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ORLANDO -- The Orlando Magic ended 12 years of postseason misery Monday night with a 102-92 defeat of the Toronto Raptors for their first playoff series victory since 1996.
The Magic won the series 4-1, capturing three victories at Amway Arena and one in Toronto’s Air Canada Centre.

The Magic got huge big-game performances from franchise center Dwight Howard (21 points and 21 rebounds) and star forward Rashard Lewis (18 points and 13 rebounds), but it was huge 3-pointers from point guard Jameer Nelson (19 points) and Keith Bogans (11 points) that paved the way to the victory down the stretch.

The Magic led just 84-82 with 6 minutes remaining, but they then pulled away in similar fashion to Saturday’s Game 4 with a strong closing kick. Orlando used a clutch 13-2 spurt, nine of the points coming on 3-pointers from Bogans and Nelson, over the next four minutes to pull comfortably into the lead.

A sellout crowd of 17,519 inside Amway Arena exploded with noise and raw emotion with each fourth-quarter basket, propelling the Magic to one of the franchise’s biggest victories in years.

The Magic hadn’t won a playoff series since 1996 when they beat the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Orlando had lost its past seven straight series, stretching from the defeat against the Chicago Bulls in the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals to last spring’s first-round sweep against the Detroit Pistons.

Orlando will face the survivor from the Detroit-Philadelphia series, which is tied at 2-all. That second-round series would begin either this weekend or next week depending on how long the Pistons and Sixers play. The third-seeded Magic would have the homecourt advantage against the seventh-seeded 76ers, but would start on the road against the second-seeded Pistons. Orlando was 3-1 against Philadelphia this season, but split four games against Detroit.

Howard had his third game of the series with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds. He led the NBA with eight 20-20 games during the regular season.

Toronto star Chris Bosh scored just 16 points for the Raptors.

Orlando grabbed the lead and control of the game in the third period with some gritty defense on Bosh and a barrage of 3-pointers. Bogans gave the Magic a 65-62 lead on a 3 from the corner and when Nelson drilled a 3-pointer minutes later it jump-started a 9-2 quarter-closing rally.

Bosh, who had 39 points and 15 rebounds in Saturday’s Game 4 loss, seemed to come unglued late in the third period. He missed 10 of his first 14 shots and he was whistled for a technical foul when he argued after being hit by a Howard shoulder to the chest.
Unlike in Saturday’s second half when they pulled away from the Raptors with efficient execution, the Magic’s offense was mostly a disjointed mess in the first half. Orlando jumped to an eight-point lead in the first three minutes of the game, but crumbled a bit and often looked as if it was pressing under the weight of the circumstances.

The Magic turned the ball over nine times, missed 10 of 13 3-pointers and trailed 50-49 at the half. Howard had 10 points and 12 rebounds by halftime, but he got just six shot attempts with most of them coming off his five offensive rebounds.

A Toronto team that made only two 3-pointers in Game 4 hit four in Monday’s first quarter alone, helping it grab a 26-22 lead by the end of the first period.

Contact Denton at jd41898@aol.com.

NBA Playoffs Schedule for 26.04.2008

Toronto Raptors - Orlando Magic. Orlando leads 2-1

Denver Nuggets - Los Angeles Lakers. Lakers leads 2-0

Atlanda Hawks - Boston Celtics. Boston leads 2-0

Utah Jazz - Houston Rockets. Jazz leads 2-1

Toronto Raptors beat Orlando Magic 108-94

The things that came seemingly so easy to the Orlando Magic in the first two games of this series disappeared in Thursday’s Game 3 under an avalanche of errors, defensive gaffes and clanging jump shots.
And because the Magic seemed at times as rattled in Toronto as the Raptors were in Orlando earlier in the week, this once-lopsided series could be up for grabs once again.

A Toronto team left for dead just days earlier overwhelmed the rattled Magic in the first half and made all of the necessary plays down the stretch in a 108-94 Game 3 whipping of the Magic.

Orlando still leads the best-of-series series 2-1. Game 4 is Saturday at 3 p.m. (TNT). It assures that there will be a Game 5 Monday night back in Orlando’s Amway Arena.

The Magic worked hard to stay in the game in the second half, but couldn’t overcome a deficit that swelled to as much as 23 points in the second quarter. Orlando got as close as nine points seconds into the final period, but missed several chances against a Toronto team that was playing with a tremendous sense of desperation.

Orlando entered the game brimming with confidence because of the way that it played on the road during the regular season. Orlando tied the Los Angeles Lakers for the NBA’s second-best road record (27-14) this season, trailing only Boston (31-10). The 27 road wins were the most in Magic franchise history, more than the Magic team that made the 1995 NBA Finals (18 road wins) and more than the 1996 team (23 road victories) that won 57 overall and reached the Eastern Conference Finals.

