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Friday, Apr. 6 7:30pm ET
Davis scores 31 as Raptors roll

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Toronto center Antonio Davis had his game working from the very beginning against the Orlando Magic on Friday night. His teammates couldn't get their shots falling until the end.

Keon Clark
Toronto's Keon Clark, right, dives in front of Dee Brown for a loose ball.
Davis had a career-high 31 points and season-high 13 rebounds and reserve guards Chris Childs and Dell Curry led a fourth-quarter charge as Toronto defeated Orlando 108-100.

"I was just trying to put forth a great effort," said Davis, whose previous scoring high was 30 in 1997 with Indiana. "And, as you can see, a lot of the things I did were just effort-type things, and that's how I'm going to have to continue to play down the stretch."

Toronto's win, combined with Charlotte's 81-76 loss at Miami, gave the Raptors a one-game lead for the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Raptors are still 2 1/2 games behind the Heat for fourth place and home-court advantage in the first round.

Orlando, which was led by Tracy McGrady's 20 points and nine assists, is in seventh place, a game behind Charlotte.

Davis scored 10 points in the first quarter and added another nine by halftime. He finished 9-for-17 from the field and 13-for-17 on foul shots.

"We try to go to him early, get him going early because he can put the ball on the floor, he can go up against the big guys or he can take a little jump shot on the wing," Raptors coach Lenny Wilkens said. "And once he got it going, we were going to him. We were going to force them to double-team."

But despite Davis' heroics, Toronto trailed 80-69 late in the third quarter.

That's when the rest of the Raptors finally got into a groove.

Toronto scored 24 points in 10 possessions to take a 93-89 lead with 6:50 remaining. Vince Carter, Curry and Childs hit back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers in one stretch.

The Raptors shot 60 percent from the field in the final period, including 5-for-8 on 3-pointers.

"I have to give us a lot of credit as a group," Davis said. "Sometimes, it's tough to come into that situation and do the right thing."

Curry and Childs, coming off the bench, combined for 16 of their 18 points in the period.

Carter had 21 points, 13 in the second half, but shot only 8-of-22 from the field.

A layup by Hudson tied the game at 93-all with 5:27 to play. But Toronto closed matters with a 15-7 run, beginning with Childs' tiebreaking 3-pointer with 5:04 remaining.

"It looked like, down the stretch, Toronto wanted it more than us, and that's rare for us because we have been a team that's worked hard every night," Orlando coach Doc Rivers said.

Late in the third quarter, Troy Hudson and Miller led Orlando to an 11-point lead, the largest for either team. Hudson had eight points and Miller seven straight as the Magic went on an 18-4 run over a 4:29 stretch.

Hudson, who was battling the flu at Friday's shootaround, had 18 points and Miller finished with 17 points and seven rebounds.

Game notes
Dee Brown saw his first action of the season after being activated from the injured list earlier in the day. Brown, who tore his left quadriceps tendon in training camp, scored six points in 16 minutes. ... Charles Oakley played 29 minutes, moving him into 18th place on the NBA's career list with 38,137. He surpassed Dominique Wilkins, who had 38,113. ... Rivers said he'd like to see Darrell Armstrong, placed on the injured list Wednesday with a groin injury, back in action for at least the final two regular-season games. But Rivers added that there is no timetable for his starting point guard's return. ... Warren Sapp of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was among the sellout crowd of 17,248.

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RECAPS
Philadelphia 96
Cleveland 88

LA Lakers 100
Boston 96

Miami 81
Charlotte 76

Toronto 108
Orlando 100

Indiana 100
Chicago 93

Minnesota 101
Phoenix 88

Sacramento 118
Vancouver 90

Portland 122
Golden State 91

LA Clippers 113
Milwaukee 110

AUDIO/VIDEO
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 Morris Peterson finds Antonio Davis for a jam.
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