Los Angeles - Rusty Rashard Lewis struggled to find his shot, but Vince Carter was right on the money when the Orlando Magic needed it the most. Carter drilled a critical three-pointer with 53 seconds remaining, and the Magic celebrated Lewis' return, by beating the sliding Charlotte Bobcats 97-91 on Monday night.
"I don't mind taking the big shot," said Carter, who finished with 15 points. "I have practised that shot plenty of times, so it felt normal to me. Once I got my feet set, about halfway it felt pretty good."
Lewis was making his much anticipated season-debut after sitting out the first 10 games of a league-imposed suspension for testing positive for an elevated testosterone level in August.
Though he finished with 10 points on 4-of-15 shooting during his 34 minute stint, Lewis was happy to be back on the court.
"I was just excited to get this first game under my belt," he said. "I knew I'd be rusty, but it's all about getting out there, and going through the mistakes. It's only going to get better. I'm sure I'll do a lot better on Wednesday night than I did tonight."
Considering it was his first game of the season, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was satisfied with the effort of his All-Star wingman.
"He did some good things," Van Gundy said. "I know he can play a lot better than he did tonight, so it's positive to have him back and get a win."
Jameer Nelson netted 16 points to pace seven players in double figures as Orlando (8-3) bounced the visiting Bobcats for the second time in five days. Dwight Howard accumulated 14 and 11 rebounds, while Ryan Anderson scored 12 after missing four games with an ankle sprain.
Flip Murray matched a career high with 31 points, and Boris Diaw added 21 for Charlotte (3-7) which dropped its fifth in a row.
Stephen Jackson had 13 with 11 rebounds, hours after the unhappy swingman finally got his wish, and was traded from Golden State along with Acie Law for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic.
"We just have to play together a little bit more and figure out how we all play and where we want the ball," Jackson said. "We have a good chance of getting into that playoff run. We just can't dig ourselves too big of a hole right now."
Orlando trailed 52-50 at halftime, but Lewis hit a jumper and a pair of layups to spark a 16-6 closing run, helping the Magic to a 76-68 advantage after three quarters.
Baskets by Anderson and Lewis to open the final period stretched the lead to 80-68. However, the Magic couldn't shake Charlotte. With Murray scoring 10 points, the Bobcats closed to within 90-87 on Diaw's jumper at the two-minute mark.
On the ensuing play, Raymond Felton lost the ball to Lewis, leading to Carter's dagger over Jackson above the left side of the arc to put the Magic ahead 93-87. Jackson made two free throws, but Carter countered with a pair at the other with 18 ticks left to seal the victory.
Elsewhere:
Dallas Mavericks 115, Milwaukee Bucks 113 (OT)
Dirk Nowitzki played beat the clock and won. The German juggernaut bounced in a fall-away jumper from the left of the foul line at the buzzer, giving the Mavericks the dramatic road victory.
"I thought it was going straight in. The bounce was obviously lucky," said Nowitzki, who scored seven of his 32 points in overtime and grabbed 11 rebounds. "When it bounced up, it seemed like it was up there forever. We got a lucky bounce and we definitely needed it."
Drew Gooden added 22 points with 14 boards, Jason Terry scored 19, while Jason Kidd collected nine, 10 rebounds and 17 assists as Dallas (8-3) won its third in a row, despite blowing an 18-point third-quarter cushion.
Brandon Jennings scored 25 points after setting a club rookie-record with 55 in Saturday's victory over Golden State, but Milwaukee's (5-3) four-game winning streak came to an end. Turkey's Ersan Ilyasova finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Atlanta Hawks 99, Portland Trail Blazers 95 (OT)
Joe Johnson poured in eight of his 35 points in overtime, and the high-flying Hawks won their fifth in a row, while snapping the Trail Blazers' six-game success.
Josh Smith added 20 points with 16 rebounds, while Al Horford finished with 15 and 10 boards, as host Atlanta (9-2) erased a nine-point fourth quarter deficit to match idle Phoenix for the league's best record.
Spain's Rudy Fernandez led Portland (8-4) with 19 points, including a buzzer-beating three that sent the game into overtime. LaMarcus Aldridge had 18 points and nine rebounds, while Brandon Roy contributed 17 with nine caroms.
