Driven Ford paces Raptors

TORONTO – T.J. Ford was happy to have a game he could feel good about.

Ford scored nine points in overtime and finished with 25 overall and the Toronto Raptors overcame a 36-point effort by Ray Allen to beat the Seattle Supersonics 120-119 on Sunday.

Ford was frustrated after scoring only four points on nine shots in Toronto’s last game, a seven-point win over Memphis on Wednesday.

“I got down,” said Ford, who had 13 assists. “I wanted to play at a high level and I wasn’t.”

But Toronto’s starting point guard erased those bad memories with a clutch performance as the Raptors (34-29) won for the ninth time in their past 10 home games.

“He played really well,” said Chris Bosh, who had 27 points. ” He was money going down the stretch. He showed no hesitation.”

Seattle led 111-110 with 2:24 left in overtime before Ford made three straight baskets and 3 of 4 free throws to help seal the win.

“By the fourth quarter and overtime, what we couldn’t stop was the penetration of T.J. Ford,” said Allen. “They were setting the pick and roll high and we kept getting hung on it. I wouldn’t say we were doing a bad job on it but we just didn’t have an answer for it.”

Ford said extra shooting work helped get his game back on track.

“You just have to get back to believing in yourself and get back to the things that got you to this point,” he said. “For me, that was getting back into the gym and just focusing before pratice, after practice and during practice and just going as hard as I can.”

Rashard Lewis scored 26 points and added 13 rebounds while Johan Petro had 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Sonics (25-38), who lost their third straight.

“Our biggest obstacle all season has been winning games late,” said Seattle guard Earl Watson.

Allen led the Sonics in scoring for the fifth straight game, making 14 of 28 shots and collecting nine rebounds.

“How Ray Allen does it, I have no idea,” said Seattle coach Bob Hill.

Allen sent the game into overtime with a buzzer-beating jumper but his potential game-tying 3-pointer bounced off the back rim with 48 seconds left in the extra frame.

“The ball was on line,” he said. “I just put a little bit too much behind in.”

The Raptors trailed by two points with 9.3 seconds to play in regulation before rookie Andrea Bargnani hit a fallaway 3-pointer despite being fouled by Allen. Bargnani coolly made the free throw to give Toronto a 106-104 lead.

But Allen responded by grabbing the rebound to his own missed shot and hitting a 15-foot jumper as time expired.

Toronto trailed by seven points as the fourth quarter began but closed the deficit to 96-93 with 4:30 to play when Bosh beat Seattle’s Johan Petro with a pretty behind-the-back move, then raced back on defense to block a shot by Earl Watson.

Two minutes later, Juan Dixon hit a 3-pointer from the corner to give Toronto a 100-99 edge, the Raptors’ first lead of the quarter.

Seattle outrebounded Toronto 50-34.

Notes

Seattle’s Danny Fortson sat out the second game of a two-game suspension handed down by the team after he missed a practice last week. … Anthony Parker returned after missing five games because of a sprained right ankle suffered Feb. 26 at San Antonio.

Raptors 120, SuperSonics 119 (OT)

Percentages: FG .474, FT .731. 3-Point Goals: 8-23, .348 (Allen 4-7, Wilkins 2-3, Ras.Lewis 2-7, Gelabale 0-1, Watson 0-5). Team Rebounds: 9. Team Turnovers: 16 (21 PTS). Blocked Shots: 2 (Ras.Lewis 2). Turnovers: 15 (Allen 3, Watson 3, Wilcox 3, Ras.Lewis 2, Petro 2, Collison, Gelabale). Steals: 5 (Petro 2, Watson 2, Wilcox). Technical Foul: Wilcox, 10:28 second.

Percentages: FG .557, FT .750. 3-Point Goals: 8-22, .364 (Bargnani 4-9, Dixon 3-5, Garbajosa 1-2, Calderon 0-1, Graham 0-1, Parker 0-4). Team Rebounds: 6. Team Turnovers: 14 (14 PTS). Blocked Shots: 2 (Bosh 2). Turnovers: 14 (Ford 4, Nesterovic 3, Calderon 2, Bargnani 2, Graham, Garbajosa, Dixon). Steals: 8 (Bosh 3, Ford 3, Parker, Dixon). Technical Foul: Defensive Three Second, 8:17 first.

A—19,800 (19,800). T—2:33.