Magic starting five run through Raptors in road win

By Holly MacKenzie, for NBA.com
Posted Sunday November 1, 2009 6:36PM

TORONTO (NBA.com exclusive) -- It's only the first of November, but J.J Redick has been waiting patiently for a game like this for quite some time.

Scoring 27 points, grabbing six rebounds, dishing five assists and playing 45 minutes in a 125-116 victory over the Raptors, it was a career day for the former Duke Blue Devil that was predicted by his former coach, Mike Krzyzewski.

"When we were in the locker room in New Jersey, Coach K called me right after the game... and he said, 'it's right there. You're going to have one of your games where you knock down five or six threes.' I didn't know it was going to be this soon, but I felt good coming into the arena today."

Redick was one of three Magic players to connect on five shots from beyond the arc as the team finished 17 of 32 from deep. He was also one of four Orlando players to top the 20-point threshold.

Wanting to move to 3-0 on the season, the Magic used a combination of deadly outside shooting and Dwight Howard to defeat the Raptors on their home floor.

Missing Vince Carter to an ankle sprain that was sustained Friday night in New Jersey, the team also sent Mickael Pietrus home after the forward started showing flu-like symptoms. Missing too was Rashard Lewis, who is three games into a 10-game suspension for banned substance use. The bench was looking thin for the Magic, but it didn't matter as Orlando's nine in-uniform players came ready to play.

"What we said before the game is, the tendency when you're missing people [is] for people to try to do too much and you've got to try to play your own game," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "You can't play Vince's game. You have to play your game at a very high level."

Point guard Jameer Nelson led the team with his 30-point performance, including five made threes. Ryan Anderson -- who has been starting in place of Lewis -- finished with 20 and he, too, drained five shots from downtown. Howard finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds, scoring and rebounding when his team needed him most.

While the Magic went inside to Howard on the first play of the game, their victory was built on ball movement, hustle plays and the perfect blend of an inside-outside game. Opening with seven made 3-pointers in the opening quarter, the Magic extended their lead to as many as 22 points before the midway point of the second quarter.

The Raptors didn't give up the victory easily, charging back late in the first half. After opening the second quarter by outscoring the Raptors by a 20-6 margin, the momentum slowly shifted back in Toronto's favor and the team was able to trim the Orlando advantage to 11.

Shortly before half, Howard left the game nursing a sore shoulder.

He was back in the second half and went to work. While the Raptors made their run late, outscoring the Magic 36-35 in the third quarter to trim the deficit to 10 at the start of the fourth, the Magic refused to surrender the lead.

"My teammates came to me and said 'Now you've gotta be even more aggressive,' " Nelson said. "I was thinking like, 'man, I just took five shots in a row.' As a point guard, the whole game, you read certain situations and they kind of were just letting me shoot. I'm going to shoot it if you let me shoot."

The Raptors let him shoot. Nelson attempted 20 field goals, making just eight, but also finished nine-for-nine from the free throw line as the Magic finished 36 of 41 as a team, good for 87.8 percent.

When it wasn't Anderson, Nelson or Redick with a three it was Matt Barnes diving for a loose ball (he had six steals and 12 points), or Howard hitting a free throw. Yes, a free throw.

Howard was unflappable at the line, finishing an impressive 14-for-16 from the stripe, perhaps the benefit of the extra work he (and Redick) has put in.

"We both got in the gym and we just kept working on it. He was working on his jump shot and I was really in the gym working on my free throws. I was just free. One of the things I told my teammates, one of the coaches pointed it out, everybody is always telling me what I need to do when I'm at the free throw line instead of just letting me shoot it. If I make it, I make it. If I miss it, I miss it. I think tonight, I didn't care too much about the result as long as I did what I've been doing every day in practice."

The game had its chippy moments, too. Bosh picked up a technical foul for arguing a non-call in the first quarter. With 5:12 left in the game, Bosh committed a hard foul against Howard that Howard took exception to. The former Olympic teammates exchanged words before a timeout diffused things.

In the end, Toronto's defense simply had no answer for Howard or Orlando's shooters.

Bosh's 35-point, 16-rebound effort was nullified by Toronto's porous defense that the Magic exploited. Hedo Turkoglu scored nine points in the third quarter and finished with 19 against his former team. Center Andrea Bargnani had 26 points and scored 22 of those 26 in the second half as the Raptors tried to claw their way back.

After Bosh led the team by scoring 37 points to go with 12 rebounds in a loss to the Grizzlies, Toronto will need to sort things out on the defensive end to stop wasting its star's effort.

As for the Magic, they will be happy to have Carter and Pietrus back, but happier still to know they've got offensive firepower deep within their bench.

• Magic: Foyle
• Raptors: Banks, Douby, Evans

• Magic: Barnes
• Raptors: Bosh

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, OT
• Officials: #10 Ron Garretson, #47 Bennie Adams, #52 Pat Fraher
• Attendance: 18147
• Duration: 2:35