ORLANDO, (Reuters) – The Orlando Magic defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 99-89 in a sometimes spiteful clash on Sunday to take a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference finals series.

Orlando’s Dwight Howard had 24 points and nine rebounds but played less than 28 minutes because of foul trouble, but five team mates chipped in with double digit scores as the Magic held the Cavs to just 37 percent shooting.

A typically rampant LeBron James had 41 points, nine assists and seven rebounds for Cleveland, but shot just 11-of-28 and missed five free throws in the fourth quarter.

After their first two matches of the series ended as one-point thrillers, Game Three featured some nasty physical play and several hard fouls.

Cleveland’s Mo Williams needed four stitches to close two gashes along his left eye after taking an elbow in the first half.

Howard and Cleveland’s Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao all fouled out, as officials called 58 personals, two technicals, and a flagrant foul in the bitterly contested game.

“We can’t worry about nothing, we can’t worry about the calls, can’t worry about nobody else,” Howard told reporters.  “We just got to get out there and play.

“Our goal is to win a championship and I can’t allow anything to stop me mentally from achieving our goal.”

The teams play Game Four today in Orlando, where the Cavaliers have lost six of their last seven games.

After winning their first eight post-season games, the Cavs have struggled against the highly physical Magic.

“They have some very good basketball players and they are  well coached, you have to give them credit,” Cavaliers coach  Mike Brown said.

“They made some pretty good plays to win the game. We’re  still pretty confident. It’s one game, there’s still a lot of  basketball left.”