Peter Jones / Reuters

Toronto's T.J. Ford drives around Orlando's Rashard Lewis, right, during the Raptors' Game 3 win on Thursday.

updated 10:29 p.m. ET April 24, 2008

TORONTO - With a quick start and quality point guard play, the Toronto Raptors turned the tables on the Orlando Magic.

T.J. Ford scored 21 points, Jose Calderon had 18 points and 13 assists, and the Raptors beat the Magic 108-94 on Thursday night, cutting Orlando’s lead to 2-1 in their first-round playoff series.

“That was the most important game of the season so far and we played like it,” Chris Bosh said. “We stepped up to the challenge.”

Ford shot 2-for-17 in the first two games of the series, but looked confident and comfortable in this one, splitting time almost equally with Calderon.

“The way those guys played reminded me of just how good those two can be when they’re both on their game,” Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said.

Dwight Howard had 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Magic, while Hedo Turkoglu added 26 points and Rashard Lewis scored 19.

“Right from the get-go, the Raptors were outstanding,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “Their point guard play was phenomenal and probably the key to the game for them.”

Jamario Moon had 11 points and 10 rebounds in his return to the starting lineup for Toronto, while Bosh and Jason Kapono each scored 15 points and Anthony Parker 10.

The Raptors finished 12-for-34 from 3-point range and set playoff highs for points in a game and a half (61).

Game 4 is Saturday afternoon in Toronto.

“We’re halfway to our goal, which is to get back to 2-2,” Ford said. “We have to take care of business again on Saturday.”

Keith Bogans scored 12 for the Magic, who trailed by as many as 23.

Orlando guard Jameer Nelson collapsed with back spasms as he was walking back the locker room after the game and was seen writhing on the floor in pain.

“He got hit in the back defending a pick-and-roll,” Van Gundy said. “He kept playing, but as he walked off the court, he got a back spasm and a bad one.”

Van Gundy said Nelson was up and walking again minutes after the incident. Hampered by foul trouble, Nelson went 2-for-8 and scored six points, all in the fourth quarter.

Toronto was unable to overcome double-digit deficits in the first quarter of Games 1 and 2, and was determined to start better up north.

With Moon back in the starting lineup in place of Rasho Nesterovic, the Raptors had the energy they needed. Down 6-2 early, Toronto responded with a 16-3 run over the next four minutes. Moon capped it with a breakaway dunk, forcing Orlando to call a timeout trailing 18-9.

“Just like I’ve been doing all season, I wanted to come out and be aggressive and try to bring energy to my teammates,” Moon said. “I wanted to come out and get on the glass and get my hands on any ball that I could and make it tough on the guy I was guarding.”

With his teammates struggling, Howard’s inside dominance kept Orlando close. He had 13 points and five rebounds in the opening frame, but Toronto led 28-20 after 12 minutes.

“They came out tonight and wanted it more than we did,” Howard said of Toronto’s strong start. “We expected it but we just didn’t weather the storm. They came out firing on all cylinders and we didn’t do a great job of coming back at them. We kind of let them set the tempo, we let them set the way the game was going to be played the whole night and we couldn’t stop it.”

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