January 4th, 2009 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
The Toronto Raptors were without Jermaine O’Neal and Jose Calderon in their game Sunday against the Orlando Magic; in a situation like that, what does one do? In Toronto’s case, they look elsewhere for an offensive spark – in this case, Anthony Parker and Chris Bosh. Despite Dwight Howard matching a career-high in points with 39, it wasn’t enough as Parker and Bosh combined for 43 points, leading Toronto past Orlando 108-102 at Air Canada Centre.
The Magic started well as Howard scored 9 points before the game was 3 minutes old but went to the bench because of foul trouble at the 9:25 mark of the opening period; the Raptors took advantage of Howard’s absence as they closed out the first quarter with a 20-5 run to lead 34-22 going into the second quarter. Howard did return in the second quarter, but Toronto upped its lead to 44-28 before Orlando slowly came back; Jameer Nelson had 8 points and Howard 9 as the Magic reduced their deficit to 7, going into halftime down 56-49.
After seven lead changes, Bosh broke a 101-all tie with a pair of free throws, putting the Raptors ahead for good. Toronto’s high scorer was Parker with 26 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals while Bosh added 23 with 11 rebounds, 3 assists and a blocked shot; Andrea Bargnani pitched in, scoring 18 with 5 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal.
Orlando was led by Howard with 39 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and a blocked shot while Rashard Lewis added 20 (including 6 three-pointers) with 6 rebounds, 9 assists, a steal and a blocked shot; Nelson pitched in, scoring 15 (including 3 treys) with 5 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal. Toronto (14-20) plays again on Monday when they take on the Milwaukee Bucks while Orlando (26-8) returns home to host the Washington Wizards on Tuesday.
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