Raptors stay alive by edging Nets

"Boki is a 43 percent three-point shooter, let’s just say a good three-point shooter and he was wide open and I’ll roll with that any time and I told him that if that play happened again I’m going to make that same play because he’s wide open," explained Carter.

Game 6 is Friday at Continental Airlines Arena.

"We came through tonight but we have to make sure we do a good job of starting the game off the right way in New Jersey," said Chris Bosh.

Richard Jefferson, who scored 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting, converted one of his field goals on a driving layup with 50 seconds to play, drawing the Nets within 95-91.

Jose Calderon then lost the ball and Carter drained one of his four three- pointers to trim the deficit to 95-94. Carter scored 30 points with five rebounds on the contest.

Calderon scored a career-high 25 points off the bench, playing the majority of the minutes after T.J. Ford left the game near the end of the first quarter with a stinger suffered during a loose ball battle with Carter.

Calderon also injured himself late in the fourth and was taken to the area hospital after the game for diagnostic tests. Ford’s tests came back negative, but he said afterward that he still has a tingly sensation in both arms.

Bosh, plagued by foul trouble while scoring just 11 points with eight rebounds, then calmly sank of pair of free throws with 25.5 ticks left and Mikki Moore tipped in a Carter miss on the other end.

Bosh only drained 1-of-2 from the line, leaving the door open for overtime or a possible series-clinching New Jersey victory. Carter first passed the ball to Jason Kidd before getting it back near the top of the key. He penetrated to his right, drawing two defenders, and finding Nachbar for the three.

Kidd had a rough night, not scoring until the 7:26 mark of the third quarter and ending with 11 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists.

Anthony Parker and Andrea Bargnani scored 18 points apiece for the Raptors, who improved to 6-3 in playoff elimination games.

Toronto, which had been outscored 63-34 in the first quarter during the previous two games, came out strong to open Game 5. A 15-1 spurt gave Toronto a comfortable 20-6 advantage in the early going.

Three straight jumpers — a Parker mid-range jumper, a Calderon fadeaway and a Bargnani three-pointer — staked the Raptors to the comfortable edge.

The Raptors led 33-13 after the first quarter.

New Jersey scored the first seven points of the second quarter to pull within 33-20, but Toronto kept its foot on the gas. Bargnani’s jumper and Luke Jackson’s only two points of the game on a pair of free throws gave the Raptors a 59-42 lead at intermission and their franchise high for first half points in a playoff game.

Toronto led 79-67 after three stanzas, but the Nets didn’t go away, embarking on a 10-0 spurt early in the fourth. Kidd’s three started it and Carter’s layup pulled New Jersey within 85-81 with 6:52 to go.

Game Notes

New Jersey has dropped three of its last four with the chance to eliminate its opponent from the playoffs...Toronto converted 25-of-29 from the charity stripe, including an 8-of-8 night for Parker...New Jersey never led in a game that featured just two ties...Morris Peterson had 17 points in the victory...Nachbar missed all seven of his three-point attempts...Attendance 20,511.