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Friday, Mar. 16 7:30pm ET
Armstrong powers Magic to home win

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Orlando got defensive in the absence of leading scorer Tracy McGrady.

The Magic defeated Vancouver 103-99 Friday night with McGrady serving the latter half of a two-game suspension for fighting with Sacramento's Bobby Jackson last Saturday.

Orlando went 2-0 without McGrady, winning Friday night by holding the Grizzlies to 33.3-percent shooting in the second half.

"If we're going to be an offensive team without T-Mac, that's going to be a difficult way of winning the basketball game," Magic coach Doc Rivers said. "But we can be a defensive team without him and I thought in the second half, that's exactly what we were. And because of our defense, we scored points.

"You'll win a lot of games when you can stop teams down the stretch and that's what we did."

Vancouver led 91-85 with 4:50 remaining, but the Magic finished with an 18-8 run to win for the fifth time in seven games.

Darrell Armstrong had 29 points and 11 assists for his 14th double-double of the year and Mike Miller scored 23, including seven in the fourth quarter. Miller hit a 3-pointer with 2:15 remaining in the game that gave Orlando a 93-91 lead, the first time the Magic led since the first quarter.

The Magic also got 10 points and 10 rebounds from Bo Outlaw, 12 points from Don Reid and 11 from John Amaechi.

"We didn't have our main guy here tonight, Tracy McGrady, but he'll be back on Sunday, baby," said Armstrong, who connected on 10 of 15 shots. "Somebody had to make something happen. Mike Miller made something happen, myself, Bo, everybody.

"It's fun when somebody goes out and the team just rises to the occasion."

Vancouver was led by Damon Jones with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Shareef Abdur-Rahim had 17 points, Mike Bibby had 15 and Grant Long scored 13.

Don Reid's dunk pulled Orlando within one, 80-79, but Jones answered with consecutive 3-pointers to extend Vancouver's lead to 86-79 with 8:26 remaining. That would be the Grizzlies' biggest lead of the quarter as the shot only 5-of-19 in the fourth.

Vancouver cut Orlando's lead to two points four times in the final 2:15 but got no closer in losing its fourth straight.

"We went with the same strategy, regardless that Tracy was not playing," Vancouver coach Sidney Lowe said. "The main thing with these guys (Magic) is that you have to outwork them. I don't care what you do, what plays you run, what defense you run, if you are not working at it, they are going to exploit that and they are going to score points."

Jones led all scorers with 12 points to give Vancouver a 57-51 halftime lead. Orlando got 11 points each from Miller and Armstrong.

The Magic led by as many as eight points in the first quarter, but the Grizzlies twice led by 12 in the second quarter, including 46-34 with 6:04 remaining before halftime.

Game notes
Orlando is 9-1 all-time against Vancouver and has never lost to the Grizzlies at home (5-0). ... The Magic has won 14 of its last 17 home games. ... In its franchise history, Vancouver still has only one road win in March. (March 6, 2001 against Portland). ... Orlando outscored Vancouver in the paint, 40-24. ... Jones' 21 points were a career-high. ... Armstrong was 6-of-6 from the free-throw line and is 32-for-32 in his last eight games.

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RECAPS
Indiana 103
Atlanta 97

Sacramento 100
Philadelphia 79

LA Lakers 101
Washington 89

Cleveland 114
Charlotte 109

Orlando 103
Vancouver 99

Seattle 90
Chicago 80

San Antonio 95
New Jersey 86

Boston 87
Denver 83

Portland 90
Utah 87

LA Clippers 94
Golden State 76


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