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Turkoglu's last-second shot lifts Magic

Nov 9, 2006 - 3:01 AM ORLANDO, Florida (Ticker) -- Hedo Turkoglu made the Orlando Magic's first winning streak of the season dramatic.

Turkoglu hit a fadeaway shot in the left corner with four-tenths of a second remaining as the Magic claimed consecutive wins with a 88-87 victory over the struggling Seattle SuperSonics.

It was the third win in four home games this campaign for Orlando, which overcame 27 turnovers, poor free-throw shooting and a late charge by Seattle.

"A win's a win; we'll take it as we get it," Magic forward Tony Battie said. "There were some things that we could have done a lot better. But Hedo bailed us out with a heckuva shot."

Trailing 86-77 with just under three minutes remaining, the SuperSonics took advantage of an ill-advised pass downcourt by Dwight Howard to ignite a 10-0 run.

Rashard Lewis sank a 3-pointer, Chris Wilcox had a driving layup and Ray Allen added his fourth shot from the arc to close the margin to 86-85 with 1:28 remaining.

After the Magic committed a shot-clock violation, the Supersonics took the lead with 5.7 seconds left as Lewis grabbed an alley-oop pass from Luke Ridnour and collected himself before putting in a layup.

Following a foul by Ridnour fighting around a screen, Orlando's Grant Hill inbounded to Turkoglu on the left wing with 3.7 seconds left. The Turkish forward dribbled to the baseline before hoisting up a shot over Lewis.

"No, I don't practice that one," Turkoglu said. "It was just a lucky shot. You just step back in the open corner and make the shot."

"The play is for Hedo; Jameer (Nelson) is a decoy on the play," Magic coach Brian Hill said. "The play is for Hedo to get it tighter to the lane, to curl off Tony and Dwight, but he got pushed out a little further and fortunately made a hell of a shot."

Seattle had a final chance, but Lewis' turnaround shot just outside the lane was partially blocked by Howard.

Turkoglu scored nine of his 18 points in the fourth quarter and Nelson also scored 18 points for the Magic, who won despite converting just 14-of-23 free throws.

Averaging a league-worst 20.75 turnovers per game, Orlando continued to be plagued by sloppy play, a situation that is starting to wear on Hill.

"The turnover thing is starting to get to me right now, 27 turnovers for 37 points," he said. "You're going to keep everyone in the game if you keep turning it over like that. We have to find a way to get out of it. We are very, very fortunate to be 3-2 with all the turnovers we've had this year."

The team's biggest culprit with five giveaways, Howard overcame early foul trouble to score eight points and collect 10 rebounds.

One of the few bright spots has been backup point guard Carlos Arroyo, who has 16 assists against six turnovers this season. The starting point guard for Puerto Rico this summer at the World Championships, Arroyo collected 10 points and six assists.

The 27-year-old Arroyo provided the spark that gave the Magic an eight-point lead with seven minutes remaining. With the Sonics leading, 69-67, with 10 1/2 minutes left, Arroyo sank a 19-foot jumper en route to contributing six points to a 12-2 burst that built a 79-71 advantage.

The lead should have held up had Orlando not committed four turnovers on its final six possessions.

"We should have won this game a lot easier," Turkoglu said. "We were up and we tried to do the fancy stuff, and blew the lead."

Allen scored 21 points and Lewis chipped in 16 for the SuperSonics, who fell to 1-4.

"I (think) we get a little better every day," Seattle coach Bob Hill said. "We fought back and took the lead. They executed Rashard's layup really well and I thought our defense was good getting us back into it. (Turkoglu) just made a tough shot."

It was the second straight loss for Seattle, which saw James Posey hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 19 seconds to play in a 90-87 loss to Miami on Tuesday.

"That is two nights in a row getting a (big shot) sunk on us in the closing seconds," Allen said. "It is weird because there are a lot of different ways you can win and a lot of different ways you can lose. I think I have just about experienced them all."