Toronto Raptors at Orlando Magic

Siakam has 30 points, Raptors top Magic 98-93 for 2-1 lead

He was their MVP on Friday night.

And the East's No. 2 seed has the home-court edge back again.

Siakam had 30 points and 11 rebounds, hitting a floater with 1:33 left to help snuff out a big Orlando rally and the Raptors held off the Magic 98-93 to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference first-round series.

"He's unbelievable," Raptors guard Kyle Lowry said. "He's the most improved basketball player in the NBA this year and he's only going to get better."

Siakam was 13 for 20 from the floor and the Raptors held Orlando to 36% shooting.

"It's just taking what a defense gives us and going with it," Siakam said.

"It was really what I thought it was going to be tonight," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "I really thought this was going to be a tough atmosphere to play in."

Terrence Ross led Orlando with 24 points, and Nikola Vucevic shook off a slow start to finish with 22 points and 14 rebounds.

Game 4 is Sunday night in Orlando.

"Our turnovers hurt us again," Vucevic said, lamenting Orlando's 16 giveaways. "We had too many of those. Empty possessions for us and against a team like that you can't have that."

The Raptors trailed 61-60 midway through the third after a brief Orlando spurt, then went on a 16-0 run over the next four minutes to take the lead for good. Siakam and Green were both 3 for 3 during the run, the Magic missed 10 consecutive shots over a span of 6 1/2 minutes and had to play uphill the rest of the way.

That being said, they went down swinging.

Lowry's 3-pointer with 7:48 left gave Toronto its biggest lead at 86-69. The Magic came flying back, and Ross' 3-pointer with 41 seconds left got Orlando to 96-93.

"Critical," Magic coach Steve Clifford said.

Orlando, which finished the regular season by winning 13 of its final 14 home games, was 13 of 44 from 3-point range.

The Magic got the lead twice in the second half, once by one point, the other by two points. And both leads lasted exactly 15 seconds, getting taken away on 3-pointers by Siakam and Green.

And now it's up to Orlando to regroup, the same way Toronto did after dropping Game 1.

"It's 2-1," Clifford said. "It's not like it's 3-0. It's 2-1.... Handling disappointment is a huge part of NBA basketball and it's a bigger part of playoff basketball."

TIP-INS

Raptors: Toronto had lost four consecutive Game 3s. ... Patrick McCaw (sprained right thumb) was active, but did not play. ... The Raptors are 6-1 in their last seven road games this season. ... Siakam has 73 points and 30 rebounds in the series.

Magic: Among the former Orlando players in the building were Tracy McGrady, Jameer Nelson and Horace Grant. ... Orlando missed three shots at the rim in one third-quarter possession. Vucevic missed at the rim, and Aaron Gordon couldn't convert on two putback tries. ... Attendance was 19,367, the second-most in the Amway Center's nine-season history.

DOUBLING UP

GOVERNOR SPEAKS

UP NEXT

Game 4 is Sunday night in Orlando.

---

Regular Season Series

Series tied 2-2