"I came out in the second half and just trusted my teammates," Howard said. "They made some open shots and I tried to dominate the paint. It doesn't matter if we're down 20, we're going to continue to fight."

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"When he's in attack mode, we're a different team," Carter said. "Our focus was better in the second half. We were limiting them to one shot. We took care of the boards and the ball."

Reserve guard Anthony Johnson, who averaged 1.6 points over his first 20 games this season, scored 17 points in 21 minutes. His 3-pointer with 6:58 remaining gave the Magic their first double-digit lead of the game at 79-69.

Howard's dunk with 2:25 left put Orlando ahead 87-73.

"The last couple of games I haven't been aggressive enough," Howard said. "Tonight I just kept asking for the ball, and we played inside-out, and it was successful for us."

Josh Smith was the Hawks' second-leading scorer with 13 points.

NOTES: Mike Bibby started despite leaving the Hawks' last game, a loss in New Orleans on Saturday night, with a sprained left ankle. He finished with 10 points on 4 for 11 shooting. ... Atlanta wore red uniforms with "ATL" stitched on the front of the jerseys for the first time. ... The Hawks announced a crowd of 19,193 for their second sellout this season. ... Orlando has won four straight at Philips Arena.