Raptors soar over Howard's Magic
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 | 10:18 PM ET
CBC Sports
Dwight Howard dazzled with his comic book hero antics during last weekend's slam-dunk contest, but it was Chris Bosh and the Raptors who looked more like Supermen on Wednesday night.
Bosh scored a game-high 40 points on otherworldly 14-of-16 shooting to lead Toronto to a 127-110 win over fellow all-star Howard and the visiting Orlando Magic.
The Raptors' Anthony Parker, left, and Andrea Bargnani, right, put the squeeze on Magic centre Dwight Howard during the first half of Wednesday's game in Toronto.
(J.P. Moczulski/Canadian Press)
"When Chris is making his jump shot, he is just too hard to guard," said Raptors coach Sam Mitchell, who returned to the sidelines after missing the last two games while attending his father-in-law's funeral in Atlanta.
"He can go around, left and right, and he can shoot it. I told the coaches at halftime, when we went into the locker room, to just leave him alone, don't coach him because he doesn't need our help right now."
Bosh nailed all 11 of his free throws and added five rebounds and five assists for the Raptors (29-23), who shot 59 per cent from the floor.
Howard, who donned a Superman cape as part of the act that won Saturday's dunk competition during NBA all-star weekend in New Orleans, was a force in his own right Wednesday, finishing with 37 points and 15 rebounds.
Like many of Howard's opponents, the Raptors had considerable difficulty preventing the impossibly broad-shouldered centre from dominating in the post. Using his 6-foot-11, 265-pound frame to bulldoze in for several easy dunks, Howard finished 13-of-16 from the field.
But the 22-year-old star had troubles of his own against Bosh, who preferred a face-the-basket approach in attacking Howard.
"There was not one thing they did that we could guard," said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy. "Chris Bosh, we could not guard. We're going to have to think about double-teaming him next time."
The Raptors led by as many as 21 points in the second half before Orlando closed the gap to 10 with just over nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The Magic hung around for a while before Jose Calderon drained back-to-back three-pointers and lobbed a pass to Jamario Moon for a thunderous dunk that made it 119-103 and all but sealed the game with three minutes to go.
Calderon notches 13 assists
Van Gundy was unimpressed with his team's attempted comeback.
"Those kinds of runs happen all the time in the NBA," he said. "All [Mitchell] did was put Calderon and Bosh back in and game over."
The alley-oop to Moon was one of Calderon's game-high 13 assists on the night. He also scored 19 points while turning the ball over just once.
Carlos Delfino scored 23 points in 29 minutes off the Raptors bench, while Moon added 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Anthony Parker chipped in 10 points.
Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis notched 16 points apiece for Orlando (34-22). Jameer Nelson had 13, Maurice Evans 12, and Keith Bogans 11.
Toronto was without oft-injured point guard T.J. Ford, who is day-to-day after straining an abdominal muscle in practice Monday. Ford missed 30 games with neck-related problems earlier this season.
The Raptors open a home-and-home series with the Knicks on Friday night in New York.
