Penny Rings Up Win For Magic Orlando Rallies From Second-Half Deficit, Hardaway And O’Neal Each Score 22

No one has to remind Orlando that beating the Houston Rockets during the regular season doesn’t make a lasting impression on the two-time defending NBA champions.

The Magic won twice in two tries last winter, only to be swept by the Rockets in the final round of the playoffs in June.

“One game is not going to make or break our season,” Dennis Scott said Monday night after Anfernee Hardaway’s 11-foot jumper with 3.1 seconds remaining gave Orlando a 92-90 victory in the first meeting between the teams this season.

“And it’s not revenge,” the Magic forward added, “because the bottom line is they’ve still got the rings on their fingers.”

Hardaway and Shaquille O’Neal each had 22 points for Orlando, which blew a 13-point second-half lead and fell behind by eight in the fourth quarter before overtaking the Rockets.

“We’ll take a win any way it comes, but I was a little disappointed,” Hardaway said. “We had them down and they came back. It seemed like deja vu from the finals.”

Hakeem Olajuwon led the Rockets with 30 points, but his basket in the opening minute of the final quarter was his last of the night. Dennis Scott rebounded the All-Star center’s airball with 24 seconds left, setting the stage for Hardaway.

The All-Star point guard let the shot clock run down to six seconds before starting from the top of the key and moving toward the right side of the basket to rise above Elie. The ball hit the rim, banged off the glass, rolled around and fell in.

“I got a great look at it. I knew Elie wasn’t going to jump at me because he didn’t want to foul,” Hardaway said. “It banged around, but it doesn’t matter as long as it falls through.”

Robert Horry’s 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim for Houston, which led 80-72 before O’Neal, who played the last 4:37 with five fouls, and Scott brought Orlando back.

The victory extended the NBA’s longest regular-season home winning streak to 22 games, including 15 straight this year. The Magic lost twice to Houston at home during the finals.

“We just wanted to win to keep our homestand going,” O’Neal said. “We slipped there a little in the third quarter, but we played great defense in the fourth quarter. At the end, that was just a great shot by Penny.”

Scott finished with 19, including a 3-pointer that tied the game at 90 with 1:25 left.