RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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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.
| | 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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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Toronto Clubhouse
Orlando Clubhouse
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
Morris Peterson finds Antonio Davis for a jam.
avi: 361 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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