Magic franchise center Dwight Howard had 19 points and 12 rebounds, but his teammates couldn’t match his firepower. Point guard Jameer Nelson, who averaged 21 points in the first two games, did not score until 2:27 was left, scored just four points and missed six of his eight shots. And Hedo Turkoglu, Orlando’s second-leading scorer this season, had 26 points but just seven field goals. Rashard Lewis chipped in with 19 points.

Orlando turned the ball over 14 times, leading to a whopping 24 Toronto points. And they had no answer for a Toronto team that spread the floor and rained in 12 3-pointers. The Raptors’ balance was so good that they won easily on a night when all-star forward Chris Bosh managed just three first-half points and 15 for the game.

The Magic made 801 3-pointers during the regular season, the second most in NBA history, but they remained stuck in a slump from beyond the arc. Orlando missed on 14 of its first 16 3-pointers in the first half. They hit just six of 27 tries for the game (22.2 percent).

Since the first quarter of Game 1, when Orlando opened the series with nine 3s in 11 tries, the Magic have made just 17 of 75 (22.7) 3-pointers.
Embattled Toronto point guard T.J. Ford, who entered the game having missed 15 of 17 shots and facing calls that he be benched in favor of reserve Jose Calderon, scored 18 first-half points as the Raptors jumped to a 61-40 halftime lead.
Ford keyed a game-turning 16-0 run late in the second quarter with 11 rapid-fire points. He took advantage of Jameer Nelson’s foul trouble and had his way with reserve Carlos Arroyo, repeatedly getting into the lane. Ford made six of eight shots and all five of his free throws in the first half.

Orlando contributed to its own woes by shooting a dismal 40.5 percent and turning the ball over 11 times, leading to 20 Toronto points.

Howard had 15 points and seven rebounds for the Magic, making seven of 10 shots (five dunks). However, his teammates were lost offensively and connected on just eight of 27 tries. The Magic’s four guards were just one of 11, while Lewis missed five of eight shots.

Toronto had control of the game even though Bosh had just one field goal and three points in the first half.

Outscored 78-41 in the first quarters of the opening two games in Orlando, Toronto instead was the team that jumped to a fast start Thursday. The Magic’s early shooting and turnover problems allowed the Raptors to build a 26-13 before the game was nine minutes old.

Jamario Moon, Toronto’s starter at small forward most of the season, returned to the starting lineup after being benched just before the playoffs. And the rookie had a big impact, scoring eight quick points in transition and 11 in the first half.

Sure the Raptors lost 104-103 tonight, going down 2-0 in their series with the Magic. Sure, Chris Bosh kind of choked thrice in the final 45 seconds (not to mention most of stinking most of the second half). But really the more amazing thing to me is how the Raptors are still in this series at all.

Let’s take a look at the production out of Toronto’s starters beyond Bosh (29 points- only 6 in second half and 10 rebounds): Bargnani (9 points, 1 rebound), Parker (38 minutes, 0 points, 0-for-4 shooting), Ford (6 points, 1-for-8 shooting, 4 TOs), and Nesterovic (5 minutes, 2 points).

That is absolutely horrible production from four of your five starters and just another reason why even though the Raptors lost again tonight, they can still hang their heads high looking forward to Thursday night’s Game 3 in Toronto. I mean, Anthony Parker and Rasho Nesterovic combined for 40 points in Game 1, tonight they combined for 2 measly points, I know Rasho was benched, but Parker? He was the leading scorer with 24 points in Game 1 and he only gets off four shots in Game 2? If he makes a single basket tonight, guess what, 1-1 series. I mean the Toronto bench outscored their starters 57-46 tonight, and this is a bench that is as inconsistent and streaky as the Pistons Game 1 play.

Tonight also harkened back to Game 1, as the Raptors again trailed big in the first quarter, this time by as much as 18 points. Let’s take a further look back at Game 1, where the Magic shot 80% from the field in the game’s first 16 minutes.

I mean, Toronto has been down by 18+ points in the first quarter of both games and T.J. Ford to go along with Andrea Bargnani have played like crap, and this to go along with all the above things mentioned has Toronto down 0-2, sure, but they’ve lost these two games by a combined 15 points, on the road no less, essentially letting Game 2 slip out of their hands with Bosh’s final possession struggles.

Looking at the stats, you’d be thinking that this series was absolutely over and that Toronto had been blown out twice and thoroughly outplayed, but that isn’t the case. Sure, Game 1 was a little harsher, but they cut that deficit down to 7 points in the fourth quarter, while in they were in Game 2 for three quarters with a number of chances to close it out but they couldn’t.

