ORLANDO—Chris Duhon and Quentin Richardson have spent most of the last few weeks buried on the Orlando Magic bench.

On Tuesday night they brought the Magic new life.

The duo helped the Magic overcome an 11-point deficit late in the third quarter and beat the new-look New York Knicks, 116-110, in an emotional game at Amway Center.

An announced crowd of 19,131 saw Dwight Howard score 30 points and collect 16 rebounds. Jameer Nelson added 26 points, scoring 14 of them in the fourth quarter.

Trailing 86-79 early in the final period, the Magic went on a 13-2 run to regain the lead, 92-88.

After Carmelo Anthony hit a pair of free throws and Chauncey Billups sank three foul shots, Howard unleashed a spin move and powered his way to the basket for a dunk. Orlando led, 94-93, and never trailed again.

But the Magic (39-22) might not have beaten the Knicks (30-28) if not for Duhon and Richardson.

Duhon, playing in place of injured backup point guard Gilbert Arenas, dished out a team-high five assists in 12 minutes and 45 seconds of playing time.

Richardson entered the game with 4:49 remaining in the third quarter and never returned to the bench. The reserve small forward finished with 10 points and five rebounds and, just as important, played solid defense against Anthony.

“To come in a big game like that in big situations and play well, I think that says a lot about who they are as professionals,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said.

The Magic played the final 28 minutes without starting small forward Hedo Turkoglu.

Turkoglu picked up his third personal foul and a technical foul with 4:41 remaining in the second quarter and was taken out of the game. Forty seconds later, Turkoglu said something to a referee from the bench, and Turk received his second technical, resulting an in automatic ejection.

It was a lowlight in an awful second quarter for the Magic.

New York outscored Orlando, 37-15, in the period as the Magic suddenly went cold on offense, making only three of their 17 shot attempts.

Turkoglu started the game guarding Anthony, but the Magic also would use Jason Richardson, Earl Clark and then Quentin Richardson in that role.

Anthony made only eight of his 24 shots and finished with 25 points.

It seemed like Anthony and his fellow former Denver Nuggets teammate, Billups, delivered a pair of daggers in the second half.

The Magic scored seven consecutive points to cut the Knicks’ lead to 76-72 with about four minutes to go in the third quarter.

But Billups and Anthony swished a pair of three-pointers on consecutive New York possessions to put the Knicks up, 82-72.

Billups and Amar’e Stoudemire scored 30 points apiece for the Knicks, who radically remade their roster in last week’s trade with the Nuggets.

Before the Magic made their two major trades in mid-December, their biggest personnel moves were the summertime signings of Richardson and Duhon, who were brought aboard largely because of their defense.

They made an impact on Tuesday on both ends of the floor.

They and their teammates heated up when it counted.

Orlando started the fourth quarter by making 11 of its first 15 shot attempts.

The Magic committed 18 turnovers, while the Knicks only had nine.

With 33.4 seconds left in regulation, and the Magic ahead, 116-108, Richardson drew a charge against Toney Douglas.

In Philadelphia Jason Terry scored 30 points and Jason Kidd had a triple-double as Dallas beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 101-93, for its seventh straight.

Dirk Nowitzki added 22 points for the Mavericks, who have won a whopping 17-of-18 games to move into second place in the Western Conference.

Terry used near-flawless shooting over the second and third quarters to give the Mavs the lead, then sealed the win late in the fourth with a dunk where he waved his arms in celebration.

Kidd had 13 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds and no turnovers.

In Minneapolis, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and the Lakers’ towering front line overwhelmed Kevin Love on the boards in a 90-79 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Gasol had 17 rebounds and 12 points, Bynum had 14 points and seven boards, and the Lakers scored 28 second-chance points to overcome a poor shooting night and win their fifth-straight game.

Wes Johnson had 20 points and eight rebounds for the Timberwolves, who led for much of the first three quarters before the Lakers asserted themselves.

Love had 13 points and 11 rebounds, his 47th-straight double-double. The last time he did not have one was against the Lakers on November 19. But he was just two for 10 from the floor and barely kept the longest double-double streak since 1980 alive.

Kobe Bryant scored 24 points, but m,ade just eight-of-18 shots in an ugly offensive game for both teams.

In Memphis, Darrell Arthur and Zach Randolph each scored 21 points and the Grizzlies took advantage of San Antonio’s poor ball handling for a 109-93 victory.

Tony Allen added 20 points, missing only one of his nine shots, and Mike Conley had 18 points and nine assists as Memphis won its season-best fifth straight home game.

Gary Neal was the only Spur to finish in double figures with 14 points. Starters Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and DeJuan Blair had nine points apiece, as they sat out the fourth quarter.