In brief: Magic lose game, maybe Howard, too

NBA: Dwight Howard lost perhaps his last game with the Orlando Magic, declaring before a 122-111 loss to the host San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night that he won’t surrender his right to become a free agent this summer.

Howard had 22 points and 12 rebounds on the eve of the NBA trade deadline, and his refusal to give the Magic the ultimate assurance he’ll be back may weaken Orlando’s hesitation to trade their superstar.

The trade deadline is noon PDT today.

Tony Parker had 31 points and 12 assists, and Tim Duncan had 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Spurs.

If the Magic don’t trade Howard, they risk the 26-year-old signing elsewhere and getting nothing in return for a perennial All-Star hitting his prime. It’s a scenario the franchise is loath to repeat after Shaquille O’Neal did the same in 1996.

• Bulls win battle of top teams: John Lucas III scored 24 points, and the Chicago Bulls beat the visiting Miami Heat 106-102 without Derrick Rose in a charged showdown between the Eastern Conference’s top two teams.

The Bulls built a 16-point lead in the second quarter, were up 11 at halftime and boosted it back to 17 in the third after a push by Miami. They then hung on after Miami closed within two in the closing minute for their 11th win in 12 games. Even better, they won without their superstar, and they did it on a night when Dwyane Wade scored 36 and LeBron James finished with 35 points for Miami.

• Bryant leads Lakers to fourth straight win: Kobe Bryant scored 33 points, and the Los Angeles Lakers won their fourth straight game and second straight in overtime, 107-101 over the host New Orleans Hornets.

For the second night in a row, the Lakers climbed out of a double-digit hole in the second half to force an extra period.

• Blazers routed again: Mike D’Antoni is gone after resigning, and the Knicks finally got his offense right.

Amare Stoudemire made all seven shots in the first half, Carmelo Anthony passed and shot well, and the Knicks shook off the surprising departure of their coach to rout the visiting Portland Trail Blazers 121-79, snapping a six-game losing streak.

Anthony, who denied wanting a trade or having friction with D’Antoni, had 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting and tied a season high with seven assists.

Stoudemire finished with 17 points and shot 8 of 10, before both stars sat out the fourth quarter while the Knicks rang up their highest point total of the season in their first game under interim coach Mike Woodson. They got 23 points from JR Smith, 20 from Steve Novak, and made a season-high 19 3-pointers, one off the franchise record.

LaMarcus Aldridge and Gerald Wallace each scored 15 points for the Trail Blazers, who were blown out for the second straight night and lost for the fourth time in five games.

Santos Laguna lashes Sounders

Soccer: U.S. national team player Herculez Gomez scored twice to help Mexico’s Santos Laguna rout the Seattle Sounders 6-1 in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals at Torreon, Mexico.

The Sounders won the first leg of the series 2-1 in Seattle, but four second-half goals from Santos Laguna, including Gomez’s two, gave the Mexican team a 7-3 overall victory.

Santos Laguna will play the Los Angeles Galaxy-Toronto FC winner in the semifinals.

Vonn claims 12th World Cup win

MISCELLANY: American skier Lindsey Vonn won a downhill by nearly a second at Schladming, Austria, for her 12th victory of the season, the second-highest total in World Cup history. It was also her 17th top-three finish in a race this season, one short of the World Cup record.

Vonn, who clinched her fourth overall title last week and her fifth consecutive downhill title last month, finished in 1 minute, 46.56 seconds. That was 0.92 ahead of Marion Rolland of France. Tina Maze of Slovenia was third.

Austrian veteran Klaus Kroell won the World Cup downhill title after holding on to his lead over Swiss rivals Beat Feuz and Didier Cuche in the final event of the season.

• Hamlin wins luge title: Erin Hamlin won her fifth straight USA Luge national championship, with Chris Mazdzer taking the men’s title and Christian Niccum and Jayson Terdiman winning the doubles crown at Lake Placid, N.Y.

• Late goal propels Colorado: Jamie McGinn forced overtime by scoring with 2 seconds left in regulation, and Peter Mueller netted the lone shootout goal in the Colorado Avalanche’s 5-4 NHL win over the Buffalo Sabres at Buffalo, N.Y.

McGinn scored twice for the Avalanche (38-30-4), who vaulted out of a four-way tie for eighth place in the Western Conference to sixth.

• Jets cool Stars: Andrew Ladd scored twice to help the host Winnipeg Jets beat Dallas 5-2, snapping the Stars’ six-game NHL winning streak.