<div align="center"> Orlando Magic @ Toronto Raptors Record: 25 - 24 (.510) | 25 - 23 (.521) Standings: Second, Southeast | First, Atlantic At Home: 16 - 10 | 16 - 7 On Road: 9 - 14 | 9 - 16 Streak: L 2 | W3 Broadcast: SUN SPORTS, 580-AM WDBO, 1030-AM WONQ</div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Toronto Raptors are playing as well as they have in the last five years. They'll try to extend their winning streak and move further above .500 as they host the Orlando Magic on Wednesday. The Raptors have won three straight and eight of their last 10 to move 3 1/2 games ahead of New Jersey in the Atlantic Division. Toronto (25-23) has twice put together a three-game winning streak in the last two weeks, matching its longest run of the season. The Raptors, who will be trying to win a season-high fourth straight as they host the Magic in the middle of a three-game homestand, went two games over .500 with a 122-110 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday. Toronto hasn't been three games over .500 since Nov. 10, 2004, when it was 4-1. The team hasn't been above .500 this late in a season since 2001-02, when the Raptors finished 42-40 and made their most recent playoff appearance. "It's unbelievable," point guard Jose Calderon said. "Everybody in this locker room is better than they were in the preseason because we've learned to play as a team." Sunday's victory extended Toronto's home winning streak to five games and gave it a 16-7 record at the Air Canada Centre. The Raptors - who won only 15 home games all of last season - haven't had a longer home winning streak since an eight-game run at the end of the 2001-02 season. The Raptors matched a franchise record by shooting 70 percent in the first half against the Clippers and finished with a season-high point total. Toronto has scored at least 100 points in three straight games. "We've just been trying to stay aggressive on the offensive end," said Raptors All-Star forward Chris Bosh. "We've been moving the ball well to start off games. Guys just have wide open shots and we've knocked them down." Toronto beat Orlando 91-84 on the road on Dec. 13, despite the absence of Bosh, who was out with a bruised left knee. The Raptors have won five of the last seven between the teams, including four straight at home. The Magic (25-24) continued their recent woes, losing 116-111 at Milwaukee on Tuesday. Orlando has lost 10 of its past 13 games and is in danger of falling back to .500 for the first time since being 3-3 on Nov. 10 after a 93-83 loss to Indiana. The Magic shot 53 percent from the field on Tuesday, but allowed four Bucks to score at least 20 points, negating Dwight Howard's 21 points and 11 rebounds. "When four guys score 20 points or more, you know you're not playing good defense," Magic coach Brian Hill said. "It's just disappointing because it was one of our poorest defensive efforts of the year." After a great start to the season away from home, the Magic have found it tough to win a road game. Orlando has lost two in a row and 10 of its past 12 road games after starting the year 7-4. Howard has two 20-rebound games in eight career matchups against the Raptors. He had 17 points and 13 rebounds in December's loss, but shot just 6-for-17 from the field. </div> Source We aren't playing great right now while Toronto has won three straight. The injuries continue to pile up for the Magic as Tony Battie will miss tonight's game due to a chipped thumb injury that occured last night against the Bucks. Darko Milicic will get the start which might end up being a blessing in disguise for Orlando. Darko has been playing great basketball lately and hopefully he can continue that tonight. Depending on how Milicic handles starting in these next couple of games, he may keep the job for the remainder of the season. Tonight's big matchup is Dwight Howard vs. Chris Bosh. Both players are elite big men in the East and it should be exciting to watch them sqaure off tonight. I predict a big game for Darko Milicic and I think we're going to win, 98-94.
this game is turning into is very entertaining.. the raptors seem to finally have a future and look to have massive potential. Redick isnt hitting any of his shots and dwight is struggling on offense by getting doubled teamed every time.. bogans is turning it on.. we need good play out of point guards if we wanna win though and stay tight on defense
i think he use to be...he knows when to shoot and pass now..every once in a while he will chuck one up..whats up with bosh getting all the calls??
Raptors win! Great game overall, but we pulled away in the end, Magic really need their players back though I can tell it's just killing them.
Well we're officially .500... I didn't see the game but it looks like almost our whole team was in foul trouble. On the bright side though, Dwight had a new career high with 32 points. It looks like JJ and Bogans had nice games as well.
