The Orlando Magic will try to stay perfect on the young
season when they resume a three-game road trip this afternoon against the
Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre.
The Magic opened the 2009-10 campaign with a home win over Philadelphia in a
rematch of the first round of the playoffs, then headed up the east coast to
New Jersey for a 95-85 victory on Friday. Vince Carter, who was traded to
Orlando from New Jersey in the offseason, made his return to the IZOD Center,
but left in the second quarter with a sprained left ankle.
"As much as I know we're trying to accomplish something, you always enjoy
playing against guys you went to battle with the year before. But it was a
weird feeling, I will say that," Carter said.
Carter had 16 points and four assists, while X-rays were negative. The former
UNC star is listed as questionable for Sunday. Dwight Howard led Orlando with
20 points, 22 rebounds and four blocks for the defending Eastern Conference
champion Magic, who got 16 points out of Ryan Anderson. Anderson was acquired
in the Carter deal from the Nets.
The Magic will also visit Detroit on the current trek.
Meanwhile, Toronto is home for back-to-back games versus Orlando and Detroit,
and suffered its first loss of the season on Friday at Memphis. In the 115-107
loss to the Grizzlies, Chris Bosh led all scorers with 37 points and added a
game-high 12 rebounds for the Raptors, who earned a 101-91 home victory
against Cleveland on Wednesday.
Jose Calderon and Hedo Turkoglu registered 15 and 14 points, respectively, in
defeat.
"They came out with a lot more passion with hustle for the basketball,"
Raptors coach Jay Triano said. "You could see it by the way they chased it off
the glass all night. Then they just pounded it inside and we had no answer for
their size."
Orlando and Toronto split four meetings a season ago, but the Raptors have won
11 of the last 17 meetings between the teams. Orlando has lost eight of 10 and
nine of its last 12 trips to Toronto.
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