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Truth be told, when I saw Thursday’s game between the Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic, the very first thing that came to mind was what the winning margin would be for the Magic.

After all, we have two teams who are in different scenarios. Orlando is a team that pulled off, in my humble opinion, grand larceny when they traded Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat, Mickael Pietrus and a first-round pick to the Phoenix Suns for Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu and Earl Clark. Orlando also traded Rashard Lewis to the Washington Wizards for Gilbert Arenas.

The Rockets, on the other hand, despite having major issues at the center position, are near .500 and #9 in the Western Conference playoff chase.

Nevertheless, both teams met for 48 minutes on Thursday omn a game that was of the urgent variety for Houston as they needed the win to stay within sniffing distance of the Portland Trail Blazers for the #8 spot.

While the game was relatively competitive for a half, an early 19-5 run in the third quarter proved to be the game-breaker for Orlando as they cruised to the 110-95 win over Houston. The victory was the Magic’s eighth straight.

The Rockets led by as many as nine points in the opening period in which both teams shot over 50 percent; Kevin Martin had 19 in the first half – including 11 in the first – as he exploited a lane that was largely without the presence of Howard.

Howard was in foul trouble as he picked up two quick fouls in the first and would get whistled for his third foul with 9:33 left in the first half. As a result, Howard played just 10 minutes.

Despite Howard’s absence, Orlando managed to take a 53-50 lead into halftime.

The three-point advantage by the Magic would get blown wide open as they churned out a 19-5 run to build a 74-55 cushion. Brandon Bass scored seven in that surge, helping Orlando take an insurmountable 92-71 advantage into the final period.

Richardson and Bass shared high scoring honors for the Magic with 18 apiece – with Richardson knocking down four 3-pointers, grabbing 3 rebounds and dishing out 3 assists while Bass snared 9 caroms. Ryan Anderson came off the bench to add 16 (including 3 treys) with 7 rebounds, 2 assists and a block.

The Rockets were led by Martin with a game-high 27 points, along with 4 rebounds and 2 assists while Luis Scola added 14 with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.

Both teams return to action on Saturday night when Orlando (24-12) travels to Dallas to take on the Mavericks while Houston (16-20) returns home to host the Utah Jazz.