No All-Star Game for Injured Carter

The Toronto Raptors’ latest victory came at a high price.

Keon Clark scored six of his 17 points in overtime as the Raptors overcame the loss of Vince Carter to an injury and defeated the San Antonio Spurs, 80-74, Thursday night at Toronto.

Carter, the leading vote-getter for the NBA All-Star game for the third consecutive year, will sit out Sunday’s All-Star game and at least four Raptor games because of a left quadriceps strain.

Carter was injured while driving to the basket with 1:31 left in the second quarter. He is expected to be sidelined at least 10 days.

“This was definitely a team effort,” Clark said. “We have to play defense like we did tonight. If they can’t shoot, they can’t score.”

Tim Duncan had 22 points on six-for-29 shooting for the Spurs, who shot 24%.

“It was probably the worst game of my career,” Duncan said. “This one’s on me.”

Washington 108, Sacramento 101--Michael Jordan said this week that Popeye Jones “could take my place in the All-Star game.” Jones certainly put up All-Star numbers against the team with the best record in the league.

Jones survived foul trouble, made all eight of his shots from the field--including his first dunk of the season--and finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds at Washington as the Wizards sailed into the All-Star break with their biggest surprise yet.

Jones’ eighth double-double of the season, along with his defensive job on Chris Webber and Vlade Divac, combined with Richard Hamilton’s 33 points and Jordan’s 25 to put the Wizards five games above .500, their best record at the All-Star break in 23 years. They have won five in a row and seven of eight and their 26-21 record is a 14-win improvement over 12-35 after 47 games a year ago.

“This is the type of emotion I always envisioned about this team,” Jordan said, “where the young guys just feed off each other. I told everybody before the game: ‘We’ve got nothing to lose. Everybody expects us to lose by 25 anyway, so just go out there and have fun and play hard.’”

Jordan made 12 of 30 shots and had nine assists and six rebounds in 41 minutes.

The Kings came out flat at the end of a four-game trip, having traveled overnight after a victory at Boston. Webber returned to the lineup after sitting out the Celtic game because of stomach flu.

But Webber made only nine for 21 shots from the field and Peja Stojakovic went six for 16.

Webber, who had been 5-0 against the Wizards since they traded him to the Kings in 1998, finished with 21 points and nine rebounds. Stojakovic scored 16 points.

Philadelphia 100, Charlotte 93--Allen Iverson scored 36 points, including two late driving baskets, to lead the 76ers at Charlotte. Philadelphia’s Corie Blount tipped in Dikembe Mutombo’s miss to give the 76ers a 91-89 lead with 3:43 left, and Iverson followed with two off-balance runners to make it 95-89.

Baron Davis, who had 23 points for Charlotte, missed a three-point attempt with 23 seconds remaining and the Hornets trailing, 96-93, then Philadelphia sealed the win at the free-throw line.

New York 92, Atlanta 89--Allan Houston scored 32 points, including a three-point basket with 2.1 seconds remaining at New York, helping the Knicks end a three-game losing streak. Hanno Mottola missed a three-pointer at the buzzer for Atlanta, which had its two-game winning streak halted.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 21 of his 29 points in the second half for the Hawks.

Milwaukee 107, Memphis 103--Sam Cassell had 29 points and 10 assists just hours after signing a three-year, $17-million contract extension and the Bucks ended a two-game losing streak with a victory at Milwaukee. Cassell’s free throw with 2.8 seconds left iced the victory for the Bucks, who had lost five of six.