Orlando, Fla. ? New Orleans was composed after falling behind by five points with the clock winding down, and the Hornets stayed calm when Orlando’s Tracy McGrady took off toward the basket trying to force overtime.

Jamaal Magloire blocked McGrady’s driving layup with 3.9 seconds to go, sealing New Orleans’ 100-98 victory Thursday night. Had the Magic man’s shot hit the mark, it would have erased a rally that saw the Hornets score the game’s final seven points.

“We’re prepared,” said George Lynch, whose fast-break layup with 36 seconds remaining was the game-winner. “Coach has done a great job of getting us in situations in practice so we’re able to adjust to it. We don’t panic; we just play through it.”

David Wesley scored 28 points, while Magloire had 27 points and eight rebounds and Baron Davis added 22 points and eight assists.

“We didn’t rush anything, and we got some good shots at the basket when we came back,” Wesley said. His layup with a minute left tied the game at 98.

McGrady, the NBA’s defending scoring champion, appeared to have a good line on sending Orlando into overtime for the second straight game. The night before in New York, his putback with 0.4 seconds to go capped off a rally and the Magic won in OT.

But McGrady drove headlong into Magloire and P.J. Brown.

“I ran into two trees,” said McGrady, who finished with 33 points, seven rebounds and six assists. “But I was going to take it upon myself to take the last shot, no matter who was on me.”

Said Magloire: “Once he had the ball, we were just trying to pressure him, change his shot any way we could and we came up with a block.”

Orlando's Tracy McGrady (1) commits an offensive foul against New Orleans' P.J. Brown. The Hornets defeated the Magic, 100-98, Thursday night in Orlando, Fla.

The Magic trailed by eight late in the third quarter, but held New Orleans scoreless over the next seven minutes.

Suns 95, Cavaliers 86

Phoenix — The NBA’s future was showcased, and 20-year-old Amare Stoudemire and Phoenix came away with a victory over 18-year-old LeBron James and Cleveland.

Stoudemire, last year’s rookie of the year, scored 23 points — including a pair of three-point plays in a 10-3 fourth-quarter run — and grabbed eight rebounds.

James, with an array of soaring dunks, hanging bank shots, leaping rebounds and slick passes, flirted with a triple-double with 21 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, but had seven turnovers.

Rockets 102, Nuggets 85

Houston — Cuttino Mobley scored 21 points as Houston never trailed and beat Denver in the first game played at Toyota Center, the Rockets’ new downtown arena.

A sellout crowd of 18,189 was on hand as the coach Jeff Van Gundy era started with a runaway victory.

Leading 48-42 at halftime, the Rockets started the third quarter with a 13-5 run that made it 61-47 with 7:28 left in the period, their biggest lead of the game to that point.

SuperSonics 109, Clippers 100

Saitama, Japan — Rashard Lewis scored 25 points, and Ronald Murray had 24, leading Seattle past Los Angeles in Mike Dunleavy’s debut as the Clippers’ coach.

Lewis made two three-pointers in a third-quarter run that gave the SuperSonics an 83-69 lead heading to the fourth.