The Raptors, despite their very poor play, are still right in the thick of this series, but they absolutely must avoid a slow start at home for Game 3, something they haven’t been able to do in Orlando. The Magic aren’t playoff tested, and sure they’re up 2-0, but a hostile road environment is a completely different animal then your home building. But that crowd will be silenced immediately if the Raptors start off slow again, virtually eliminating their home court advantage.

One other thought, and that is, please, please Sam Mitchell, start Calderon over Ford, Ford has been absolutely terrible in both games so far, and while Calderon was pretty much equally bad in Game 1 he stepped it up big time in the fourth quarter tonight, hitting two clutch three-pointers and scoring 10 of his final 18 points in the final quarter. Ford cannot handle the bigger, stronger Jameer Nelson on him and the Magic have exploited it, with Nelson scoring 18 points in Game 2 after an even better Game 1.

Other than that, please use Rasho more than five minutes, he was a big part of the stretch run for the Raptors and is really the only big man we have who can body Dwight Howard down low. Also, the Raptors did a very nice job tonight on Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu overall, as even though Turkoglu got them in the final minute the two combed to shoot 11-for-36 from the floor, including 0-for-13 from the three-point line.

Game 3 is Thursday night and should be very interesting, and Toronto must come out of the game strong to get the crowd into the game and put the pressure on the inexperienced Orlando team, just as the Magic did to the Raptors in Orlando.

Don’t forget, to read more about the game flow please visit the Raptors’ Den at MVN.com: http://www.mvn.com/nba-raptors/

The Toronto Raptors tinkered with their starting lineup and tried a few new plays early in their first-round playoff opener against the Orlando Magic.

The result? After 12 minutes and a barrage of Magic 3-pointers, they were down 43-23, and all but out of it with three quarters left. But Raptors coach Sam Mitchell doesn't think their 114-100 loss Sunday had anything to do with the changes.

"The problem was we didn't play defense in the first quarter," Mitchell said.

He's convinced they can do better. As evidence, he mentioned the last six minutes of the first half, when the Magic scored only three points.

"I think any coach in the history of all sports would take that," Mitchell said. "So we understand that we can play a lot better defense."
Mitchell said he intends to stay with Andrea Bargnani at small forward in Game 2 on Tuesday night instead of rookie Jamario Moon, who had started 75 games.

The Raptors wanted the 7-foot Bargnani's size to keep Orlando's Hedo Turkoglu out of the post, but it's out-of-position for the former No. 1 overall pick. Moon saw his 28-minute-per-game average shrunk to just 4:48 on Sunday.

"We're asking a lot of (Bargnani) to go out there, step outside and be involved in pick and rolls — something he's not used to," Raptors forward Chris Bosh said. "We know its tough on him but we're trying to take away their post-ups."

Bosh, too, will be making adjustments. Blanketed by Rashard Lewis, he was 4-of-11 from the field but a perfect 13-of-13 from the free throw line for 21 points in Game 1. He said Toronto was trying too hard to adjust to the Magic, the playoff opponent it has known for weeks it would draw.

"I think the players got caught up in it, especially on defense," Bosh said. "We'd start giving them lanes, trying to cut off their right or left hand instead of playing them straight up, and that's how they got a lot of 3s. Tomorrow we just need to play straight up, play a classic style of basketball."

The question for Orlando is whether it can sustain that level of offense. The Magic tied a playoff record by going 9-of-11 on 3-point shooting in the first quarter, but went 4-for-18 the rest of the way. Orlando averaged just under 10 3s per game this season.

"The 3 is sort of a streaky thing, and you hope on most nights it's something that evens out over the course of the game, and it did last night," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "You're not going to keep up what we did in the first quarter."

It didn't help that Lewis, who led the team in 3-pointers made and hit 2-of-3 in the Magic's 43-point first quarter, tired himself out chasing Bosh.

"I had to pick my spots where I could take it on the offensive end, because he kind of wore me out trying to front him and fight him in the post," Lewis said.

Bosh said Lewis' strong-arming surprised him, but he thinks he knows how to play it now.

"He sat on my left hand — took me awhile to figure that out," said Bosh, a lefty. "I've seen that before and I've had success against it. Now I know the scheme and I can break it down and I know what I can get out of it. I'm going to definitely use everything early to set myself up for later in the game."

Though Toronto helped cool Orlando's 3-point shots later in the game, they couldn't solve Dwight Howard inside. The All-Star center had 18 points and 13 rebounds in the second half alone. Perhaps as important, the 59 percent free throw shooter made 9-of-11 from the line.

"Now we have to think twice about fouling him," Bosh said. "But we still have to see if that was only one game."