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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Vince Carter has some fresh competition as
the NBA's dunk king.
Ramming in a string of dazzling dunks and lofting in soft
jumpers at other times, teen-ager Darius Miles had the biggest game
of his young NBA career with 26 points and 10 rebounds as the Los
Angeles Clippers beat the Toronto Raptors 110-97 Tuesday night.
|  | | Toronto's Kevin Willis shoots around Lamar Odom, who scored 18 points for the Clippers. |
"The sky is the limit with him. He's getting a better
understanding of the NBA game," Los Angeles coach Alvin Gentry
said of Miles, taken by the Clippers as the third pick in last
summer's draft, when he was four months shy of his 19th birthday.
A rail-thin 6-foot-9, 202-pounder with spectacular leaping
ability, Miles went 12-for-19 from the floor on the way to his
highest-scoring game as a pro.
The start, his seventh, was his first at power forward.
"I just tried to bring the same intensity I normally bring off
the bench," Miles said.
His performance overshadowed the Raptors' Carter, who came into
the game as the league's second-leading scorer with an average of
29 points. Carter scored 25 points on 8-for-17 shooting and had
seven rebounds in the loss.
"He plays hard and he seems like he understands what's going
on," Carter said of Miles. "He's young, he's an athlete and it
seems like he wants to learn. He seems like a good kid and he has a
bright future."
Miles and his Los Angeles teammates took advantage of the
Raptors' missing two starters: center Antonio Davis was sidelined
by a groin strain, and forward Corliss Williamson was serving a
one-game suspension for an altercation with Phoenix's Tom Gugliotta
in Toronto's 109-103 loss Saturday.
The Clippers scored 56 points inside, compared to 44 for the
outmanned Raptors.
"They were pumped up for this game," Toronto coach Lenny
Wilkens said. "They had extra incentive because we beat them in
Toronto. In the first six minutes of the game, they made all of
their shots and we couldn't make anything."
The Clippers opened a 36-19 lead as they made 16 of 22 shots (73
percent) in the opening quarter and Toronto got no closer than
four, at 53-49 in the second quarter, before Los Angeles pulled
away again.
Charles Oakley scored 17 points and had 11 rebounds for Toronto
after missing the Raptors' 104-95 overtime win over the Clippers on
Dec. 1 in Toronto. Oakley drew a three-game suspension and $15,000
fine for punching Los Angeles' Jeff McInnis at a shootaround
earlier that same day, apparently resulting from a dispute between
the two that was not related to basketball.
There were no incidents between them during the game, although
Oakley was booed by the crowd of 18,037 whenever he touched the
ball. McInnis had a career-high 13 assists and scored 14 points.
Lamar Odom added 18 points as the Clippers ended their
three-game losing skid and also a string of four losses to the
Raptors dating back to a Los Angeles win on March 13, 1998.
Miles left the court briefly after a second-quarter collision
under the Clippers' basket, when teammate Corey Maggette fell onto
Miles' left leg. But Miles returned later and played the rest of
the game.
Davis, the Raptors' leading rebounder with an average of 11.5
and their second-leading scorer with a 13.3 average, did not dress.
He strained his left groin during the fourth quarter of the game at
Phoenix, and will be reevaluated Wednesday when the team returns to
Toronto.
Williams is the Raptors' third-leading scorer with a 10.3
average.
Game notes
Oakley, asked prior to Tuesday night's game about punching
McInnis a month ago, wasn't exactly apologetic. "I guess everybody
knows what type of guy he is. To me, he's a guy who always goes
behind people's back and does things. He's a lowlife. I don't worry
about guys like that. He had threatened me one time this summer. I
don't know the guy personally, and I'm not trying to get to know
him." ... McInnis refused comment, but Clippers teammate Sean
Rooks said: "Jeff is a professional and I think Jeff's going to
handle the situation like a professional. He's going to go out
there and do whatever it takes to win the game."
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Toronto Clubhouse
LA Clippers Clubhouse
RECAPS
Washington 115
Minnesota 108
Atlanta 92
Boston 81
Houston 100
Cleveland 95
New Jersey 120
Orlando 110
Milwaukee 104
Chicago 70
San Antonio 80
Miami 72
Indiana 91
Seattle 83
LA Clippers 110
Toronto 97
Sacramento 121
Phoenix 117
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Vince Carter Official Site
Mark Jackson Official Site
Lenny Wilkens Official Site
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