By The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA – Vince Carter scored 31 points and had 10 assists to lead the New Jersey Nets to a 101-90 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night.

The Atlantic Division standings show the Nets with a four-game lead over the second-place Sixers. The gap, though, seems considerably wider considering New Jersey has won 12 of 15 while Philadelphia has lost seven of 10.

Allen Iverson led the Sixers with 36 points and Chris Webber had 15.

Iverson came up limping late in the fourth quarter when he appeared to knock knees with Jason Collins on a driving layup. Iverson hobbled around the court, rubbed his right leg, but remained in the game. He did take off for the locker room as soon as the game ended.

Much like how the Sixers collapsed in their embarrassing 104-76 loss to Washington on Monday, they again put up little fight in the fourth quarter.

Pacers 98, Bobcats 92

INDIANAPOLIS – Anthony Johnson scored 16 of his career-high 27 points in the second half to help the Indiana Pacers beat the Charlotte Bobcats 98-92 on Wednesday night.

Johnson also grabbed 10 rebounds and shot 9-for-14 from the field. Stephen Jackson scored 17 points and Sarunas Jasikevicius and Fred Jones each added 14 for the Pacers.

Brevin Knight had 15 points and 15 assists and Primoz Brezec and Raymond Felton each scored 15 points for the Bobcats.

The Pacers held a 43-29 rebounding edge over the Bobcats, who played without one of their top post players. Emeka Okafor, who averages 13 points and 10 rebounds, has missed the last four games with a sprained right ankle.

Pistons 117, Hawks 89

ATLANTA – Chauncey Billups scored 23 points, Richard Hamilton added 21 and the Detroit Pistons routed the Atlanta Hawks 117-89 Wednesday night, the expected result in a matchup of the NBA’s best and worst records.

The Pistons have won five in a row – all by double-digit margins – to boost their record to 31-5. Atlanta fell to 10-27.

Detroit got off to a rocky start, missing 11 of its first 16 shots. The Hawks were even worse, starting out 1-of-11, but still managed to claim a 19-18 lead at the end of the ugly quarter.

It didn’t last. The Pistons finally got rolling, led by backup guard Maurice Evans. He scored 12 of his 14 points in the second period, including a pair of 3-pointers that helped Detroit run away from the hapless Hawks.

Magic 106, Wizards 98

ORLANDO, Fla. – Steve Francis had 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in his first game back from a two-game suspension to lead the Orlando Magic over the Washington Wizards 106-98 on Wednesday night.

Francis was suspended by the team for refusing to re-enter a blowout game late in the fourth quarter. He came off the bench against the Wizards for the first time in his six-year NBA career.

He entered with 4:01 left in the first quarter to a mixed reaction from the crowd. Two minutes later, his no-look, behind-the-back pass on a fast break for a Turkoglu dunk put the crowd back on his side.

Francis was scoring a team-high 18 points a game at the end of 2005, but hit a wall in January. In his last six games, he was averaging 11.5 points on 37.5 percent shooting, with 25 assists and 30 turnovers.

Hornets 87, Grizzlies 79

OKLAHOMA CITY – David West had 12 points and 13 rebounds and New Orleans beat the Memphis Grizzlies 87-79 on Wednesday night to surpass its win total from last season.

The Hornets won their fourth straight game for the first time since December 2003. They also evened their record at 19-19.

West, the Hornets’ leading scorer with a 16.9-point average, started the game 1-for-8 from the field and had only two points at the start of the fourth quarter. He continued to struggle, but made up for it with his effort on the offensive glass.

He had three offensive rebound putbacks down the stretch as the Hornets sealed the win.

Mavs 103, Rockets 76

HOUSTON – Dirk Nowitzki scored 13 of his 29 points in a decisive third quarter Wednesday night as the Dallas Mavericks opened a five-game road trip with a 103-76 win over the slumping Houston Rockets.

Josh Howard added 18 for the Mavericks, who handed the Rockets their seventh straight loss both overall and at home.

The Rockets suffered their worst defeat since the Mavericks beat them 116-76 in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series last season. Rafer Alston had 17 and Luther Head added 16 for Houston, which dropped to 3-13 at the Toyota Center.

NHL

Wings 4, Jackets 0

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Tomas Holmstrom scored two power-play goals and Chris Osgood stopped 26 shots for his 42nd career shutout as the Detroit Red Wings beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 Wednesday night.

Mark Mowers and Mathieu Schneider also scored for the Western Conference-leading Red Wings, who won their third straight and improved to 5-0 against Columbus this season.

Pavel Datsyuk and Mikael Samuelsson each had two assists for Detroit, which has outscored the Blue Jackets 25-7 – including 6-0 and 6-2 wins at Nationwide Arena.

Wild 5, Maple Leafs 3

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Marc Chouinard had two goals for the Minnesota Wild in a much-needed 5-3 victory over the scuffling Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.

Kurtis Foster chipped in a power-play score, and slumping Marian Gaborik and Wes Walz also had goals for the Wild, who improved to 17-0-0 in games when they score four or more.

Minnesota’s Manny Fernandez made 18 saves, including a long rebound with 1:25 left that let Jason Allison pull his team within one on a slap shot.

Thrashers 5, Stars 2

DALLAS – Marian Hossa scored twice, including a power-play goal in the final minute of the second period, as the Atlanta Thrashers rallied for their first victory over the Dallas Stars, 5-2 Wednesday night.

Atlanta, which scored three straight goals during a span of 7:38 in the second period, had lost the first eight all-time meetings with Dallas by a 25-13 margin before the Thrashers’ decisive win.

The Stars grabbed a 2-0 lead on power-play goals by Jason Arnott and Mike Modano.

But Atlanta came back to tie it at 2 behind second-period goals from J.P. Vigier at 11:29 and Eric Boulton at 15:03.