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Tuesday, Jan. 2 10:30pm ET
Miles has 26 points, 10 rebounds for L.A.

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Vince Carter has some fresh competition as the NBA's dunk king.

Ramming in a string of dazzling dunks and lofting in soft jumpers at other times, teen-ager Darius Miles had the biggest game of his young NBA career with 26 points and 10 rebounds as the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Toronto Raptors 110-97 Tuesday night.

Kevin Willis
Toronto's Kevin Willis shoots around Lamar Odom, who scored 18 points for the Clippers.

"The sky is the limit with him. He's getting a better understanding of the NBA game," Los Angeles coach Alvin Gentry said of Miles, taken by the Clippers as the third pick in last summer's draft, when he was four months shy of his 19th birthday.

A rail-thin 6-foot-9, 202-pounder with spectacular leaping ability, Miles went 12-for-19 from the floor on the way to his highest-scoring game as a pro.

The start, his seventh, was his first at power forward.

"I just tried to bring the same intensity I normally bring off the bench," Miles said.

His performance overshadowed the Raptors' Carter, who came into the game as the league's second-leading scorer with an average of 29 points. Carter scored 25 points on 8-for-17 shooting and had seven rebounds in the loss.

"He plays hard and he seems like he understands what's going on," Carter said of Miles. "He's young, he's an athlete and it seems like he wants to learn. He seems like a good kid and he has a bright future."

Miles and his Los Angeles teammates took advantage of the Raptors' missing two starters: center Antonio Davis was sidelined by a groin strain, and forward Corliss Williamson was serving a one-game suspension for an altercation with Phoenix's Tom Gugliotta in Toronto's 109-103 loss Saturday.

The Clippers scored 56 points inside, compared to 44 for the outmanned Raptors.

"They were pumped up for this game," Toronto coach Lenny Wilkens said. "They had extra incentive because we beat them in Toronto. In the first six minutes of the game, they made all of their shots and we couldn't make anything."

The Clippers opened a 36-19 lead as they made 16 of 22 shots (73 percent) in the opening quarter and Toronto got no closer than four, at 53-49 in the second quarter, before Los Angeles pulled away again.

Charles Oakley scored 17 points and had 11 rebounds for Toronto after missing the Raptors' 104-95 overtime win over the Clippers on Dec. 1 in Toronto. Oakley drew a three-game suspension and $15,000 fine for punching Los Angeles' Jeff McInnis at a shootaround earlier that same day, apparently resulting from a dispute between the two that was not related to basketball.

There were no incidents between them during the game, although Oakley was booed by the crowd of 18,037 whenever he touched the ball. McInnis had a career-high 13 assists and scored 14 points.

Lamar Odom added 18 points as the Clippers ended their three-game losing skid and also a string of four losses to the Raptors dating back to a Los Angeles win on March 13, 1998.

Miles left the court briefly after a second-quarter collision under the Clippers' basket, when teammate Corey Maggette fell onto Miles' left leg. But Miles returned later and played the rest of the game.

Davis, the Raptors' leading rebounder with an average of 11.5 and their second-leading scorer with a 13.3 average, did not dress. He strained his left groin during the fourth quarter of the game at Phoenix, and will be reevaluated Wednesday when the team returns to Toronto.

Williams is the Raptors' third-leading scorer with a 10.3 average.

Game notes
Oakley, asked prior to Tuesday night's game about punching McInnis a month ago, wasn't exactly apologetic. "I guess everybody knows what type of guy he is. To me, he's a guy who always goes behind people's back and does things. He's a lowlife. I don't worry about guys like that. He had threatened me one time this summer. I don't know the guy personally, and I'm not trying to get to know him." ... McInnis refused comment, but Clippers teammate Sean Rooks said: "Jeff is a professional and I think Jeff's going to handle the situation like a professional. He's going to go out there and do whatever it takes to win the game."
ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard

Toronto Clubhouse

LA Clippers Clubhouse


RECAPS
Washington 115
Minnesota 108

Atlanta 92
Boston 81

Houston 100
Cleveland 95

New Jersey 120
Orlando 110

Milwaukee 104
Chicago 70

San Antonio 80
Miami 72

Indiana 91
Seattle 83

LA Clippers 110
Toronto 97

Sacramento 121
Phoenix 117

FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT

Vince Carter Official Site

Mark Jackson Official Site

Lenny Wilkens Official Site


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