Raptors forward Jermaine O'Neal scooped up the game ball as the final buzzer sounded, not to remember a victory over Indiana, his former team, but to give new coach Jay Triano a memento from his first win.
Jason Kapono scored a season-high 25 points, Chris Bosh added 21 points and 10 rebounds and the Raptors snapped a five-game losing streak with a 101-88 victory over the Pacers on Wednesday night. ''That was very important,'' said O'Neal, who scored 10 points. ''Sometimes when you lose four or five games in a row you lose confidence as a team. Our team, you could kind of tell it was wavering a little bit. We were trying, it just wasn't happening. Now we can build off this. It's a little bit different building off a win than building off a loss.''
The victory was Toronto's first in four tries since Triano took over for the fired Sam Mitchell on Dec. 3.
''I'm really happy for our guys because they've tried to adjust and make changes to what they've been doing,'' Triano said. ''I think we're slowly getting there.''
Starting in place of the injured Anthony Parker, Kapono went 11-for-16 and made three three-pointers.
''That was a heck of a shooting exhibition by him,'' Indiana's Troy Murphy said.
Jamario Moon also had a season high with 17 points for Toronto, including a putback dunk on O'Neal's miss in the third quarter. Joey Graham had 12 points, and Jose Calderon added 11 points and 14 assists.
''Their perimeter guys outplayed out perimeter guys by a huge margin,'' Pacers coach Jim O'Brien said. ''Certainly, Kapono got hot early, but I think their perimeter guys just murdered our perimeter guys.''
Elsewhere in the NBA, it was: Knicks 121, Nets 109; Cavaliers 101 76ers 93; Grizzlies 108 Thunder 102; Hornets 105 Bobcats 89; Spurs 95 Hawks 89; Warriors 119, Bucks 96; Nuggets 116, Timberwolves 105; Lakers 115, Suns 110.
At Toronto, Danny Granger led Indiana with 22 points, Murphy had 20 points and 20 rebounds, and Marquis Daniels finished with 21 points. The Pacers have lost four straight and nine of 11.
''Right now it's tough because everybody is trying, it's just not clicking,'' guard T.J. Ford said. ''We just have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what it's going to take.''
It was the first meeting between the teams since a six-player trade in June that saw O'Neal join Toronto in exchange for Ford and Rasho Nesterovic.
Ford, who received a mixture of cheers and boos during pre-game introductions, was held to four points before being replaced by Jarrett Jack with just over 5 minutes remaining.
''They were determined not to let me come in here and get a win,'' Ford said. ''They played with a lot of energy and we just couldn't match it.''
O'Neal said he was conscious of not letting his Indiana past interfere with his preparation.
''You just try to keep your friendships for after the game and don't talk about too much other stuff before the game,'' O'Neal said.
