.500 - RAPTORS 108, MAGIC 103

RAPS 108, MAGIC 103
First of all, you have to catch this Hedo Turkoglu "Pizza, Pizza" commercial that's playing on TSN if you haven't seen it yet.  It's ridiculous.

Even though the Magic came out strong in the fourth quarter, dropping 35 pts on the Raps and erasing the Raptors' 18-pt lead, the Raps managed to hold off the Orlando Magic last night.  The Raptors are now winners of seven of their last eight and currently hold a .500 record. 

The Raps looked good up until the end of the third quarter where Dwight Howard picked up his fifth foul and the Raps finished the quarter on a 17-5 run, up 18 pts on Orlando.  But in the fourth quarter, the Magic made a run, and on top of that, the Raps weren't getting any foul calls from the refs.  The first Magic foul of the fourth quarter came called with one minute to play.  Vince Carter got the Magic within two with less than a minute left to play, but JJ Redick's three ball came up short with nine seconds to play.

The Raptors had all their starters plus Marco Belinelli in double figures.  Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani led the Raps with 18 pts a piece.  Jose Calderon made his return from injury and had 5 pts and 8 assists off of the bench.

For Orlando, Rashard Lewis led the way with 24 pts, 5 rebounds, 5 threes and 5 steals.  Dwight Howard finished with 20 pts and 12 rebounds but also had 9 of the Magic's 14 turnovers.

Key Notes:

• Raps shot 54% from the filed and 45% from three
• For a Magic perspective, check out Orlando Pinstriped Post
• Great job from the Raps sharing the ball with 31 assists
• JJ Redick had 22 pts off of the Magic bench
• The Magic have dropped their third straight against teams with losing records
• DeRozan Watch: 19 minutes, 12 pts, Interesting stat from Matt Devlin: From December 4th, Raps are 8-0 when DeMar scores in double figures

Next up, the Raptors take on the Philadelphis 76ers on Friday...
Photo credit: (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)