Jermaine O'Neal gave the Toronto Raptors a chance to end their ugly losing streak early, and captain Chris Bosh made sure they didn't waste it.
Bosh scored 18 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter and the Toronto Raptors beat the Los Angeles Clippers 97-75 on Monday night to snap a five-game losing streak. ''If you look at the lineup we had in there, Chris was going to be the focal point,'' interim Raptors coach Jay Triano said. ''We didn't really have a lot of points on the floor, but I said, 'It doesn't matter. We're giving the ball to Chris, and they can't stop him.'''
Zach Randolph had 19 points and eight rebounds for Los Angeles during a foul-plagued 28 minutes, and left the game with 10:44 to play after bruising his left knee in a collision with Jake Voskuhl on a layup by Bosh 16 seconds earlier.
''That was tough,'' Baron Davis said. ''It shocked everybody that he was walking off the court. He's our horse. He's the guy we're going to go to on the block, so we want him to have the ball because he scores on anybody and he makes good decisions. So any time you lose your horse, your go-to guy, it's tough.''
O'Neal added 23 points and nine rebounds for Toronto. Many of O'Neal's points came in the first three quarters and helped the Raptors set the tone early.
''When we started, we talked about the process,'' Triano said. ''If you look at the last couple of games and the way we're playing defence right now, we are making progress.''
Rockets 114 Nets 91
At East Rutherford, N.J., Yao Ming won the showdown with fellow Chinese Olympian Yi Jianlian and Aaron Brooks tied his career-high with 22 points as Houston won their season-high fourth straight game.
Lakers 105 Grizzlies 96
At Memphis, Tenn., Kobe Bryant scored 36 points and keyed a late rally to help the Los Angeles Lakers snap a two-game losing streak with a victory over the Grizzlies.
Magic 113 Warriors 81
At Orlando, Fla., Jameer Nelson scored 22 points going 9-for-9 from the field to help the Magic rout Golden State.
Spurs 101 Kings 85
At San Anotnio, Tony Parker committed five turnovers in the first 10 minutes but overcame the rough start by scoring 18 points to lead the Spurs to a victory over reeling Sacramento.
Nuggets 97 Trail Blazers 89
At Denver, Nene scored 19 points and had 11 rebounds, Chauncey Billups added 19 points and 10 assists, and the Nuggets overcame the absence of Carmelo Anthony to beat Portland.
