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Nets-Raptors Preview

Feb 3, 2010 - 5:06 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

New Jersey (4-42) at Toronto (26-22), 7:00 p.m. EDT

The Toronto Raptors had one winning streak snapped in their last game, but they have a good chance to extend another in their next contest.

Coming off their first loss in two weeks, the Raptors try to bounce back with a sixth consecutive home victory Wednesday night when they face the lowly New Jersey Nets.

Chris Bosh scored 35 points and Andrea Bargnani added a career-high 34 on Tuesday, but Toronto (26-23) struggled on the defensive end in a 130-115 loss at Indiana that ended its five-game winning streak. The Raptors allowed the Pacers to shoot 52.4 percent, record their highest point total of the season and salvage a split of a home-and-home series.

"The reason we came out the way we did, I don't know exactly why," Toronto guard Jarrett Jack said. "We just didn't play our type of game at all."

The loss was the sixth in 21 games for the Raptors, who are fifth in the Eastern Conference and have a chance to get back on track in the opener of a very favorable four-game homestand.

Toronto has won 11 of 12 at home and averaged 109.0 points on 51.3 percent shooting during its five-game winning streak at Air Canada Centre. That doesn't bode well for New Jersey (4-43), which is 1-23 on the road with 11 straight losses since beating Chicago 103-101 on Dec. 8.

After this contest, the Raptors host Sacramento, Philadelphia and Memphis - teams that have combined to go 20-52 on the road this season.

In order to take advantage of this stretch, however, Toronto must improve after committing 16 turnovers and being outscored 41-21 in bench points against the Pacers.

Bosh continues to play well, averaging 28.0 points and 15.8 rebounds over his last four games. Bosh and Bargnani each had 16 points in the Raptors' 118-95 home win over the Nets on Dec. 18.

Toronto forward Hedo Turkoglu had 14 points with seven assists in that contest but could miss a second consecutive game Wednesday with a broken bone under his eye.

Regardless of who's in the Toronto lineup, the Nets will likely face a major hurdle as they try to avoid a fourth consecutive defeat. New Jersey concluded a 1-3 homestand with a 97-93 loss to Detroit on Tuesday.

After New Jersey lost by two points to Washington and four to Philadelphia in its previous two games, Detroit's Tayshaun Prince threw down a tiebreaking dunk with 45.6 seconds left to help hand the Nets a third consecutive close loss.

"We have to focus on those last 3 minutes," said guard Devin Harris, who had 24 points and a season-high 14 assists after missing four games with a wrist injury. "We're getting to that point now. We're getting stops but we have to get good looks on the other end."

Harris is averaging 15.6 points and 6.2 assists while being plagued by injuries that have limited him to 32 games. He was held to eight points and 4 of 12 shooting against Toronto earlier this season after scoring a combined 45 points in his previous two contests versus the Raptors.

The Nets announced that Del Harris resigned as assistant coach after Tuesday's loss.