DeMar DeRozan's jumper at the buzzer clinched victory in a close game for the Toronto Raptors over the Orlando Magic 97-95.
DeRozan finished with 22 points and seven assists for the Raptors, while Amir Johnson added 21 points and chipped in 10 rebounds, his sixth double-double of the current season.
"The coaches drew up a good play," the Associated Press quoted DeRozan as saying. "I just tried to get to my shot. Usually we run it going to my right, but that was the first time we ran it going to my left.
"I knew if I got a good shot off, I had a chance at it going in."
Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey was happy with his team's performance against the Magic.
"I did, I really did," Casey said. "Down the stretch everybody's questioned our toughness and how tough we are.
"I've seen resolve and toughness the last couple of weeks. And for anybody who doesn't feel like we're in this to win it, they are totally wrong."
For the Magic, Nikola Vucevic scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Arron Afflalo had 16 points and Glen Davis added 15 points and chipped in seven rebounds.
Toronto outscored the Magic 22-20 in the first quarter to take a two-point lead. Orlando cut their lead to 48-46 by outscoring them 27-26 in the second quarter. But the Raptors answered by outshining the Magic 27-19 in the third quarter to extend their lead to 75-66.
"These guys are competing their butts off, have been every game," Casey said. "Whether it's my fault, or whoever's fault it is, they have been competing. That's one thing you can't question.
"They're competing to win and tonight's another example."
DeRozan's jumper and Alan Anderson's layup extended the Raptors' lead to 91-86 in the fourth quarter. J.J. Redick completed a four-point play for the Magic to tie the score at 93 with 53 seconds left in the game.
DeRozan answered with a step-back jumper and put the Raptors in the lead, but E'Twuan Moore again tied the score with a jumper, before De Rozan came up with the game-winning shot.
"I thought there were multiple times throughout the course of the game where we got multiple stops in a row and that's what we want to focus on, is being able to get stops on demand," Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said. "That's the basketball we need to see every night."
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