Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Anderson's hot hand rescues win for Magic

ORLANDO, Florida — The Orlando Magic struggled during much of their game against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night, playing sloppily on offense and failing to contain Andrea Bargnani at the rim.

News photoOn the move: Magic guard J.J. Redick drives past the Raptors' Andrea Bargnani on Sunday in Orlando. The Magic won 102-96. AP PHOTO

But a 4-minute stretch in the fourth quarter made everything all better.

The Magic went on a late 16-0 run, led by the shooting of Ryan Anderson — who finished with 24 points — to erase a double-digit deficit and defeat the Raptors 102-96.

Orlando shot 4 for 5 from 3-point range during the burst, with Anderson making two of them, as the Magic took a 94-89 lead with 3:05 left after trailing by as many as 16 points.

"We sort of could've just given up, but we kept pushing through it," Anderson said. "This was huge for us."

Dwight Howard had 19 points and 15 rebounds for the Magic, who have won four straight since a season-opening loss to Oklahoma City. J.J. Redick added 21 points and Hedo Turkoglu had 15 points and seven assists.

"I thought we played a great fourth quarter," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "Our intensity level went way up."

Bargnani paced the Raptors with 28 points, and Jose Calderon had 18 points and 13 assists.

It was the second consecutive late collapse by the Raptors, who also gave up a second-half lead to Dallas on Friday.

"I don't really have an explanation as to why this game got away," Calderon said. "It's tough. It's kind of like the same thing that happened with Dallas. They're two veteran teams. They know how to play in those moments. We've got to learn from that."

Bargnani, who scored only three of his 28 points in the fourth period, was disappointed with his team's showing.

"We really made the game for three quarters; we played good offense and great defense," he said. "But we didn't play that way in the fourth quarter. We played really bad."

Celtics 94, Wizards 86

In Washington, Rajon Rondo had 18 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds while Kevin Garnett had 24 points and nine rebounds to lead Boston over the winless Wizards.

The victory was the Celtics' second straight after losing their first three. Washington is 0-4.

Heat 129, Bobcats 90

In Miami, Chris Bosh scored 20 of his 24 points in the first half as the Heat improved to 5-0 for the first time in franchise history.

The 129 points is the most scored by any NBA team so far this season and the 39-point victory margin matched the third-largest in Heat history. Dwyane Wade scored 22 points and LeBron James and Mario Chalmers each scored 16 for the Heat, who ran out to an 18-point lead after one quarter and never trailed.

Cavaliers 98, Nets 82

In Cleveland, Antawn Jamison scored 23 points and the Cavaliers made 16 3-pointers in a win over New Jersey.

T-Wolves 99, Mavericks 82

In Minneapolis, Kevin Love had 25 points and 17 rebounds and hit two huge 3s in the fourth quarter to help the Timberwolves end an 18-game losing streak dating deep into last season.

Bulls 104, Grizzlies 64

In Chicago, Carlos Boozer scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and the Bulls easily won their home opener.

Nuggets 99, Lakers 90

In Denver, Danilo Gallinari scored 20 points, Ty Lawson had 17 points and 10 assists and the Nuggets beat the Lakers.

Kings 96, Hornets 80

In Sacramento, Tyreke Evans had 27 points and Marcus Thornton scored 25 for the Kings in a victory over New Orleans.

Clippers 93, Trail Blazers 88

In Los Angeles, Blake Griffin had his second straight double-double, Caron Butler scored 19 points and the Clippers opened the new year with a victory over Portland to snap a two-game skid.


View the original article here

No comments:

Post a Comment