Sixers have no answer for Dwight Howard as the Magic take 3-2 series lead.

For the first four games, the Sixers had been able to either keep Dwight Howard from taking over their games or stop the Magic from becoming the three point threat that they had been during the regular season. Tonight, they allowed both of those things to happen, and the result was a 91-78 Orlando victory that pushes the Sixers to the brink of elimination.

After a great start to the game, which saw Dwight Howard pick up a technical foul early, the Magic slowly began to impose their will. Howard recovered easily, and despite an early injury to Courtney Lee, the Magic were able to recover and beat the Sixers with a mix of inside scoring and outside shooting. Howard finished the game with 24 points and 24 rebounds, with ten of those rebounds coming on the offensive side. When the Sixers came inside to stop Howard, he was able to pass outside, and tonight, Orlando's shooting threats were on target, making eight three pointers. Rashard Lewis added 24 points of his own, and Rafer Alston dropped 14 points, including two three pointers of his own.

The Sixers had their moments in the second half, pulling to within four points a few times in the third quarter, but every time they got close, it seemed as if the Magic had an answer tonight. Andre Iguodala finished with 26 points, while Andre Miller added 17 and Willie Green finished with 16, but it wasn't enough. Aside from allowing the Magic to finish with 15 offensive rebounds, the Sixers turned the ball over 15 times as well, giving Orlando 30 additional chances to score. While Philadelphia went just 4-18 from behind the arc, their questionable outside defense finally showed up tonight, as they allowed the Magic to go 8-23.

This was exactly what the Sixers wanted to avoid. They had the momentum in the series when they were up 2-1, with Game 4 in Philadelphia. Now, they're headed back to the Wachovia Center down 3-2 in a must win situation just to send the series back to Orlando. They're going to have to try and stop Dwight Howard on the inside, or at least prevent him from picking up so many offensive rebounds. They're also going to have to be more disciplined to prevent turnovers, or else tonight's result is just going to repeat itself in Game 6. For now, things don't look great for the good guys, but after the heart that they've shown in this series so far, I wouldn't put anything past them.