|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME FLOW
TORONTO (AP) -- Vince Carter had a career-high night dishing off the ball as the Toronto Raptors ridded themselves of their losing streak.
Carter had 30 points and a career-high nine assists as the Raptors snapped a three-game skid with a 108-102 victory over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night.
| | Vince Carter did it all with 30 points and a career-best nine assists. |
"My goal is always to get nine assists every night, believe it
or not," said Carter, who's averaging 3.6 assists and 23.7 points
per game. "That means more to me (than the 30 points). It feels
good and even better to get the win."
Muggsy Bogues had a season-high 22 points off the bench and shot 10-of-11 from the free-throw line for Toronto, which was coming off
its worst outing of the season Tuesday in a 117-89 loss at Washington.
"We have a number of veterans on this team and when things
aren't going too well, you can't always rely on the younger guys,"
said Bogues, a 12-year veteran who was two points shy of his career
high. "We had three games that we let get away and we have to stop
that."
Tracy McGrady added 16 points off the bench.
Tariq Abdul-Wahad had a season-high 23 points, including 14 in the third quarter, as the Magic extended their losing skid to four
games. Michael Doleac added 20 points and Ben Wallace had a
game-high 10 rebounds.
Carter gave the Raptors a 94-93 lead with 4:17 remaining when he
nailed a fadeaway jumper. A minute later, he passed out to Bogues
after facing a double team for a jumper that made it 96-93.
"I told Muggsy I have the most confidence in his jump shot,"
Carter said. "If he stops in the right spot where I can see him,
he'll get a lot more shots and I'll get a lot of assists."
Orlando had trouble holding onto the ball all night and turned
it over 27 times, led by seven from Darrell Armstrong.
"We're really out of sync. We just have to do a better job,"
Armstrong said. "Toronto used our turnovers to score points."
After Antonio Davis missed his second free throw with 44.8
seconds left to make it 99-95, Armstrong accidently knocked the
loose ball out of bounds.
Bogues then went 9-of-10 on free throws in the last minute to put the game away.
"Toronto has been struggling offensively and Muggsy Bogues hit
some shots. You knew he'd hit free throws down the stretch,"
Orlando coach Doc Rivers said. "I don't think we can ever win
turning the ball over 27 times. We literally threw the game away."
The Magic led for most of the early going until Carter fed an
alley-oop pass to McGrady 2:17 into the second quarter to give the
Raptors a 32-31 lead. On the next Orlando possession, Carter stole
the ball and dished off to McGrady again for an easy layup.
"We did a good job of using (Carter) as bait and getting the
double team so he could move the ball around," Raptors coach Butch
Carter said. "Vince was making open shots early so they had to go
to the double team."
Anthony Parker finally pulled Orlando even with 6:05 left in the game when his long jumper tied the score 90-90.
Game notes Toronto guard Dee Brown is out 2-6 weeks after undergoing
arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Wednesday. Fellow guard Dell Curry has missed nine games with a sore left foot and is expected to miss another two weeks. ... The Raptors begin a
home-and-home set with Milwaukee on Friday in Toronto. ...
Armstrong had six steals. ... The Magic were only 1-of-8 from the
3-point arc.
| |
ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Orlando Clubhouse
Toronto Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 95 LA Clippers 88
Indiana 117 Washington 102
Toronto 108 Orlando 102
Chicago 0 Charlotte 0
Detroit 114 New York 108
LA Lakers 103 Milwaukee 94
Seattle 103 Denver 93
Portland 95 Cleveland 75
Phoenix 95 Vancouver 92
|