National Basketball Association
Magic 117, Raptors 101
National Basketball Association

Magic 117, Raptors 101

Published Mar. 27, 2012 3:50 a.m. ET

No one in the NBA has made as many 3's as Orlando's Ryan Anderson this season. He widened his lead Monday night.

Anderson made a career-best eight 3's and finished with 28 points to help the Magic win their third straight game, 117-101 over the Toronto Raptors.

''It's a cool accomplishment,'' Anderson said. ''I just want to keep getting better.''

Dwight Howard had 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Jameer Nelson scored 18 points for the Magic.

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''Dwight was dominant inside and they were leaving Ryan open on the perimeter so it was pretty easy to get shots,'' Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said.

Orlando came in leading the NBA in 3-pointers and hit 15 of 34 from beyond the arc in this one, two shy of its season high. The Magic made 17 3-pointers twice this season, first at New York on Jan. 16 and also against Miami on Feb. 8.

Anderson's first 21 points of the game came on 3's, a streak that ended when he made a pair of free throws with 9:39 left in the third quarter. Anderson, who already had three games with seven 3-pointers this season, finished two points shy of the career-high 30 he scored against the Knicks on Jan. 16.

''That's amazing,'' Howard said. ''I'm happy for him. We all love the way he's been playing.''

Anderson entered play Monday with 135 3-pointers, more than 30 ahead of his closest competitor, Dallas guard Jason Terry. New Jersey's Deron Williams is the only other player with more than 100.

Teammate J.J. Redick is the ninth-most accurate 3-point shooter in the league, but even he's impressed with Anderson's outside ability.

''I said to him `How good does it feel when you hit your first 3? It's almost like the rest of the game you're just in that mentality of hunting shots,''' Redick said. ''He does a great job of that.''

Anderson, with some help from his teammates, also shut down Toronto's Andrea Bargnani, holding the Italian to eight points on 3-for-11 shooting.

''We did a good job eliminating his comfortable shots,'' Anderson said.

Glenn Davis had 13 points and Redick 12 for the Magic, who never trailed and led by as many as 23.

The Magic, who snapped a two-game road slide, also took care of the ball. After averaging more than 19 turnovers in their previous five games, Orlando had nine against Toronto, including four in the final quarter when the game was already out of reach.

''I thought it was huge that we only had nine,'' Van Gundy said. ''Very important and good to see. Our guys did a good job.''

Gary Forbes scored a career-high 21 points, Linas Kleiza had 18 and James Johnson 13 for the Raptors, who have lost five of six.

''I'm disappointed in our focus and attention to detail,'' Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. ''We came out flat as a pancake against one of the top teams in the league.''

Orlando led 24-8 after Howard converted an alley-oop pass from Nelson at 5:07 of the first. After taking their second timeout, the Raptors roared back with an 18-4 run featuring four 3's of their own, cutting it to 28-26 after one.

Already without guard DeMar DeRozan, who missed his second straight game with a sore left ankle, the Raptors lost guard Jerryd Bayless in the second. Bayless, who had missed the previous two games, went down clutching his sore left hip with 5:25 left in the half and had to limp off. He did not return.

With Bayless sidelined, the Raptors were forced to call upon guard Alan Anderson, who signed a 10-day contract earlier Monday.

Ryan Anderson, who made three 3's in the first, added three more in the second and Howard had eight points as Orlando pulled away again to take a 61-49 lead at the half.

The Magic led 93-73 heading into the fourth, the most points by a Toronto opponent after three quarters in any game this season.

NOTES: Davis needed five stitches to close a cut in his head after catching an elbow from Calderon in the second. He returned in the third, wearing a large bandage. ... James Johnson started for Toronto despite missing the morning shootaround with flu-like symptoms. ... The Raptors honored Canada's military by wearing camouflage uniforms for the second time this season. They'll wear them twice more in the final month. ... Former Blue Jays outfielder Joe Carter and former NFL quarterback Jesse Palmer were at the game.

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