Orlando, Fla. ? Whether the Hornets play in Charlotte or New Orleans next season, fans in either city will have someone special to watch.

Baron Davis had 28 points en route to his second straight triple-double, and Charlotte beat the Orlando Magic 102-85 Tuesday night to win the first-round playoff series in four games. He also had 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

Charlotte's Baron Davis, with sweatband, gets a hug from Orlando's Tracy McGrady. The Hornets hammered the Magic, 102-85, Tuesday to win the teams' best-of-five NBA playoff series.

The Hornets will play the winner of the New Jersey-Indiana series in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

In the best-of-five series, Davis averaged 27.5 points, 9.3 assists and nine rebounds for the Hornets, who are awaiting league approval to relocate to New Orleans for next season.

Charlotte coach Paul Silas said it was a testament to the players that the Hornets reached the playoffs and advanced in the face of an impending move.

“We have gone through a lot of turmoil this season, but they have kept focus,” Silas said. “When I needed them to step up, they all have. It was a total team effort.”

Davis’ performance was his way of answering Orlando guard Tracy McGrady, who had guaranteed a Game Four win.

“When people trash talk, it can motivate both teams,” Davis said of McGrady’s guarantee. “We took it as motivation to say, ‘Let’s come out here and end this thing before we go back to Charlotte.”‘

And as for McGrady’s claim that he was the series’ best player, Davis wasn’t going to touch that.

“What I wanted to do was to lead my team and not get into what was the best player in the series,” Davis said. “We all know Tracy McGrady is one of the top five players in the league. I’m just an up-and-coming pug trying to get a little publicity.”

Pacers 97, Nets 74

Indianapolis Austin Croshere and Ron Artest each scored 18 points as Indiana beat New Jersey in Game Four of their first-round best-of-five playoff series.

Game Five is Thursday night in New Jersey, where the teams split the first two games.

Indiana led by as many as 18 in the third before holding a 68-53 lead at the end of the quarter.

Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin ran into foul trouble and spotty shooting, and never ran New Jersey’s offense with any consistency. Kidd scored 10 points, and Martin 13.