Danny Green on Tuesday night watched helplessly from the paint while Evan Fournier dribbled past and dunked a tying basket with 2.3 seconds left.
Feeding off the confidence of first-year coach Nick Nurse, Green got redemption on the very next play.
Green made a fade-away jumper with less than a second remaining to lift the Toronto Raptors over the Orlando Magic 93-91. He caught Kyle Lowry’s inbound pass with 2.3 seconds left, pulled up on the left side of the lane and hit a jumper with 0.5 seconds showing.
Photo: Kim Klement-USA TODAY
Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic missed on a 67-foot heave as time expired.
“Most coaches wouldn’t go to a guy who makes a mistake at that point in the game, but Nick has 100 percent faith in all of us,” Green said. “He continues to encourage us and allows us to play through our mistakes. It was nice to make one after missing quite a few the whole game.”
Kawhi Leonard led Toronto with 18 points and Pascal Siakam had 15. Serge Ibaka added 14 points and nine rebounds, while Green finished with 13.
Fournier led the Magic with 27 points, 22 of them in the second half when he was about the only offense Orlando could generate. Aaron Gordon had 16 points, and Vucevic had 14 points and 18 rebounds for the Magic, who ended a three-game winning streak.
Both sides struggled offensively much of the game, especially in the fourth quarter.
The Raptors committed eight turnovers in the final period and Orlando missed 11 straight field-goal attempts during a rough four-minute stretch. Some of that had to do with the defense.
“Our defense was unbelievable the first 24 minutes and the last 12,” Nurse said. “We were an absolute disaster in the third quarter, but some of that was our offense’s fault.”
The Magic outscored the Raptors 38-26 in the third quarter to wipe out what had been an 18-point deficit.
Orlando led 77-75 early in the fourth quarter before missing 11 straight field-goal attempts. Their only points during that time were two free throws from Jonathan Isaac.
“The story of the game was the first six minutes of the fourth quarter,” Magic coach Steve Clifford said. “We did a good job fighting at the end, and that last shot was a difficult shot and he just knocked it in.”
Toronto did not take much advantage of the drought. The Raptors could only put together a three-pointer from Green and a layup by Jonas Valanciunas during that stretch to take an 80-77 lead.
The teams traded baskets from there until Ibaka drilled a jumper from the top of the key to put Toronto in front 91-89.
Toronto led by 18 during a first half when both teams struggled to find or maintain an offensive rhythm. The Raptors made enough shots to jump out to a 40-22 advantage in the middle of the second quarter, as Orlando labored with less than 30 percent shooting.
Fournier started the second half with a three-pointer, the first of six treys in the period for the Magic.
Another three-pointer from Fournier tied it at 59 with 5 minutes, 5 seconds left, and his free throw gave Orlando a 75-73 lead going into the fourth.
Fournier had 14 points in the quarter.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Taiwanese martial artists bagged one gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the World Junior Wushu Championships in Brunei, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brunei Darussalam said yesterday. Liu Yu-tzu won the gold medal in the girl’s taijiquan A group and also picked up a silver medal in the girl’s taijijian A group. Hu Hsin-ling, Yu Min-hsun and Chen Chao-hsiang each won a silver medal in the girl’s jianshu B, boy’s nangun B and boy’s taijijian A groups respectively. Hu also won a bronze medal in the girl’s qiangshu B group, while Yu and Lin Shih-hung picked up bronze medals
RSS