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Bosh, Humphries lead Raptors past Mavericks

Dec 13, 2007 - 4:07 AM By Brian Herman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

TORONTO (Ticker) -- The Toronto Raptors used their deep bench to help blow past the Dallas Mavericks, 92-76, at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday night.

Chris Bosh led five players in double figures with 17 points and Kris Humphries posted his first double-double of the season with 16 and 12 rebounds off the bench for the Raptors, who beat the Mavericks for the first time in nine meetings.

"A win against this team (Dallas) is a big win for us," Humphries said. "It sends a message that we're a tough team and we can beat anyone."

The Raptors had blown a 24-point lead in Dallas, losing 105-99 in their previous meeting on November 20. However, Toronto's bench outscored Dallas' reserves, 43-18, and keyed a pair of big runs in the second quarter to help pull away early in this one.

"My role is to come off the bench and give us some energy," Humphries said. "Considering how they came back on us in Dallas and stuck it to us we didn't want that to happen again."

Humphries scored six points during a 19-3 spurt, capped by Andrea Bargnani's three-point play, to give the Raptors a 36-19 lead with 8:13 left in the first half.

Jose Calderon made a 3-pointer with under two minutes left in the quarter, capping a 10-2 spurt to give the Raptors a 19-point lead en route to a 54-36 advantage at the break.

"That run was the key to the game," Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said. "Man, we just weren't very good and that's where they got control of the game and pretty much had control the rest of the way."

The Raptors' reserves, led by Humphries and Jason Kapono, outscored the Mavericks' bench, 21-6, in the first half, and Dallas shot just 37 percent (17-of-46) through the first two quarters.

"Kris (Humphries) was the MVP of the game tonight," Bosh said. "He crashed the boards, giving us a lot of second-chance points, and he was able to score some big buckets."

Dallas was able to cut the lead to single digits at 68-59 on a 3-pointer by Josh Howard with 45 seconds to play in the third quarter, but that would be the closest it would get.

The Raptors answered by going on a 12-1 run spanning the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth, capped by Humphries' layup to give the them a 20-point lead at 80-60 with 10:38 remaining.

Jason Terry scored 21 points and Howard finished with 19 for the Mavericks, who were held to their lowest point total of the season.

"Give them credit, they are a good team," Terry said. "They were amped up because T.J. (Ford) was out, be we still have to come out and take care of business. They outworked us all night."

One day after suffering a bad fall on a flagrant foul in Atlanta, the Toronto point guard Ford joined his teammates on the bench in street clothes to the roaring approval of the home crowd.

His status is listed as day-to-day as he awaits further results from medical tests.

"Going through what we went through the last 24 hours and to come out as focused as we were, says a lot," Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said.