Shot puts an end to it
Raptors’ Green halts Magic’s 3-game win streak with late jumper
RAPTORS 93, MAGIC 91
Danny Green’s jumper off a timeout with a half-second left erased Evan Fournier’s heroics and ended the Magic’s three-game win streak as the Toronto Raptors escaped Amway Center with a 93-91 victory Tuesday night.
Fournier’s drive and dunk with 2.3 seconds left tied the game and appeared to be enough to get the Magic (9-9) into overtime with the No. 1 team in the NBA’s Eastern Conference, but Green delivered the dagger with a half-second remaining for the Raptors (14-4).
“It was a tough first half offensively, very good third quarter and really the story of the game for us was, I believe, we scored two points in the first, I think, 6 minutes and 10 seconds of the fourth. We did a good job fighting there at the end,” Magic coach Steve Clifford said. “The last shot was a difficult shot, two guys up on the shot, good player, fade-away knocked it in.”
Fournier finished with a game-high 27 points to lead the way, and Nikola Vucevic had another double-double for the Magic with 14 points and 18 rebounds while Aaron Gordon added 16 points.
Kawhi Leonard led the Raptors with 18 points and Pascal Siakam was a thorn in Orlando’s side all night, scoring 15 and snagging nine rebounds. Serge Ibaka also had nine rebounds and 14 points to haunt the team that had traded him to Toronto.
Just like they have become accustomed to doing this season, the Magic hit a hot 14-15 footer and he stretch that allowed them to stay in the game. Orlando trailed by as many as 18 points and was down 10 at the half, but the Magic kicked it up a notch in the second 24 minutes. Led by a Fournier surge, the Magic started the second half by hitting 10 of their first 12 field goals, including 5-of-7 3-pointers.
They took their first lead of the game with 5:27 left in the third and held on to remain on top 75-73 entering the fourth period. Fournier scored 15 points in the third to spark the comeback.
The teams traded jabs until the Raptors escaped.