Raptors Stay Alive as Nets' Comeback Falls Short

Bostjan Nachbar had the series in his hands with two seconds on the clock Tuesday night in Toronto. The Nets were down two and Vince Carter had just kicked it out to Boki on the right wing beyond the arc. He let it fly, but the shot was off to the left, and the Raptors escaped with a victory to send the series back to New Jersey for Game 6 Friday night. Toronto came out on fire in front of their home crowd, running out to a 20-point lead at the end of one. The Nets got back in it after that, but they still trailed by 14 with less than nine minutes to go in the game. They then went on a 14-2 run to cut it to two, but they could never draw even and their first chance to take the lead was their last: Nachbar's open three after Carter drove the lane and was surrounded by Raptor defenders. Nachbar missed all seven of his attempts from beyond the arc. VC led all scorers with 30 points, Richard Jefferson added 23 and Jason Kidd finished with 11 points, seven boards and 10 assists. In foul trouble most of the night, Chris Bosh was not much of factor, but Jose Calderon (25 points, eight assists), Andrea Bargnani (18 points) and Morris Peterson (17 points) were.

• Boxscore - NBA.com
• Raptors Weather Nets Run to Win Game 5 - AP
• Game Highlights (Video) - NBA.com
• Postgame Press Conferences (Video) - NBA.com
• Raptors Scrape and Claw to Play Another Day - John Eligon - New York Times
• Bargnani delivers powerful prescription - Michael Grange - Toronto Globe & Mail
• Holding Court: Game 5 - Scott Colbourne - Toronto Globe & Mail
• Raptors stave off elimination - Jeff Blair - Toronto Globe & Mail
• Raptors stay alive to send record crowd home happy - Matthew Sekeres - CanWest News Service
• Calderon pours in 25 points to lead Raptors - Lori Ewing - Canadian Press
• Delayed At The Border - Joe - Joe Netsfan
• Nets go to Plan B and suffer an 'L' - Dave D'Alessandro - Star-Ledger
• Rally killer - Fred Kerber - New York Post
• Nets cant rap it up - Julian Garcia - New York Daily News
• Raptors' Mitchell May Be Prize of the Off-Season - John Hollinger - New York Sun
• Nets' comeback falls short - Al Iannazzone - The Record
• Nets notebook - Al Iannazzone - The Record
• Raptors keep their heads above water - Bruce Arthur - National Post
• Battlin' Raps stay alive - Doug Smith - Toronto Star
• Nothin' But (Inter)Net - Doug Smith - Toronto Star
• Mitchell charts a winner - Dave Feschuk - Toronto Star
• Mitchell's new lineup pays huge dividends - Doug Smith - Toronto Star
• Whew, that was close - Steve Buffery - Toronto Sun
• Peterson comes up big - Mike Ganter - Toronto Sun
• Photo Gallery: New Jersey Nets vs. Toronto Raptors - Adrian Wyld - Canadian Press
• Five Star: Vince Carter (Video) - NBA.com
• NBA Dunk of the Night: Vince Carter (Video) - NBA.com
• NBA Steal of the Night: Jason Kidd (Video) - NBA.com
• NBA Assist of the Night: Jason Kidd (Video) - NBA.com
• Raps hold on to stay alive - John Kernaghan - Hamilton Spectator
• Young Raptors may be out of luck for Game 6 - Mike Kahn - FOX Sports