TORONTO - Chris Bosh says it's way too early to consider this a corner turned for the Toronto Raptors. Ask him perhaps a few games from now.
With Anthony Parker leading the way with a season-high 26 points, the undermanned Raptors recorded their second straight victory over a formidable foe, beating the Orlando Magic 108-102 on Sunday, the first time Toronto has won two in a row at home since late November.
Bosh needs a few more wins before he'll breathe any easier.
''I'm greedy man,'' Bosh said, when asked if the team's turned a corner. ''I want to win all the games. We've been at two wins in a row, we've been at three wins in a row, we have to build on something and make sure we stay consistent, and I think maybe a couple of days from now I'll be able to answer that question.''
Bosh finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds, while Andrea Bargnani had 18 points. Roko Ukic had 12 points, while Will Solomon pitched in with 11 for the Raptors (14-20), who were playing without starters Jose Calderon and Jermaine O'Neal.
Dwight Howard tied his career high of 39 points to top Orlando (26-8), while Rashard Lewis added 20 and Jameer Nelson finished with 15.
Coming off a resounding victory Friday over the Houston Rockets that snapped a four-game losing streak at the Air Canada Centre, the Raptors led by as many as 16 points in the first half Sunday, and looked poised to put together the beginning of a winning streak.
But with Howard having his way inside and Lewis and Nelson knocking down threes, the Magic battled back to take a 78-77 lead into the fourth quarter.
Neither team led by more than three points through much of a hardfought fourth-quarter battle. The Raptors led with just over a minute to play in front of 19,322 fans at the ACC. Bosh grabbed a huge rebound on a miss by Hedo Turkoglu, and Ukic sprinted downcourt driving left past Nelson and scoring on an off-balanced running jumper that gave the Raptors a three-point lead with 39 seconds to go.
''If I have one special shot, for sure that's it, going left and trying to throw a floater,'' Ukic said.
Bosh was fouled grabbing another rebound and connected on both free throws with 31 seconds left to secure the victory over the team that dispatched the Raptors in five games in the first round of last season's NBA playoffs.
''It's a sign of us maturing,'' Raptors coach Jay Triano said on his team's strong fourth-quarter performance. ''We knew it was going to go right down to the wire and it was going to be one of those games. Maybe it was a little bit of a character builder for us.''
The Raptors will have to without Calderon and O'Neal for their next two games at least as neither player is travelling with the team on its two-game road trip.
Calderon injured his right hamstring - the same injury that sidelined him for two games in November - early in Friday's win over Houston. O'Neal sat out his third straight with a bruised right knee.
''Would I like Jose to play? Would I like Jermaine to play? Yes,'' Triano said. ''But we don't have a choice, and I love the way our other guys are responding to the opportunity that's been presented.''
Other players have definitely stepped up in their absence. Parker was most impressive, shooting a sparkling 13-for-16 from the field, four of his baskets coming on dunks.
''Those were the first dunks of the season,'' Parker said, laughing. ''To get four of them was a blessing.''
Ukic played his first meaningful minutes as Triano went with the Croatian rookie down the stretch.
''The guy was rolling so we were just going to keep going with him,'' Triano said.
''Roko had that funny-looking runner going all night, so I told him, be aggressive,'' Bosh added. ''We'll live with layups, if you miss layups that's OK, at least we're going to the basket, that shows we're not going to settle and it kind of keeps your aggression up.''
Bargnani had another strong game, and his ability to draw Howard out of the paint gave his Raptors teammates more freedom offensively.
''When (Bargnani) is scoring, especially against dominant centres for the other team, that helps us out, spreads the defence a little bit, and allows Chris a little more freedom inside to operate as well,'' Parker said.
The Raptors shot 54 per cent on afternoon, while Orlando shot 46. The Magic had the hot hand from beyond the arc though, making 15 of 34 attempts from three-point range.
The Raptors outrebounded Orlando 39-31.
''The biggest difference in the game I thought was the energy level of the two teams,'' Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. ''Their energy was a lot higher than ours.
''We couldn't guard their guards at all. You know you're going to have a hard time with Bosh and Bargnani up front, but when you're going to give their guards that many points on that efficient of a game, it's going to be very difficult.''
Howard scored Orlando's first nine points in a preview of things to come, but the Magic centre picked up a pair of fouls and had to take a seat less than three minutes into the game. The Raptors trailed by three points midway through the first quarter, but ended the frame with a 20-2 run that put them up by 15 points. A three by Keith Bogans cut Toronto's advantage to 24-22 heading into the second.
A Joey Graham jump shot stretched Toronto's lead to 16 points midway through the second, but Orlando came to life, pulling within three points on a three by Nelson with 1:43 left in the half. Toronto took a 56-49 advantage into the dressing room at halftime.
The Raptors built their lead back up to 11 two minutes into the third, but the Magic clawed back again draining five threes in the quarter and a driving dunk by Howard gave the Magic a 78-77 lead with one quarter remaining.
NOTES: Parker's previous season high was 23 points against Golden State on Oct. 31. His career high is 27. . The Raptors are at Milwaukee on Monday, then head to Washington on Wednesday before returning home to host the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday.