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ORLANDO, Fla. -- When the Orlando Magic followed up two straight season-opening losses with a pair of lopsided wins over New Orleans and then Brooklyn, it turned a few heads. Their latest victory will certainly garner them even more attention. Nik Vucevic had 30 points -- including six free throws in the final 23 seconds -- and 21 rebounds to help the Orlando Magic hold on for a 98-90 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night. The win was the Magics third in a row, and gives them their first three-game streak since December of last season. Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said theres no real secret to his teams success so far. "Trust. We kept trusting each other," he said. Vaughn smiled when he recalled Vucevic calling for the ball down the stretch, and the third-year big man said afterward that his success in the closing minutes only adds to the confidence he feels in his game right now. "I know my team needs me to be aggressive," said Vucevic, who posted his fifth-career 20-20 game. "The coaching staff keeps telling me to be aggressive on both ends of the court. Im just trying to deliver for my team so we can get some wins." Orlando led by as many as 19 points in the third quarter but Los Angeles went on a 25-5 run to take its first lead that quieted the Amway Center crowd. Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 23 points and 13 rebounds, and Chris Paul added 18 points and 10 assists. Former Magic guard J.J. Redick also chipped in 17 points. But the Clippers, who had been averaging 124 points and shooting more than 50 per cent during a three-game winning streak, were held to just 37 per cent on the night. Los Angeles became the third straight Magic opponent to shoot under 40 per cent. The Clippers have little time to dwell on their shortcomings, though, as they continue a three-game road trip Thursday at Miami. Even during their win streak Clippers coach Doc Rivers has been cautioning that their defence wasnt close to acceptable. He said his approach to changing the culture requires no special formula. "Youve just got to keep talking about it," he said. "We win games, we score 100 or whatever points, thats always fools gold. Our offence is always fools gold. Youve got to defend to win. The good part about tonight is that was proven." Paul agreed defence must start being their focus. "Its Game 5. Luckily weve got about 77 left," Paul said. "But were not going to win games unless our defence gets better." Just days after scoring their most points in nearly four years, the Clippers were sluggish and looked a little tired on both ends early as the youthful Magic pushed the pace on the way to building a 15-point halftime lead. The Clippers led 75-72 early in the fourth when Byron Mullens and Andrew Nicholson got tangled up running down the floor. Nicholson fell to the ground during the scrum and was initially whistled for a technical foul. It was reviewed and a technical was also awarded to Mullens. The play seemed to re-ignite the Magic, though, who took the lead back -- 83-80 -- on a transition 3-pointer by ETwaun Moore with 6:43 to play. Paul tied it again at 86 with a short jumper in the lane a few trips later, and a defensive 3-seconds call on the Magic and a free throw by Redick gave back the lead to Los Angeles. It twice changed hands on the next two trips before a fade away jumper by Arron Afflalo put the Magic back in front 90-89. The Clippers called timeout to set up a play, but Paul missed a 3-pointer late in the shot clock which was rebounded by Orlando. Vucevic then scored off a feed from Jameer Nelson on the other end. Paul turned it over on the Clippers next possession, but the Magic failed to get up a clean shot on their ensuing trip. DeAndre Jordan was fouled and connected on 1 of 2 free throws to trim it 92-90 with 25 seconds remaining. Vucevic then started his parade to the line to close it out. "Its more important that we took the blow that they gave us," Magic guard Jameer Nelson said. "They came out in the third and pretty much had their way. Basketball is a game of runs. They made their run and we took the blow. We executed well, we stuck to our game plan and even when they executed against our game plan and were successful, we stuck with it." NOTES: Magic F Tobias Harris sat out his fifth straight game with a sprained left ankle. Vaughn said there remains no timetable for his return. ...The Clippers played without F Matt Barnes (calf). Rivers said he could miss Thursdays game against Miami as well. ... Recently-retired Grant Hill was in attendance on Wednesday night. He played with both the Magic and Clippers during his 19-year career. 