
With the rough reception he received at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday, Chris Bosh is actually looking forward to hitting the road.
The Dallas Mavericks came back from a double-digit deficit and beat the Raptors 96-86, and just a couple of games after Toronto fans cheered Bosh with chants of ''M-V-P,'' they booed the Raptors captain for his sagging performance. The Raptors open a six-game road trip Friday, and Bosh admitted he'll breathe easier once they're gone.
''Shoot, if I want to get booed, I'll go on the road,'' Bosh said. ''It's really tense here right now. When you're down three points at home and you're getting booed, that's kind of disheartening. Whether the crowd knows it or not, they play a big part in the game.''
Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry scored 27 points apiece to top Dallas (14-10), while Josh Howard, in his second game back after missing 11 with a sprained ankle, added 20 points.
After the game, Raptors coach Jay Triano could do little but shake his head about his team's meltdown.
''Honestly, if I knew I'd change it,'' Triano said. ''I coached the same the first quarter as I did the last three when we were a disaster. I think we run a lot better, we have a lot better energy early in the game. I don't know if we just run out of gas, or we just don't create flow, or if we don't make the right adjustments. . .''
Jermaine O'Neal had 19 points to lead the Raptors (10-15), who were outrebounded for the 14th game in a row.
Jamario Moon finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Bosh had 12 points and nine boards, and Jose Calderon finished with 11 points and 10 assists.
Elsewhere in the NBA it was: Boston 88 Atlanta 85; Utah 103 New Jersey 92; Cleveland 93 Minnesota 70; Philadelphia 93 Milwaukee 88; Indiana 127 Golden State 120; Detroit 88 Washington 74; Chicago 115 Los Angeles Clippers 109; and New Orleans 90 San Antonio 83.
At Toronto, the night started out fine for the Raptors, who raced out to a 13-point lead in the first quarter. But reminiscent of Monday's 94-87 loss to New Jersey, their game went downhill from there, and by the time Nowitzki drained a three-pointer to put the Mavs up 67-59 late in the third quarter, the disgruntled Air Canada Centre crowd loudly booed the Raptors.
Dallas led 69-63 with one quarter left. The Raptors managed to cut the Mavericks' lead to two points on a basket by Bosh two-and-a-half minutes into the fourth, but Dallas controlled the game the rest of the way, stretching its lead to 13 points on a three-pointer by Terry with 1:26 left to play. Baskets by Calderon and Jason Kapono made the score more respectable, but the game was already well out of reach.
''Are we not in good enough shape to play 48 minutes?'' Triano said. ''I hope that's not the case this late in the season, but maybe it's not a conditioning factor but it's that they get worn down. The last three games, we started off extremely well, scoring and running and we've got great flow, and then all of a sudden it just stops.''
Some of the Mavericks players said they could sense Toronto's lack of confidence, and they capitalized.
''If any team sees guys hanging their heads, that kind of gives the other team a little more momentum,'' said Dallas forward Devean George. ''When you saw guys going 'Not again' that kind of feeds into the other team. We all kind of sensed that. They were really frustrated with things weren't going right and we started making a run.''
It was the final home game for Toronto until the team hosts Denver on New Year's Eve.