Big Night From Bosh, Bargnani, Calderon Not Enough

TORONTO (AP) - On a night when Chris Bosh and Andrea
Bargnani had a couple of the finest games of their careers, the sombre
silence in the Raptors locker-room afterward said everything.

Vince Carter had struck once again, leading the New Jersey Nets past
Toronto 129-127 in spectacular fashion Friday. The former Raptors star
shrugged off the incessant booing from the Air Canada Centre crowd that
pestered him all night long, pouring in 39 points, including the
three-pointer that sent the game into extra time and the eventual
winning dunk with 1.9 seconds left that rendered the Raptors speechless.

``I don't even know what to say, I'm so upset about the game. It's
unbelievable,'' said Bargnani, calling the loss the toughest of his
career. ``We were winning, we had the game under control, we made a
couple of stupid mistakes.''

New Jersey's win spoiled superb games by Bosh and Bargnani. Bosh tied
his career high with 42 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while
Bargnani had a career-high 29 points, plus 10 boards in the loss which
dropped Toronto to 6-6.

Jose Calderon, playing just his second game back after missing two with
a hamstring injury, had 26 points and 15 assists for Toronto (6-6), who
played almost the entire second half without Jermaine O'Neal after the
centre left the game with a strained left knee.

Devin Harris added 30 points for the Nets (5-6).

The Raptors led from early on in their first of four straight home
appearances, and looked poised to romp to a victory in a game that set
season highs for first-quarter and first-half points. But a sluggish
second half cost Toronto and the Nets chipped away at what had been a
18-point early in third to eventually tie the game in the fourth.

Toronto led 85-76 heading into the final 12 minutes, but Harris
single-handedly got the Nets back in the game, scoring 13 points in the
first six minutes, his bucket with 6:30 left tying the game at 93-93.
Then Carter took over, scoring the Nets' final 12 points in the fourth,
including the long bomb as the clock ticked down to force the
five-minute overtime period.

``You feel so good for Vince when you have the crowd like that, and all
the times we've been up here, for him to hit the three to put it into
overtime and for him to get the (game-winning) dunk,'' Nets coach
Lawrence Frank said.

The capacity crowd of 19,800 never sat down through a thrilling final
five minutes as the Raptors traded bucket for bucket. The Raptors
trailed by four points when Anthony Parker drained a three with 2.9
seconds on the clock to tie the game, and the matchup appeared headed
for a second OT. But Bobby Simmons found a lurking Carter under the
basket with his inbounds pass and Carter turned it into an alley-oop
dunk to give the Nets the win.

``He's one of the best athletes in the game,'' Bosh said. ``Lawrence
Frank drew up a fantastic play and he left it up to his best player and
he capitalized.

``You live and you learn, we'd be crazy not to learn from this
experience, and that's all I can say right now, that's the kind of
night this has been.''

There were a few frightening moments early in the fourth quarter when
O'Neal crumpled to the floor clutching his left knee after the Nets'
Sean Williams tugged on his jersey from behind to pull down the Raptors
centre. Williams was assessed a flagrant foul, while O'Neal limped to
the locker-room with 11:37 left.

O'Neal, who missed a good chunk of his last two seasons with Indiana
before the Raptors acquired him, headed to the hospital for testing
following the game.

The much-maligned Carter was making his 15th regular-season appearance
against his old team since he was traded to New Jersey in December,
2004. Raptors fans, true to tradition whenever the Nets are in town,
booed Carter loudly when the team was introduced and whenever he had
the ball. The jeers obviously didn't bother the former face of the
franchise, as he easily topped his scoring average of 22.6 points.

``I know, deep down, that's just sports and that's the way it goes,''
Carter said on the booing. ``I root for my team and I'm a terrible fan,
also.''

Raptors coach Sam Mitchell urged his players to put the loss behind
them, as the Raptors face an even tougher test Sunday when they host
the Boston Celtics.

``The thing we can't do is dwell on it, everybody's feeling sick about
it, but you've got to put it behind us as fast as you can,'' Mitchell
said. ``We had a lot of guys play great, it just seemed whoever got the
ball last was going to win it, they got it last.''

Bosh was a one-man show in the first quarter, scoring 15 points
including an alley-oop dunk from Calderon that had the fans on their
feet. The Raptors raced out to a 33-22 advantage to the end the first,
their most points scored and largest first-quarter lead this season.

Carter came to life in the second quarter with 12 points as the Nets
cut Toronto's lead to eight points several times. But a three by
Calderon with a minute left and a pair of free throws by Kris Humphries
sent the Raptors into the dressing room with a 61-47 halftime lead.

A Bosh layup put Toronto up by 18 points early in the third, but New
Jersey responded with an 18-8 run to cut the home team's lead to six
points with just over two minutes to go in the quarter. Bargnani
drained a three with eight seconds left and Toronto led 76-85 with a
quarter left.


NOTES: The Raptors host defending league champion Boston Celtics
on Sunday, then are home to Charlotte and Atlanta. . . The Raptors were
4-0 against the Nets at home in the regular-season before Friday. . .
Tre Armstrong, a judge on So You Think You Can Dance Canada, had a
front-row seat. . . Buffalo Bills receiver Lee Evans caught a pass from
The Raptor during a timeout, and then autographed the ball and tossed
it up into the stands.