<div class="quote_poster">Chuck Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">13-14 from the field for Dwight 13-25 for Bosh </div> I only saw a bit of the first and the fourth quarter, but Dwight seemed quite dominate. If he were to get the ball more, it would be a different game. For Bosh, it's easier for him to score because his offensive game is more open and polished than Dwight's. Dwight did have 5 turnovers however comapred to Bosh's 1 and 8 FTA's compared to Bosh's 17. One play stood out to me in this game in the fourth with around 6+ minutes left where Bosh had a dunk and Dwight came back and gained good posistion on Bosh and just power him down and threw down a nasty two hander. Oh how much better the Magic would be if Dwight got the ball more.
<div class="quote_poster">P.A.P. Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Oh how much better the Magic would be if Dwight got the ball more.</div> AKA if Brian Hill were fired.
Howard is a beast. 36 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks and 4 assists. ON 13-14 FROM THE FLOOR AND 6-8 FROM CHARITY STRIKE. Pretty nice shooting ? Chris Bosh & Dwight Howard = The future.
<div class="quote_poster">Omarion Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">13-14 FG/FGA is really good lol.</div> Too bad it doesn't mean much if he hardly gets the ball when it matters. God I hate Brian Hill. Darko didn't even get to play 25+ minutes and Battie was INJURED. What a joke.
This game was just basically won in the 4th quarter, we entered the 4th almost even on the scoreboard. I guess we just couldn't stop Chris Bosh, but congratulations to Dwight Howard recording his career high 32 points. It looks like where really hurting without Ariza and Hill, once they come back we should be able to make a run.
<div class="quote_poster">The One & Only Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Too bad it doesn't mean much if he hardly gets the ball when it matters. God I hate Brian Hill. Darko didn't even get to play 25+ minutes and Battie was INJURED. What a joke.</div> In Hill's defense on that one(you know I rarely take his defense) Darko finished with 5 fouls and was in foul trouble throughout.
Bright spot is Bogans has stepped in well with Hill being hurt, and he seems to pass to Dwight more than Jameer, and yea swish i think hedo is a chucker.
I'm sick of seeing Hedo Turkoglu starting. When everyone gets healthy, this is the lineup I would like to see: PG- Jameer Nelson/ Travis Diener/ Carlos Arroyo SG- Grant Hill/ Keith Bogans/ Keyon Dooling SF- Trevor Ariza/ Hedo Turkoglu/ J.J. Redick PF- Darko Milicic/ Bo Outlaw/ Pat Garrity C- Dwight Howard/ Tony Battie/ James Augustine
<div class="quote_poster">Swish Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I'm sick of seeing Hedo Turkoglu starting. When everyone gets healthy, this is the lineup I would like to see: PG- Jameer Nelson/ Travis Diener/ Carlos Arroyo SG- Grant Hill/ Keith Bogans/ Keyon Dooling SF- Trevor Ariza/ Hedo Turkoglu/ J.J. Redick PF- Darko Milicic/ Bo Outlaw/ Pat Garrity C- Dwight Howard/ Tony Battie/ James Augustine</div> i reckon we should give Augustine a chance, he's only played 1 game and in that game he played pretty well. We should seriously give James a chance.
The lineup that I would like to see is.... PG-Travis Diener/Jameer Nelson/Carlos Arroyo. Diener runs the offense better than the other 2 and doesn't look for his shot, but when he does he can at least make them, unlike Nelson/Arroyo. SG-Hedo Turkoglu/Keith Bogans/Keyon Dooling. Turkoglu is so versatile as a SG, you can't really put anyone on him. Bogans has been playing very good lately. SF-Trevor Ariza/Grant Hill/JJ Redick. This will do 2 things, it will put a defensive minded player in the starting lineup and it will help preserve Grant Hill from getting hurt again. Also could you imagine having a veteran leader like Hill on the 2nd unit? PF-Darko Milicic/Bo Outlaw/Pat Garrity. Darko has worked hard enough to get the start. He has been playing very good the last couple of weeks and will likely continue this playing alongside Dwight and getting more minutes. C-Dwight Howard/Tony Battie/James Augustine. No explanations needed. On my 12 man roster, I'd put Arroyo, Garrity and Dooling on the IR. So that means 1st unit: Diener Turkoglu Ariza Darko Dwight 2nd unit: Jameer Bogans Hill Bo Battie That is pretty good balance for both units and we shouldn't lose anything when the 2nd unit comes in.
