Philadelphia sports fans once booed Santa Claus. Wednesday night, most of the Orlando Magic crowd booed a boys’ ballet troupe performing at halftime.

They got Philly tough — and, finally, so did their team.

Taken out of their artful offensive flow again and missing Dwight Howard much of the final period, the gritty Magic this time held off the relentless Sixers, beating them 96-87 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference playoffs at Amway Arena.

The series, tied 1-1, resumes Friday night in Philadelphia for Game 3.

It was an eerie sight for Magic fans: The Magic blew an 18-point third-quarter lead to lose the opener 100-98, and pushed to another 18-point lead in the period in Game 2.

And just like in Game 1, the Sixers stormed back, cutting it to five points. But this time, they didn’t get any closer as the Magic shut the door in the final quarter.

Rookie Courtney Lee came through all night, finishing with 24 points and making some key stops.

Howard (11 points, 10 rebounds) picked up his fifth foul with nine minutes, 26 seconds left and Orlando leading just 72-65 and then fouled out with 3:11 with his team ahead 84-76.

After Sixers point guard Andre Miller drilled a 3-pointer to make it 84-79 and causing considerable angst throughout the sell-out crowd, Hedo Turkoglu (16 points) missed. But Howard’s replacement, Marcin Gorat, ran down the rebound, setting up Anthony Johnson’s dive for an 86-79 lead with 2:22 to play.

Rashard Lewis (16 points) then hit a runner — salvaging an otherwise dreadful 4-of-14 night — to give the Magic 88-79 breathing room.

The Magic took control in the third quarter, building an 18-point lead — just as they did in Game 1 — with Howard and Lee throwing a 1-2 punch.

Howard had two rim-wrecking dunks following missed shots and Lee scored three buckets and Orlando’s defense came alive. Orlando took a 64-46 lead after Howard followed up Rafer Alston’s miss with some thunder that sent the arena into a frenzy.

But — where have you heard this before? — the Sixers came back.

Andre Iguodala, after struggling in the first half, scored nine points in the period as they cut the lead to five at 66-61 late in the period.

Worse, Lee was on the bench, nursing a bruised right hip. He would return early in the final period, however.

Turkgolu drilled a 3-pointer to rebuild the margin to 70-61 at the end of the quarter.

Tied at 21 entering the second period, the Magic finally put together a semblance of a run, kick-started by what has been a rare sight: a 3-pointer (by Mickael Pietrus).

The Magic finished second in the league in 3-pointers made, but the Sixers continued to smother Lewis and Turkoglu, preferring to give up two instead of three.

Pietrus’ long-range shot made it 24-21 and the Magic pushed it to 35-29 on Anthony Johnson’s 3-pointer.

Philadephia wouldn’t go away as Miller closed it to 35-34 with a basket, but Lee responded with three baskets as Orlando seized 46-39 halftime lead.

The Magic had worked mostly on defense since squandering a 14-point fourth quarter lead Sunday, but results weren’t immediate. The Sixers shot 53 percent in the opening quarter, briefly held a seven-point lead, and Miller looked like an all-star, tuning up Alston.

Van Gundy made a key defensive switch late in the first quarter. Van Gundy assigned rookie shooting guard Courtney Lee — who was guarding Willie Green — to play Miller and had Alston take Green.

Miller, who scored 13 of Philly’s first 17 points, cooled off some with Lee shadowing him.

Read Brian Schmitz’s Magic blog at orlandosentinel.com/magicblog and e-mail him at bschmitz@orlandosentinel.com

Source: OrlandoSentinel.com