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Raptors-Magic Preview

Dec 16, 2009 - 5:46 AM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

Toronto (11-15) at Orlando (18-6), 7:00 p.m. EDT

Vince Carter seems to be working out fine in the Orlando Magic's backcourt right now, but his lack of playoff success was cause for concern when the reigning Eastern Conference champions acquired him last summer.

Of even greater issue was whether the Magic could thrive without the player Carter essentially replaced.

Hedo Turkoglu returns to Amway Arena on Wednesday for the first time since Orlando's exit from the NBA finals, with the Raptors looking to avoid another defeat to the Magic and bounce back from a recent series of lopsided losses.

Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis were Orlando's two leading scorers last season, but Turkoglu also played a key role in leading the Magic (18-6) to the brink of the title.

The NBA's 2007-08 most improved player wasn't as successful statistically last season, but turned up his game at critical times in the playoffs. He often initiated the offense with Jameer Nelson out, finished with 25 points and 12 assists in a Game 7 win at Boston and averaged 17.2 points and 6.7 assists against Cleveland in the conference finals.

When Orlando acquired Vince Carter from New Jersey on draft day, Turkoglu opted out of his contract, paving the way for him to sign with the Raptors (11-16).

Carter has never made it past the second round of the playoffs, but he's averaging 19.9 points while Turkoglu's average has dropped for a second straight year - this time to 14.0. Turkoglu had 12 points Tuesday in a 115-95 loss at Miami, the third defeat in four games for Toronto - all by at least 20 points.

"It's hard to find the words," Turkoglu told the NBA's official Web site. "You can't do much about it. It's one game. We didn't do much on defense. We had too many turnovers. We let them make easy fastbreak points."

Point guard Jose Calderon sat for the fourth time in five games with a sore hip, and isn't expected to play Wednesday.

Chris Bosh led the Raptors with 28 points, but the Heat outscored them 52-30 in the paint. Toronto fell to 0-10 when allowing 44 points or more in the lane.

"It was a key part of the game, but everybody outscores us in the paint," Bosh said. "We have to take the attitude that it's not going to happen anymore."

Oddly enough, the Raptors held Orlando to 28 points in the paint in each of two meetings at Air Canada Centre last month, but lost both.

The Magic, however, averaged 38 free-throw attempts in those games. Dwight Howard was the primary beneficiary, going 23 of 30 (76.7 percent) from the stripe.

Howard, shooting a career-low 58.4 percent from the line overall this season, has been getting there even more often lately. The only player in the league to attempt more free throws (267) than Bosh (263), Howard went 8 for 17 in a loss to Phoenix on Friday - only attempting one field goal - then went 13 of 22 Monday, finishing with 21 points and 23 boards as Orlando rallied to beat Indiana 106-98.

Coach Stan Van Gundy wasn't pleased with the officiating, and a Magic complaint to the league office after the game prompted the NBA to rescind a technical on Howard for getting tangled with Troy Murphy.

"I don't care who you are, you're only going to take that for so long," Van Gundy said. "It's absurd what's going on."

Bosh, averaging 29.5 points in his last 11 games against the Magic, was issued a technical during Orlando's 125-116 win in Toronto on Nov. 1 after Howard took exception to a foul.

Carter missed that game with a sprained ankle, but had a game-high 24 points in a 104-96 victory over the Raptors on Nov. 22.