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Bosh, Raptors look to bounce back from disappointing loss

Jan 15, 2007 - 3:19 PM Toronto (17-21) at Philadelphia (10-27) 2:00 pm EST

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Chris Bosh and the Toronto Raptors came within a second of beating the NBA's top team. They hope to have an easier time with one of the league's worst squads.

The Raptors look to bounce back from a disappointing loss when they visit the lowly Philadelphia 76ers on Monday.

Despite owning a 15-point lead in the third quarter Sunday, Toronto faltered down the stretch of a 97-96 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, who improved to an NBA-best 31-8.

The Raptors' leading scorer and rebounder, Bosh delivered another outstanding performance before making a crucial mental error down the stretch, getting caught out of position to allow Dallas' Josh Howard to make the game-winning layup.

Bosh scored 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds while T.J. Ford added 16 points and eight assists for Toronto, which fell into a virtual tie with New Jersey (16-20) for first place in the Atlantic Division.

Since stumbling to a 2-8 start this season, the Raptors have gone 15-13 to climb back into contention in the weak Atlantic Division.

Toronto is 5-2 against division opponents and looks to improve that mark Monday against a Philadelphia team which owns the worst record in the Eastern Conference and the second-worst in the entire league.

The 76ers have dropped five of their last six games and hope to rebound from Saturday's 89-83 loss at Charlotte.

Willie Green scored 19 points Samuel Dalembert hauled in 15 boards for Philadelphia, which has won six of its last nine games vs. Toronto. The Raptors posted a 106-104 victory in the only other meeting between the clubs this season on November 8.