Murray’s Basket a Little Too Late

Tracy Murray’s game-tying three-point basket was ruled a split-second too late, giving the Minnesota Timberwolves their 10th consecutive victory, a 108-105 win over the Toronto Raptors Saturday at Toronto.

After Toronto’s Alvin Williams drove to the basket with a few seconds left, the ball was passed to Murray, whose three-pointer sent the crowd into a frenzy. The officials then met and waved it off. Replays showed that Murray’s shot left his hand a moment late.

“It was 50-50,” said Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett, who scored 30 points.

Asked if he’d like to see instant replay in the NBA, Garnett said: “For tonight, no.”

Wally Szczerbiak had 19 points, and LaPhonso Ellis had 18 for the Timberwolves.

“When we got the call I said, ‘Guys let’s get off the floor and get out of here,’ ” Szczerbiak said. “I think instant replay would be good for the NBA to consider for next year. The call that was made in the Vancouver-Laker game was clearly wrong, and here I don’t know if the call was right or wrong, but it would be nice to get it right.”

Toronto Coach Lenny Wilkens said the Raptors were robbed.

“I’m angry,” Wilkens said. “When I looked at the tape, the clock above the basket showed 0.1 seconds when the ball was in the air.”

Antonio Davis led Toronto with 25 points and 13 rebounds.

“If I’m an official, I see the game going into overtime because it was too close to call,” Davis said. “The refs are human and they make mistakes, but it is hard to swallow.”

Vince Carter, playing with a sore left knee, scored 19 points but left the game with 1:15 remaining in the third quarter and did not return.

“I wanted to cut Vince’s minutes,” Wilkens said. “His knee is fine.”

Denver 105, Washington 100--Nick Van Exel scored Denver’s final eight points at Washington to help the Nuggets end their three-game losing streak.

Van Exel, who finished with 23 points and 11 assists, led four Denver starters who had double-doubles.

Guard Chris Whitney led Washington with 24 points.

Detroit 88, Cleveland 81--Joe Smith scored 22 points to help lift the Pistons in an overtime victory at Cleveland.

Dana Barros scored 17 points for the Pistons, who outscored Cleveland, 9-2, in overtime and won for the sixth time in 22 games.

Detroit guard Jerry Stackhouse had 21 points--18 in the first half--but he made only seven of 34 shots.

Ben Wallace had 14 rebounds and five blocks for the Pistons.

Dallas 101, Golden State 95--Dirk Nowitzki had 23 points and nine rebounds and Howard Eisley had 20 points and eight assists while starting at point guard for the injured Steve Nash to lead the Mavericks at Dallas.

After trailing by as many as 23 points in the fourth quarter, Golden State made a late run, pulling to 99-91 with 1:25 left on rookie Marc Jackson’s three-point play. But Nowitzki made two free throws with 1:08 left to close out the Warriors.

Hubert Davis and Christian Laettner added 15 points each for the Mavericks, who won for the sixth time in eight games.

Orlando 96, Atlanta 84--Tracy McGrady had 26 points and Darrell Armstrong added 22 for the Magic at Orlando.

Orlando has won four consecutive games, while Atlanta has dropped three of four.

McGrady tied a career high with 15 rebounds and added five assists, five steals and two blocked shots. He made 10 of 12 free throws.

Jason Terry led Atlanta with 22 points.

Milwaukee 104, Indiana 85--Sam Cassell, upset about being left off the all-star roster, had 23 points, nine assists and six rebounds in 27 minutes to lead the Bucks at Milwaukee.

Cassell made 10 of 15 shots before taking a seat late in the third quarter with the Bucks comfortably ahead by 25.

“I don’t think I will ever make the All-Star team,” Cassell said. “I feel I’m the 21st century version of Rod Strickland. What is it? People don’t like me? I don’t care if people don’t like me. I know one thing, I’m a winner, no matter what team I’m on we’re going to win, we’re going to get to the playoffs.”

Jalen Rose led the Pacers with 15 points.

Reggie Miller scored only 10 for Indiana and all of them came in a three-minute span of the first quarter.

San Antonio 90, Houston 88--Tim Duncan scored 28 points with 11 rebounds and the Spurs made seven free throws in the final 1:35 at San Antonio.

It was the Spurs’ sixth consecutive victory and 12th in a row against the Rockets.

Duncan had his 34th double-double of the season, tying him for the league lead with Denver’s Antonio McDyess.

San Antonio guard Derek Anderson barely missed a triple-double, scoring 15 points with nine rebounds and nine assists.

Utah 111, Seattle 91--Karl Malone scored 28 points on 12-of-12 shooting and Donyell Marshall added 22 points to lead the Jazz at Salt Lake City.

John Stockton had 15 assists in the 1,304th game of his 17-year career, moving him past Elvin Hayes for fifth place on the NBA’s all-time list in games.

Bryon Russell, making his first start in almost a month, scored 21 points.

Rashard Lewis had 19 points on nine-of-13 shooting to lead the SuperSonics.

Seattle’s Gary Payton did not play. He stayed home to rest a strained abdominal muscle sustained in Thursday’s victory over Chicago.

Vancouver 91, Chicago 84--Mike Bibby had 26 points and nine assists at Vancouver for the Grizzlies, who handed the Bulls a franchise-record 14th consecutive loss. Shareef Abdur-Rahim added 21 points and 13 rebounds.

Bull rookie Marcus Fizer scored a career-high 26 points.