NEW YORK – Rafer Alston banked in a 3-pointer to start a 13-0 run midway through the fourth quarter, and the Toronto Raptors sent the New York Knicks to their 10th loss in 11 games with a 105-93 victory Tuesday night.
Chris Bosh scored 29 points, four shy of his career high, and Jalen Rose added 25 for the Raptors, who trailed by as many as 19 before making a comeback against the uninspired Knicks. The 13-0 run gave Toronto a 91-85 lead, and the Knicks never challenged again before being booed off the court.
Stephon Marbury scored all 22 of his points in the second half, and Maurice Taylor added 17 for the Knicks. New York center Kurt Thomas did not score in 26 minutes before fouling out.
The Raptors, who had lost four of their previous five games, exerted more effort than the Knicks over the final 12 minutes as the all-but-meaningless game was decided. Both teams have already been eliminated from postseason contention.
Taylor was 7-for-8 from the field in the second quarter to help New York go ahead 54-35 before Bosh ended the half with a 3-pointer, his third of the season. Toronto opened the third quarter with a 22-4 run to take a 60-58 lead before Marbury scored his first points of the game on a driving bank shot to tie it at 60 with 4:02 left in the period.
Marbury knocked down three 3-pointers in the first 41/2 minutes of the fourth quarter to help the Knicks to an 85-78 lead before Alston banked in his momentum-turning 3.
Spurs 95, Trail Blazers 89
SAN ANTONIO – Manu Ginobili scored 30 points in 34 minutes and Nazr Mohammed added 14 rebounds – 12 in the first half – as the San Antonio Spurs clinched the Southwest Division title Tuesday night with a 95-89 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
It’s the fourth division title in the past five years for the Spurs. San Antonio won the Midwest Division title before the league realigned prior to this season.
Portland has lost 15 of its last 16 games and 21 of its past 23.
The Trail Blazers are 3-19 under coach Kevin Pritchard who replaced the fired Maurice Cheeks on March 2.
The Spurs have won five of six games. They are 8-4 without Tim Duncan, who sprained his right ankle and hasn’t played since March 20.
San Antonio never trailed Portland and went on a 15-2 run over a 5:54 stretch late in the second quarter to lead 48-30 at halftime.
Portland cut San Antonio’s lead to seven points with 34 seconds left in the third quarter but could not get any closer until Joel Pryzbilla made an uncontested layup with .9 seconds left.
The Spurs broke open a one-point game late in the first quarter and turned it into an eight-point lead at the end of the quarter after Portland forward Darius Miles left the game with a sore neck.
Before he left the game, Miles was 4-of-6 from the field and scored eight points in the previous 3:26.
Miles, who was grabbing at the back of his neck, didn’t return to the game until 6:38 into the third quarter with the Spurs ahead by 15 points. Miles’ free throw with 6:56 left cut San Antonio’s lead to seven.
Miles led the Trail Blazers with 18 points in 19 minutes.
The Spurs outrebounded Portland 20-10 in the first quarter.
Notes:The Spurs can tie their franchise-best record (62-20 in 1994-95) if they win their remaining four games. … Trail Blazers guard Derek Anderson missed his 10th straight game with a sore back. … Spurs guard Tony Parker scored 62 points and had 21 assists in the two previous games, but he scored eight points and had five assists against the Trail Blazers.
AP-ES-04-12-05 2319EDT
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