Orlando Magic point guard Victor Oladipo did almost everything right on Thursday night to avoid their third straight defeat, but the Toronto Raptors proved too strong to beat, holding on for a 106-103 victory in London, England.
It was the sixth consecutive regular-season game played in the British capital, and the Orlando Magic played as hosts.
Kyle Lowry paced the Canadians with a team-high 24 points, Cory Joseph added 19 points off the bench and the Raptors won their fourth straight game to improve to a 25-15 mark.
Oladipo, who finished with a game-best 27 points, opened the score with a three-pointer, but the Magic lead was a short lived one as the the Raptors took over to close the first quarter with a comfortable 31-18 lead, and they never trailed again.
After trailing by as many as 14 points in the second half, Magic’s guard Oladipo sent a noisy sellout crowd of 18 689 at London’s O2 Arena into a frenzy with a game-tying shot from Oladipo with 32.9 seconds to play in regulation.
In the final seconds of regulation, Oladipo missed a three-pointer in transition and Jason Smith couldn’t convert on a heave at the buzzer from the corner.
Meanwhile, in the extra five minutes, the Raptors outscored the Magic 10-7 to tie the regular-season series at one win apiece.
“It’s real frustrating. I’m not going to make every shot, but I’m going to keep taking the ones that I need to take to help my team win,” the Nigerian-American said.
“I believe in myself that much. We just have to build on our second-half play. I think we played really well in the second half, especially defensively. This is a tough loss and it really (stinks), honestly, because we all really wanted to win that game.”
A couple of months ago, Orlando stunned the Toronto Raptors, but the London match-up was a totally different game as Toronto controlled most of the contest.
Magic head coach Scott Skilles returned to London, after helping Orlando beat the Atlanta Hawks in a preseason game in 1993, but this time around things didn’t quite work in his favour.
The Raptors led by as many as 14 points in the second quarter, but Tobias Harris’ three-pointer cut the deficit to just three-points (51-48).
Magic centre Jason Smith came off the bench to make 8 of his 10 field-goal attempts in the first half, but the Raptors forced him to miss all his shooting in the second half. He contributed 16 points.
Orlando shooting guard Evan Fournier got in foul trouble early in the game, but he seemed more cautious in the second half to finish on 21 points.
A number of celebrities turned out at O2 Arena, including Gordon Ramsay, footballers Didier Drogba, Robert Pires and boxer Anthony Ogogo,
The Raptors and Magic will meet for the third and final regular-season contest on 20 March in Toronto.
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