Magic cast spell over struggling Raptors

TORONTO: The Orlando Magic registered a third straight victory with a 105-96 win over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, Hedo Turkoglu leading the visitors with 24 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.

While Orlando improved to 4-1, the Raptors lost a third straight game to drop to 2-3 as their early season struggles continued.

"I like the way our team is responding," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters. "I'm very, very pleased with them right now."

The Magic led for most of the game but a late run by the Raptors gave them their only lead of the contest in the fourth quarter.

Andrea Bargnani's three-pointer with 3:56 left put the Raptors 92-91 ahead before the Magic reeled off eight straight points to take the lead for good, with Rashard Lewis and Jameer Nelson hitting back-to-back three-pointers.

Lewis added 24 points for the Magic, who shot 50 percent and out-rebounded the Raptors 51-41 as they continued their strong start to the season. Keith Bogans added 17 points and 11 rebounds while Dwight Howard also had 17 points for Orlando.

"We feel great," Lewis said. "We came out with a conscious effort to try and dominate the whole game."

"We have to win these games on the road," Howard added."Every game is a learning process for us."

One night after scoring just one point, Chris Bosh led the Raptors with 26 points, including going 14-for-14 from the line. Bosh also hauled down 10 rebounds.

Andrea Bargnani had 16 points and T.J. Ford chipped in 12 points and eight assists for the Raptors.

"We're just not shooting the ball well," Toronto coach Sam Mitchell said. "We had some breakdowns, some miscommunications. We just have to shoot the ball better."

In San Antonio, Manu Ginobili scored 25 points, Tony Parker added 23, and the San Antonio Spurs kept the Miami Heat winless with an 88-78 victory on Wednesday.

Ginobili hit four of the Spurs' seven 3-pointers and scored 12 points in the third quarter, after San Antonio led by only one at halftime in a game between the two most recent NBA champions.

Tim Duncan had 12 points and eight rebounds and Francisco Elson had 12 points and 14 rebounds for San Antonio.

The Heat, still without a recovering Dwyane Wade, are 0-4. The Spurs bounced back from their first loss of the season to Houston on Tuesday.

Shaquille O'Neal led the Heat with 17 points. Ricky Davis had 14 and Udonis Haslem scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

In Salt Lake City, Deron Williams made a layup with 1.3 seconds remaining, and Utah overcame LeBron James' triple-double and tying 3-pointer in a 103-101 victory over Cleveland.

In Atlanta, Josh Smith scored 22 points, Al Horford led a dominant performance on the boards and Atlanta beat another 60-win team from last season, with a 105-96 victory.

Agencies

(China Daily 11/09/2007 page23)