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Final Score: Toronto 92 - Orlando 102

Orlando, FL (Sports Network) - Dwight Howard continued his ascension into the upper echelon of NBA stars with his eighth double-double in nine career playoff contests, scoring 21 points with 21 rebounds, as Orlando advanced to the second round for the first time since 1996 with a 102-92 victory over Toronto in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference first-round series.

Howard's Magic looked far different than Orlando's playoff clubs of the past. The Magic had dropped four straight with a chance to eliminate an opponent and still carried ill feelings of a playoff collapse to Detroit in a similar situation in 2003.

The Pistons fell behind 3-1 before reeling off three straight wins in that series. Such was not the case Monday night, as sixth-seeded Toronto became just another casualty of the odds. A team trailing a series 3-1 with the next game on the opponent's home floor has won just two out of 120 possible series.

The record got worse due in large part to a balanced Magic attack, paced by 18 points and 13 rebounds from Rashard Lewis, 19 points from point guard Jameer Nelson, 12 from Maurice Evans and 12 points, eight rebounds and nine assists from newly-crowned NBA Most Improved Player Hedo Turkoglu.

"I'm really happy and proud of our players and very happy for them, but I'm extremely happy for the many people in this organization who have worked so hard for so long to finally get back and get a series win," said Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy.

Howard posted his third 20-20 of the five-game series.

"I was just very happy. We put in a lot of work during the off-season just to get where we're standing today," stated Howard.

The third-seeded Magic will wait to see who prevails in the hotly-contested series between Detroit and Philadelphia.

Chris Bosh scored a team-best 16 points with nine rebounds and T.J. Ford and Carlos Delfino added 14 points apiece. Jason Kapono donated 13 points and Jose Calderon contributed 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting in defeat.

"We knew in the regular season that every time we played the Orlando Magic that you've got to score and we just couldn't score. We didn't make enough shots," said Toronto head coach Sam Mitchell.

Orlando gained some breathing room late in the third and early in the fourth quarter. Bosh lost his cool just as the Magic started heating up, and Keyon Dooling drained a free throw off Bosh's technical foul for a 73-66 lead.

Howard's hook in the lane pushed the lead to 76-68 18 seconds into the final period, but the pesky Raptors sawed the deficit to four at 80-76 on a mid- range jumper by Kapono.

Toronto had a chance to tie at around the 5:30 mark, but Delfino misfired on a pull-up jumper. Keith Bogans then came out of a timeout with a three-pointer from the right corner. Howard grabbed a long offensive board, positioned himself deep in the paint and scored with 4:11 to go for a seven-point advantage. Nelson followed with a three from the left corner -- right in front of the mending golfing star Tiger Woods -- for a 92-82 lead to cap a quick 8-0 stretch.

Another Bogans three followed a Bosh dunk for a 95-84 lead, and the final two minutes were filled with fouls to no avail.

Calderon's wide-open three-pointer from the top of the key put an exclamation point on the first stanza, giving Toronto a 26-22 edge. The Magic fed off the blue-and-white clad crowd in the early moments, seizing a 10-2 edge on back- to-back conversions from Evans. His slam in the lane followed a three-pointer with 9:25 to play.

The Raptors chipped away, methodically outscoring the Magic 24-12 the remainder of the period.

The two teams attacked each other in a high-energy second period. Ford and Lewis exchanged off-balance, high-arching jumpers to cap the first half with Toronto holding a 50-49 advantage. Ford scored 12 and Calderon added 10 for the Raptors, while Lewis led the Magic with 12 points and Howard posted a double-double at the break with 10 points and 12 rebounds.