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The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling "puts an end to my dreams of being a top player," the 27-year-old Troicki said in a statement. "I worked my entire life for it, and it has been taken away from me in one afternoon by a doctor I didnt know," said Troicki, whose ranking peaked at No.TORONTO - It was a gamble and Maple Leafs general manager Dave Nonis knew it. "If we werent able to get Bozak signed or if Clarkson didnt sign then I wouldve had a lot of cap space with no players," Nonis told the Leaf Report. "So it was definitely a gamble and we weighed that against keeping him and playing him." Ultimately, Nonis and his management team opted to exercise their second compliance buyout on Mikhail Grabovski this past summer, ridding themselves of the enigmatic centreman after five years in Toronto. After much debate, they determined that the cap space freed up by his dismissal was just too enticing to pass up; that the players fit on the roster just wasnt there. The 29-year-old, who returns to the Air Canada Centre as a member of the Washington Capitals on Saturday evening, still had four years remaining on a contract that ate up $5.5 million in cap space annually. "It wasnt a decision we made just overnight," Nonis said. "We thought long and hard about it and decided to roll the dice with the cap space and see if we could relocate it effectively." These were nervous times for Nonis. Though he had just acquired 27-year-old Dave Bolland from the Chicago Blackhawks, he had no guarantees that Tyler Bozak would re-sign in Toronto nor whether David Clarkson, their top free agent target, would take their bait and become a Leaf. "We didnt know when we did it that wed be successful in getting some players signed," Nonis said. Also due to be signed were restricted free agents Jonathan Bernier, Carl Gunnarsson, Nazem Kadri, Mark Fraser and Cody Franson. Cap space, predictably, (with the upper-limit dropping to $64.3 million) was going to be at a premium. "We looked at a number of scenarios, including keeping him," Nonis said of Grabovski, who signed for one year in Washington at $3 million. "I said at the time, I think Grabo, wherever he ends up, was going to have a positive impact. Hes a good player and I believe that. But for us we felt we needed to regain that cap space to make some other moves moving forward." A major part of the equation was also the players fit within the roster. Never coming to grips with the role he was required to play in Toronto last season, Grabovski endured the worst season of his career in 2013. He finished with nine goals and 16 points in 48 games, completely off-kilter in the defensive role head coach Randy Carlyle had pegged him to fill. Afforded similar minutes under Adam Oates in Washington, albeit witth a more offensive lean, Grabovski has already produced seven goals and 19 points this season.dddddddddddd "Again, the notion that there wasnt ice-time available for him or opportunity last year, thats just false," Nonis said of Grabovski, who averaged nearly 16 minutes last season, his lowest as a Leaf. "I think it was more a situation where the fit just wasnt right. And it wasnt his fault. I dont think he ever shortchanged us on effort or being prepared or professionalism or any of those things. There just didnt seem to be a fit. And so to have that much cap space tied up with a player that wasnt fitting with us - it doesnt mean hes not going to fit with other teams, obviously he is - but thats what led to the decision to buy him out." Grabovski made no secret of his disdain for Carlyle and the role he was dealt in his final season as a Leaf. He believed his value came from producing offence - he scored 20 goals three times - and could not comprehend why that opportunity wasnt being afforded him as it had been previously under Ron Wilson. "I think too much is made about the coach being the issue with Grabo," Nonis said. "Look at Grabos ice-time and look at his opportunity and look at his performance and I think Grabo would tell you that he didnt have a great year. Whether it was just because he didnt feel like he was being used correctly or what it might be, but I think its easy to point the finger at the coach and say well its his fault. I dont think thats fair. Theres a lot of things that went into his season last year and I think just saying it was all the coach is unfair." The teams dynamic at centre ice almost dictated the terms for Carlyle. With Kadri making the team out of training camp when the lockout wrapped last January and Bozak already lined up as the teams top centre - the better fit for Phil Kessel in the teams opinion - there was nowhere else to put Grabovski but in the checking role he was assigned. Add Bolland into the mix from Chicago this summer - an ideal candidate to fill the role Grabovski griped under - and the stage was set for change in early July. Nonis, admittedly, could have waited until the summer of 2014 to exercise the buyout - the final year to do so under terms of the new CBA - but risked another poor season in doing so. "From a managers point we looked at it and said Is this the best thing to do for us to rehabilitate him, so to speak, and get him back to playing where we needed him to play or to buy him out and create the cap space. "That was the decision." 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