Chris Bosh

Jason Richardson scored 27 points and Earl Boykins converted a three-point play after stealing the ball from T.J. Ford in the final minute of the Charlotte Bobcats' 105-100 victory over the Raptors in Toronto last night. Chris Bosh had 23 points for the Raptors, who could have clinched a playoff berth with a victory. Toronto could still seal a spot if New Jersey loses or Washington wins in later games. The Raptors (38-38) are hardly playing like a team poised to make a strong playoff run. Toronto has lost three of four and 14 of 20, and fans booed the Raptors at the final buzzer.

There were nights early in the season when the Raptors' Rasho Nesterovic didn't play at all. Rather than sulk postgame, the veteran center would head upstairs to the practice gym and run. Now, with All-Star forward Chris Bosh sidelined with a knee injury, that perseverance is paying off for Nesterovic. Nesterovic scored 17 points and led host Toronto to a 114-106 win over Seattle yesterday, the Raptors' fifth consecutive game without Bosh. "Rasho is a pro," Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said.

LeBron James returned from a first-half ankle injury to score 26 and become the youngest player in NBA history to reach the 10,000-point milestone, but the Boston Celtics got 22 from Ray Allen to beat the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers, 92-87, last night. James missed the last 4:24 of the first half due to the ankle injury, but X-rays were negative and he was back for the start of the second. Cavaliers coach Mike Brown was ejected with 42 seconds left in the third quarter after he had to be restrained by his assistants while arguing a foul call against James.

Marcus Williams, in his first game as Jason Kidd's temporary replacement at point guard, combined with Richard Jefferson for New Jersey's first 10 points of overtime, and the Nets beat the Chicago Bulls, 110-102, last night. Before the game, it was learned that Minneapolis police are investigating a nightclub incident involving Jefferson. Sgt. Jesse Garcia says Jefferson allegedly put his hands on a man's neck until he lost consciousness after the man asked the uninvited player to leave a private party that he was hosting at the posh Graves 601 hotel before dawn on Jan. 27. Garcia says that when police finish investigating, evidence will be presented to the county attorney's office, which will decide if a criminal charge is warranted.

The Toronto Raptors didn't have to wait long for another shot at Washington, and they certainly took advantage of it. Andrea Bargnani scored 19 points, Chris Bosh had 16 and Toronto used a big second quarter and a flurry of three-pointers to beat the visiting Wizards last night, 122-83. The 39-point margin of victory matched the biggest in team history, a 112-73 win over Atlanta on April 12, 2002. "They blew us out of the water," Washington guard DeShawn Stevenson said.

Boston coach Doc Rivers looked at the box score and shook his head at the shooting percentages Toronto had just compiled. "Fifty-eight percent [from the floor]; 71 percent from the three; 100 percent from the foul line. At least the foul line wasn't guarded," Rivers said after the visiting Raptors shot 15-for-21 from three-point range last night to beat the Celtics, 114-112. "Half the guys in our league couldn't shoot 15-for-21 if they were in a gym by themselves," he said.

The 76ers, who have had trouble winning at home and winning anywhere against Toronto, reversed those trends last night after playing one of their most impressive quarters of the season. They scored the final nine points of the second quarter to go into halftime leading by 42-40, then broke the game open with a 34-16 third quarter en route to a 99-95 win over the Raptors at the Wachovia Center. "We picked up our energy in the third quarter, and it was good to turn into another gear," said Willie Green, who scored a team-high 23 points.

The Chicago Bulls are downplaying a testy exchange between rookie Joakim Noah and Ben Wallace. "I know all about it. A couple of words passed back and forth between teammates. That's all it was," coach Jim Boylan said before the Bulls beat host Miami, 126-96, last night, handing the Heat its 11th straight loss. The two had a spat during the Bulls' loss to Orlando on Tuesday, but by yesterday, neither wanted to talk about it. Noah had a confrontation with assistant coach Ron Adams in practice Friday and sat out the next two games for disciplinary reasons.

Troy Murphy's most important assist didn't show up in the box score. Indiana's Murphy and Chicago's Tyrus Thomas were ejected from last night's game after an altercation. Indiana used it as motivation in a 117-102 win over the visiting Bulls. "We thank Murph for that," Indiana forward Jermaine O'Neal said. "We appreciate Murph getting thrown out of the game, getting us going. " Kareem Rush scored 22 points to lead the Pacers in a wild game that featured five technical fouls, besides the two ejections.

Knicks coach Isiah Thomas said yesterday that you have to put his team's 6-13 record in perspective. "You look at our conference, there's a lot of teams with 10 or 13 losses, and just a lot of teams in the situation we're in right now," he said yesterday after practice. "Got to keep working to get yourself out of it. " New York, last in the Atlantic Division, hosts Dallas tonight, possibly without Stephon Marbury. Marbury didn't practice yesterday and has struggled through two games since his father's death.