ORLANDO, Fla. — Andre Iguodala waited for the clock to tick down, took a few dribbles to his right and let go a high-arching jumper. Swish! The Magic were stunned, their fans silenced.

For the sixth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers, it was the sweet sound of stealing home-court advantage.

Iguodala made a 22-foot jumper with 2.2 seconds left, and the Sixers rallied from an 18-point deficit to beat Orlando, 100-98, yesterday in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference playoff series.

"We won one more game than people thought we would win," Iguodala said. "I was pretty amped up."

Iguodala had 20 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and Louis Williams scored 18 to help the Sixers beat the Magic for the first time in four tries this season — and when it mattered most. Hedo Turkoglu's fadeaway 3-pointer missed at the buzzer, and Magic fans stood in disbelief before filing out quietly.

Iguodala had missed two free throws with about a minute left before more than redeeming himself with the game-winning shot.

"He really made up for it, didn't he?" Sixers coach Tony DiLeo said, smiling. "He's like our secret weapon."

Dwight Howard had a career playoff-high 31 points and 16 rebounds, and rookie Courtney Lee scored 18 for the Magic.

"I was surprised not only for our lack of intensity defensively, but I was really surprised with our lack of focus," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said.

The Sixers, who trailed 79-61 in the third quarter, rolled off eight straight points in the fourth and eventually tied the score at 91 with fewer than four minutes left on a layup by Andre Miller. After Howard's dunk put the Magic ahead 98-95 with 49.1 seconds remaining, Donyell Marshall answered with a 3-pointer and Iguodala did the rest.

NUGGETS 113, HORNETS 84

DENVER — Chauncey Billups settled down his teammates, then stepped up his game.

Billups scored 36 points and sank a career-best eight 3-pointers in leading Denver to a rout of New Orleans, the second-biggest blowout in the Nuggets' playoff history.

"I just got it going. It's just one of those special nights that you have sometimes," Billups said. "You'd like to think you can do it again, but you probably can't."

Capitalizing on their first home-court edge in a playoff series in 21 years, the Nuggets nearly bested their previous biggest margin of victory, a 141-111 wallop of San Antonio back in 1985.

Billups sank four 3s in the third quarter, when the Nuggets began to turn a tight game into a laugher. At one point, they led by 34.

"I say all the time he's a winner but he doesn't have a lot of skills," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "Tonight he had a lot of skills."

Denver used a 21-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to build a 97-69 cushion, a run that was highlighted by Billups' seventh and eighth 3s.

"What Chauncey did wasn't a surprise. He's done it throughout his career. He's very good at making that shot and he made a lot of them tonight," the Hornets' James Posey said.

Chris Paul led the Hornets with 21 points and 11 assists but also an abundance of angst as the Nuggets dominated the boards, set the tempo and ran away.

"That's the best thing about tonight: we lost by 29 points tonight, but it's just 1-0," Paul said.

HAWKS 90, HEAT 64

ATLANTA — With Josh Smith delivering one rim-shaking dunk after another and plenty of teammates chipping in, Atlanta made Miami look like a one-man team, running Dwyane Wade and the Heat ragged in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference series.

Four other home teams — Boston, Portland, San Antonio and Orlando — had already lost about the time the Hawks took the court. Perhaps that spurred them on, because this one was over by halftime.

"We can't worry about what anyone else is doing," Joe Johnson said. "We've got to control our own destiny."

For one night at least, they did just that by holding Wade to 19 points — 11 below his NBA-leading average — and the Heat to their fewest points of the season.

Wade spent much of the night on his backside or complaining to the referees, as the Hawks raced to a 20-point lead by halftime.

Smith finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

"Josh Smith got a lot of lobs and fast-break dunks that helped with the energy in the building," said Wade, who shot 8 for 21.