ORLANDO, Fla. — From an unforgettable shot to a cheap one.

Three games in, the Eastern Conference finals have grown a little nasty.

Dwight Howard scored 24 points — 14 on free throws — and Rafer Alston added 18 as the Orlando Magic, sick of seeing replays of LeBron James' dramatic buzzer-beater to win Game 2, downed the Cleveland Cavaliers, 99-89, last night to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

A physical game from start to finish, there were 86 free throws attempted, 58 personal fouls called, two technicals, and a flagrant. The officials spent half the night stepping between players on both sides as tempers flared inside an overheated Amway Arena.

In the first half, Mo Williams had his left eye split open by Orlando's Anthony Johnson, who nailed Cleveland's point guard with an elbow.

Williams, who needed four stitches to close two cuts, and James felt the blow was a cheap shot.

"I think it was," James said. "You see Mo's face, it's not a pretty sight. That's not called for in this game."

James scored 41 on just 11-of-28 shooting and missed five free throws in the fourth quarter. And once again, Cleveland's superstar didn't get enough help from his teammates. Williams, Delonte West and Zydrunas Ilgauskas shot a combined 13-of-37.

Game 4 is tomorrow night.

The first two games of the series in Cleveland were each decided by one point. This one was resolved by elbows, shoves and hard fouls.

Howard, Ilgauskas and Cleveland's Anderson Varejao all fouled out.

"We just need to man up," James said. "Orlando is a very, very good team."

Unlike Games 1 and 2, the Magic got out fast, stayed close despite Howard's early foul trouble and put the Cavs away at the line.

Howard, a notoriously poor foul shooter, went 14-of-19 from the line and the Magic made 39 of 51 attempts. In the fourth quarter alone, Orlando made 19 of 23 to hold off the top-seeded Cavaliers, who began the playoffs with eight straight wins and have now dropped two of their last three.

Each time he stepped to the line, Howard sang a song in his head he heard at halftime.

"We just kept fighting. That's what we got to do, we fight to the end," Howard said. "We can't worry about nothing, we can't worry about the calls, can't worry about nobody else. We just got to get out there and play."

Cleveland better figure out a way to win in steamy Florida fast. The Cavs, who were thumped here by 29 on April 3, have lost six of their last seven in Orlando.

James kept Cleveland within striking distance in the fourth and scored on a three-point play while getting Howard's fifth foul with 2:34 to play to pull the Cavs to 90-86.

Howard, wrapped up underneath, then made two free throws before James was fouled and rimmed out two at the other end. On Orlando's next trip, Mickael Pietrus, who came off the bench to score 16, grabbed a long rebound, got fouled and was pushed in the back by West, who was handed a T.

Pietrus made his free throws to make it 94-86.

After sitting the final seven minutes of the first half with three fouls, Howard made it through 9:10 of the third quarter before getting No. 4 — and technical No. 5 of the postseason.

He was called for pushing Ben Wallace underneath, and upset with the whistle, he said something on his way to the bench that referee Joey Crawford didn't like and was T'd up. Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy had warned his star to keep his composure because the league automatically suspends a player for one game after he receives his seventh technical foul in the playoffs.

"I didn't say anything to Joey Crawford," Howard said. "The response was to the other team."

CLEVELAND 17 24 22 26—89

ORLANDO 24 18 26 31—99

CLEVELAND-James 11-28 18-24 41, Varejao 1-2 2-2 4, Ilgauskas 3-10 3-4 9, M.Williams 5-16 2-3 15, West 5-11 1-2 12, Wallace 2-2 0-0 4, Pavlovic 0-2 0-0 0, Smith 2-6 0-0 4, Gibson 0-1 0-0 0, Kinsey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-78 26-35 89.

ORLANDO-Turkoglu 1-11 11-12 13, Lewis 5-8 3-5 15, Howard 5-8 14-19 24, Alston 6-13 4-4 18, Lee 4-9 0-0 9, Gortat 2-3 0-2 4, Pietrus 4-9 7-7 16, Johnson 0-2 0-2 0, Battie 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-63 39-51 99.

3-Point Goals—Cleveland 5-26 (M.Williams 3-10, West 1-2, James 1-8, Gibson 0-1, Pavlovic 0-2, Ilgauskas 0-3), Orlando 6-17 (Alston 2-4, Lewis 2-4, Lee 1-2, Pietrus 1-5, Turkoglu 0-1, Johnson 0-1). Fouled Out—Varejao, Ilgauskas, Howard. Rebounds—Cleveland 55 (Ilgauskas 9), Orlando 51 (Turkoglu 10). Assists—Cleveland 17 (James 9), Orlando 16 (Turkoglu 7). Total Fouls—Cleveland 34, Orlando 24. Technicals—West, Howard. Flagrant Fouls—Johnson. A—17,461 (17,461).