NBA

Turkoglu rescues Magic

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published November 9, 2006

ORLANDO - At this point in the season, the Magic will take lucky over good.

Hedo Turkoglu scored 18, including a fallaway 20-footer with .4 seconds left, to lift Orlando to an 88-87 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics on Wednesday night.

"That was a lucky shot," said Turkoglu, who was falling out of bounds with Rashard Lewis draped over him. "We should have won that game easily but we were trying to do some fancy stuff and blew the lead. We were lucky."

Jameer Nelson added 18 points and Grant Hill 12 as the Magic won its second straight. Ray Allen had 21 points and Lewis 16 for 1-4 Seattle.

"I feel frustrated and a little bit snakebitten," Sonics coach Bob Hill said. "We did everything right just like we're supposed to, except (Turkoglu) made the shot. We're going to win one sooner or later. We just have to keep playing."

Seattle rallied from an 86-77 deficit in the final three minutes to take an 87-86 lead on Lewis' layup with 5.7 seconds left.

However, Turkoglu took an inbounds pass from Hill and sanke the winner over Lewis from the corner.

That stopped a nightmarish three-minute stretch during which the Magic turned the ball over four times and missed its only field-goal attempt.

Lewis scored five, Allen hit a 3-pointer and Chris Wilcox added a layup as Seattle ran off 10 straight points.

The Magic hit its first six shots to take a 13-0 lead in the first three minutes. Nick Collison's three-point play put Seattle ahead for the first time, 28-27 with 8:53 left in the second quarter. The Sonics led 47-42 at halftime.

SEATTLE (87): Ras.Lewis 6-15 3-4 16, Wilcox 2-3 4-4 8, Petro 4-9 0-0 8, Allen 7-15 3-3 21, Ridnour 3-8 3-3 10, Fortson 2-8 0-1 4, Watson 2-6 0-1 4, Collison 3-10 4-4 10, Wilkins 3-3 0-0 6. Totals 32-77 17-20 87.

ORLANDO (88): Turkoglu 7-14 2-4 18, Battie 2-3 2-6 6, Howard 3-5 2-2 8, G.Hill 6-11 0-2 12, Nelson 8-12 0-0 18, Dooling 2-5 3-4 7, Arroyo 2-5 5-5 10, Milicic 1-2 0-0 2, Outlaw 0-0 0-0 0, Garrity 1-4 0-0 2, Bogans 2-2 0-0 5. Totals 34-63 14-23 88.

Seattle 21 26 20 20 - 87

Orlando 24 18 25 21 - 88

3-Point Goals-Seattle 6-15 (Allen 4-8, Ridnour 1-1, Ras.Lewis 1-3, Watson 0-3), Orlando 6-16 (Nelson 2-3, Turkoglu 2-7, Bogans 1-1, Arroyo 1-2, Dooling 0-1, Garrity 0-1, G.Hill 0-1). Fouled Out-Milicic. Rebounds-Seattle 42 (Fortson 8), Orlando 44 (Howard 10). Assists-Seattle 14 (Ridnour 6), Orlando 21 (Arroyo 6). Total Fouls-Seattle 20, Orlando 23. A-16,312. (17,248).

[Last modified November 9, 2006, 01:49:53]