Bosh, Lee duke it out, but Raptors snag 4th win in row

By Adam Zagoria, for NBA.com
Posted Thursday January 28, 2010 11:48PM

NEW YORK (NBA.com exclusive) -- Chris Bosh on Thursday was named a reserve for the NBA All-Star Game in Dallas and David Lee was left off the team.

Part of the rationale for excluding Lee despite his gaudy statistics seemed to be that the Knicks are under .500, while the Raptors have a winning mark.

As if to drive that point home, Bosh put up 27 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Raptors to a 106-104 victory over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

"I've been in that [losing record] situation before," Bosh said. "I think they probably gave Al [Horford of the Atlanta Hawks] the slight go-ahead but they're two fantastic players and the sad thing about it is somebody had to be left out and unfortunately it was David. But he's having a very good career and I hope that doesn't take anything from what he's done so far."

Lee put up yet another double-double with a game-high 29 points and 18 rebounds, scoring New York's final points on a putback off a Bosh block to make it 105-104 with 9.9 seconds remaining.

Jarrett Jack made 1-of-2 free throws to extend the Toronto lead to 106-104 with 7.3 seconds left.

The Knicks (18-27) had a chance to tie or win the game after calling a 20-second timeout with 7 seconds remaining.

The plan was to get the ball to Nate Robinson for a jump shot off a screen by Lee, but Jack was face-guarding Robinson and Danilo Gallinari (18 points) made a wobbly pass to Al Harrington instead.

Harrington, who scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half, had come through with some big shots down the stretch but he has been bothered by a sore knee.

On the final play he drove the paint and put up a shot that caromed off the backboard and didn't fall. He was whistled for an offensive foul on Jack and the game ended with the Raptors (25-22) winning their fourth straight.

"I was just the last resort and when I got it my leg killed me and I had no brakes," said Harrington. "I couldn't stop the pull-up so I just tried to make the play and obviously got called for a charge."

The Knicks led by as many as 16 points in the first half and held a 102-97 lead with under two minutes to play.

Yet Toronto closed the game on a 9-2 run, getting a critical driving bucket from Bosh when he took Wilson Chandler off the dribble to put Toronto up 105-102 with 15.9 seconds left.

Had Jared Jeffries been in the game at that juncture, he would've been guarding Bosh. The 6-foot-11 Jeffries is the Knicks' best defender.

But Jeffries left the game in the first quarter with a hyperextended right knee. He said he was hit again on the knee during the first quarter but "it's been sore" for "about a week and a half, two weeks." He will undergo an MRI Friday morning.

"It's just getting worse and I want to see what's going on with my knee and why it keeps swelling up," Jeffries said.

The Knicks cannot afford to lose Jeffries for any length of time.

"It affected us because of his length and his ability to help," Lee said of Jeffries. "We didn't help a whole lot on Bosh in the second half...but he would've been another guy that could've guarded Turkoglu as well."

Hedo Turkoglu slammed the Knicks for 26 points, including four straight to bring them within 102-101.

"Tonight I was able to get the ball and be more aggressive. I go through the motions and still try to do my best and help the team win," Turkoglu said.

Had Lee been selected to the All-Star Game, he would have been the first Knick since Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell in 2001 to be so honored.

Instead, Bosh will play in Dallas and the Raptors have the inside track on an Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Still, Lee said he respects Bosh and had no added motivation to beat Bosh because of the All-Star voting.

"I think I have a lot to prove, as well as our team does," Lee said. "And we're just going to do our best to get wins. It was a lot of motivation for me to get a win, not to play a good game."

Lee can't do anything about his All-Star snub, but he can help his team win more games.

"We have two games on the road against sub-.500 teams [Washington and Minnesota] that we need to go and take care of right now," Lee said of this weekend's games. "Toronto is an above-.500 team that's one of the best teams in the East. We had our chances tonight and we let one slip away."

• Raptors: DeRozan, Evans
• Knicks: Curry, Milicic, Mobley

• Raptors: --
• Knicks: Robinson

• Lead Changes: 16
• Times Tied: 9

• Arena: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• Officials: #48 Scott Foster, #30 Tony Brown, #28 Tommy Nunez Jr.
• Attendance: 18828
• Duration: 2:20