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  Sunday, Mar. 19 3:00pm ET
Slam caps Carter's 37-point effort
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

TORONTO (AP) -- Vince Carter, roughed up by the Houston Rockets all game, was the one in charge at the end.

Carter's power dunk with 1.6 seconds remaining Sunday gave Toronto a 100-98 win over Houston, the Raptors' 11th victory in their last 12 games.

Vince Carter
Toronto's Vince Carter took this second-quarter spill but stood tall at game's end.

Carter, who had 37 points, took an inbounds pass from Tracy McGrady with 11 seconds left. Carter allowed about seven of those to tick away while he stood near the baseline, before blowing past Shandon Anderson for a dunk to deal Houston its seventh loss in a row.

"He took one dribble and jumped. There was no time to recover," said Anderson, who led Houston with 25 points. "He was pointing, pointing and pointing and then -- bam."

McGrady was impressed by his teammate.

"I've never seen anything like that," McGrady said. "It seems like once he gets past you, he goes up so strong, you got to get out of the way."

Carter, knocked to the floor twice earlier in the game, scowled after the winning play.

"When it happens there's a lot of anger," Carter said of the rough treatment from the Rockets. "You just have to let your game speak for yourself."

A Carter 3-pointer, which bounced on the rim six times before going in with 30 seconds remaining, gave the Raptors a 98-96 lead.

"I've never seen a ball bounce that many times," said Houston's Steve Francis, who finished with 16 points and seven assists.

Carter's driving layup though double coverage gave Toronto a 93-92 lead with 1:55 remaining. But Hakeem Olajuwon followed with a 10-foot jumper to put Houston ahead.

After Toronto's Antonio Davis missed a 12-foot jumper, and Kevin Willis missed a tip-in, McGrady put the ball in to give Toronto a 95-94 lead with just over a minute remaining. Olajuwon's six-foot jumper put Houston ahead 96-95, but Carter followed with his improbable 3-pointer.

"Only special players get those," Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich said.

Cuttino Mobley's finger-roll layup over Carter tied it at 98.

Francis was called for a flagrant foul when he clotheslined Carter in the second quarter.

"That was a real hard foul," McGrady said, "but it seems like every time he comes back from something like that he's a different man."

Carter was also knocked to the floor by Kelvin Cato in the fourth quarter.

"I feel like I've been through a car wreck," Carter said. "I have a little headache right now. You just have to play through it."

Kevin Willis had 19 points and 13 rebounds for Toronto.

Carter had 18 points and McGrady 12 as the Raptors led 52-40 at the half.

Game notes
With the loss, the Rockets (24-42) snapped their streak of consecutive non-losing seasons at 15. The Utah Jazz currently have a streak of 17 seasons. The record for consecutive non-losing seasons is 19, accomplished by the Boston Celtics from 1950-69. ... Before the game, fans booed Francis, who refused to play in Vancouver after the team drafted him. ... Antonio Davis, who missed the previous two games with a bruised right calf, had nine points in 15 minutes.

 


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RECAPS
LA Lakers 92
New York 85

Utah 92
New Jersey 88

Toronto 100
Houston 98

Detroit 101
Vancouver 99

Dallas 89
Atlanta 85

Philadelphia 89
Orlando 85

Minnesota 109
Milwaukee 82

Phoenix 99
Golden State 82