If the Magic keep blowing leads like this, I'm going to have a heart attack.

The Magic jumped out to an early lead on Toronto, relinquished it briefly in the fourth quarter, but pulled out a victory over the Raptors, 105-96. Here's the boxscore.

Mere hours after I wrote that the Dwight Howard was the only Magic player "who can be counted on to rebound consistently", Keith Bogans and Hedo Turkoglu responded with double-digit rebounding totals. Bogans chipped in with 11, and Hedo snagged a career-high 15.

But their contributions weren't limited to the glass. Bogans had 17 points and Turkoglu had 24, which means they both posted rare double-doubles. How rare is rare? Keith's was the third of his five-year career, and first since his rookie season; Turkoglu's was the sixth of his nine-year career.

The Magic needed their help. Dwight Howard was ineffective for much of the night and was mugged by Toronto on every possession. Yet as mediocre as he was tonight individually, he was the team's most important player. Dwight picked up his 5th foul three minutes into the fourth quarter; the Magic had an 11-point lead at that juncture. Over the next four minutes, the Raptors went on a 13-2 run to tie the game. They took a 92-91 lead off an Andrea Bargnani three-pointer, and everything seemed to be going Toronto's way.

That's when Rashard Lewis came up big. A night after hitting three clutch three-pointers to sink a Minnesota rally, Lewis responded to Bargnani's triple with one of his own. After Bargnani traveled, Jameer Nelson hit a three, and the Magic had control the rest of the way.

Even with the blown lead, and even with the 17 turnovers, the Magic impressed me tonight. They came out focused and prepared on the second night of a back-to-back against a team that swept them last season. The ball movement, in particular, was superb. Were the Raptors not constantly being bailed-out by the referees, this game would have been a blowout.

The Magic have a day off tomorrow before facing the Knicks in New York on Friday. They'll need all the rest they can get; the Magic's bench hardly played once again, which has to be a long-term concern. Playing the starters for 40 minutes a game may not matter much now, but it will in April, when the legs get tired, the shots stop falling, and everyone's a step slow on defense. Hopefully we can blow somebody out of the water and get away with playing our reserves for 20+ minutes. It's bound to happen sooner or later... I think.

Our record is 4-1 and we still sit atop the Southeast Division. It may be early, but it still counts.

Sidenote: how about the Hawks beating the Suns tonight, also by a score of 105-96? Atlanta looks good early on. At this point, they're our best competition in the division. Wow.