minnesota. with the score tied in the 9th inning, a wild pitch scored the twins' j.j. hardy from third base and minnesota beat detroit 4-3. >>> when we return we'll take another look at this morning's top stories. >>> and a closer look at the man suspected in the times square bombing attempt. >>> sports sponsor by odor-eaters insoles. powder and spray, absorb sweat and destroy odor on contact. [ female announcer ] all you need for sensitive skin. all you expect from the number-one recommended detergent by dermatologists. all free clear is free of dyes and perfumes. and has powerful stainlifters to help get your whole wash clean. it's all good. breakfast! your... better breakfast. with egg whites. red onions... jalapenos... banana peppers... tomatoes... black forest ham... and sweet onion sauce. melted cheese all on english muffins... or flat bread... howeve

dwight howard and he's pretty good dunking. we are tied at 76. and then jamir nelson, remember him?ill shoot. played at saint joe's and is comfortable in the nba, knocks down the 3. we're in overtime 5 and 86, ot getting underway in moments as orlando tries to stay alive. cavs have fired head coach mike brown. the team has imposed a midnight deadline to pay 4.5 million or cut him lose. he had a 138 record in five years. his winning percentage of 6.63 the highest in franchise history but he's gone now and question is will this move help the cap leerz retain free agent lebron james? it's a many million dollar question. doug collins is back where his nba career started. the former number one pick of the sixers introduced today as the new head coach of the team. he replaces the fired eddie jordan who had a record of 27 and 55. he rae applied kon collins in d.c. and now collins replaces jordan in fill >> i a lot of people say why would you want to do this. my answer is why not. >> reporter: seems like a good reason. collins in philly today and the flyers in philly tonight. trying to elim

big night for dwight howard. a spin move. orlando up 4. he was just warming up.ense. he takes this away from josh smith. the alley-oop. this one got out of hand in a hurry. magic was up by 20 at the half. it got worse. back to howard who had 21 point, 12 rebounds, 5 blocks. the magic destroy the hawks by 43. they lead the best of seven 1- 0. penns and canadiens game three and a physical one for sid the kid. gets taken down. crosby students like it. if he doesn't like it, some pens are going it fight about t. scoreless in the 3rd. guess who gets the last laugh? a former cap. all those names sound familiar to me. pens win 2-0. they lead the series 2-1. i'm dave feldman. you're caught up. brian is back to wrap up the edge right after this. have a good night. . mcdonald's bacon and cheese angus third pounder. as if it wasn't enough to make it with a full third pound... of 100% angus be, they had the audacity to use a bakery-style bun... and crinkle cut the pickles. there's no denying it, that's a third strip of bacon. have they no shame! angus axiom #39:

and dwight howard with 29 points lead the way, and the magic have won 5 of 6 games against the hawks in the regular season. so where does atlanta go from here? >> you're talking about that three that nelson hit in the third quarter, how tough that was. you've just taken the lead on scra maul? >> i think we were relaxed. that's a big momentum stop for them going into the fourth quarter. you know, we struggled in that third quarter. and held the lead when jamaal made the shot. we didn't have nothing left. jamaal played strong in the third quarter, and fell off. only two assists in that third quarter. trying to get the offense moving there. >> again, we had some good looks. you know, i don't know if fatigue set in or what. but couldn't make a shot. and then it was pretty good in the first half, i thought, in terms of what we wanted to do as the game wore on. we kind of got away from them. somehow we've got to put four quarters together. we were a little better tonight than we were in the first game, i thought. but unfortunately we didn't have the answers to win. >> coach, talk about hav