Raptors beat Pacers to snap 5-game losing streak

TORONTO(AP) Raptors forward Jermaine O'Neal
scooped up the game ball as the final buzzer sounded, not to remember a
victory over Indiana, his former team, but to give new coach Jay Triano
a memento from his first win.Jason Kapono scored a season-high
25 points, Chris Bosh added 21 points and 10 rebounds and the Raptors
snapped a five-game losing streak with a 101-88 victory over the Pacers
on Wednesday night."That was very important,'' said O'Neal, who
scored 10 points. "Sometimes when you lose four or five games in a row
you lose confidence as a team. Our team, you could kind of tell it was
wavering a little bit. We were trying, it just wasn't happening. Now we
can build off this. It's a little bit different building off a win than
building off a loss.''The victory was Toronto's first in four tries since Triano took over for the fired Sam Mitchell on Dec. 3."I'm
really happy for our guys because they've tried to adjust and make
changes to what they've been doing,'' Triano said. "I think we're
slowly getting there.''Starting in place of the injured Anthony Parker, Kapono went 11-for-16 and made three 3-pointers."That was a heck of a shooting exhibition by him,'' Indiana's Troy Murphy said.Jamario
Moon also had a season high with 17 points for Toronto, including a
putback dunk on O'Neal's miss in the third quarter. Joey Graham had 12
points, and Jose Calderon added 11 points and 14 assists."Their
perimeter guys outplayed out perimeter guys by a huge margin,'' Pacers
coach Jim O'Brien said. "Certainly, Kapono got hot early, but I think
their perimeter guys just murdered our perimeter guys.''Danny
Granger led Indiana with 22 points, Murphy had 20 points and 20
rebounds, and Marquis Daniels finished with 21 points. The Pacers have
lost four straight and nine of 11."Right now it's tough because
everybody is trying, it's just not clicking,'' guard T.J. Ford said.
"We just have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what it's
going to take.''It was the first meeting between the teams since
a six-player trade in June that saw O'Neal join Toronto in exchange for
Ford and Rasho Nesterovic.Ford, who received a mixture of cheers
and boos during pregame introductions, was held to four points before
being replaced by Jarrett Jack with just over 5 minutes remaining."They
were determined not to let me come in here and get a win,'' Ford said.
"They played with a lot of energy and we just couldn't match it.''O'Neal said he was conscious of not letting his Indiana past interfere with his preparation."You
just try to keep your friendships for after the game and don't talk
about too much other stuff before the game,'' O'Neal said. "You don't
want to do anything that softens you up and takes your focus off the
game and the tasks you have to do for your team.''A six-time
All-Star in his eight seasons with the Pacers, O'Neal didn't get the
chance to make an immediate impact. He was called for two fouls in the
first 65 seconds, then spent the next 8 minutes on the bench."I couldn't have picked a worse case scenario for myself,'' O'Neal said.But his hook shot with 9:33 left in the fourth started a 9-0 run that gave Toronto an 88-70 edge, putting the game out of reach.The
teams were tied at 36 with 6:17 left in the first half, but Kapono
scored five of his nine second quarter points as the Raptors pulled
away with an 11-0 run. Bosh, who also had nine points in the second,
made a fadeaway jumper at the buzzer to give Toronto a 51-45 lead at
the break.Parker did not play because of a sprained left ankle, ending his consecutive games streak at 103.Parker, averaging 10.2 points and 2.9 rebounds this season, last missed a game April 17, 2007, at Detroit.Notes:
The game marked the first time in six games the Pacers' opponent did
not lead its division. Indiana's previous five games were against
Orlando, Boston, the Los Angeles Lakers, Cleveland and Boston again.
... Calderon broke Chauncey Billups' Toronto record of 51 consecutive
successful free throws. Calderon went 4-for-4 from the line, extending
his streak to 55. ... Kapono scored a career-high 29 points against
Indiana on Dec. 14, 2007. ... Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Jesse
Litsch attended the game.