TORONTO -- The Toronto Raptors were picked apart by a couple of familiar faces Friday.
Victoria's Steve Nash had 11 assists to go with seven points and former Toronto star Vince Carter scored a few of his 17 points on high-flying dunks, to lead the Phoenix Suns to a 110-92 over the Raptors.
"I enjoy playing here, this is where it started, it's like home," Carter said. "When you come back home, you remember all the spots on the floor that were good to you. I just tried to get to those spots and be aggressive for the team and just kind of get us going early."
"I know (Nash) can do it, so for me, it's being prepared," Carter said "He makes it easy because he puts it where it needs to be, my job is just to finish from there. . . which I've done a couple of times in my career."
Said Nash of Carter: "We like to try to get him going a little bit. He seemed like he was up for it tonight, and that was great to see him be aggressive and make plays and we're a great team when he does that."
Andrea Bargnani scored 26 points for the Raptors, but his efforts were wasted on a night Toronto dropped its 13th straight to Phoenix since Nash rejoined the Suns in 2004.
Leandro Barbosa finished with 15 points, DeMar DeRozan added 14, Ed Davis had 11 and Jerryd Bayless chipped in with 10 for the Raptors (16-43), who have won just three of their last 22 games.
Marcin Gortat added 17 points for the Suns (29-27), while Channing Frye finished with 16, Mickael Pietrus had 14, and Hakim Warrick scored 12.
The Raptors were coming off a feel-good 118-113 win over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday but haven't won back-to-back games since Dec. 1 and 3.
It was clear from the early going Friday the Raptors were going to continue their trend. Toronto's only lead came on the game's first possession and the Suns had already accumulated a double-digit advantage midway through the first quarter and never let up. They led 86-62 going into the fourth.
Ed Davis scored on a huge dunk midway through the fourth to pull the Raptors to within 20 points and give the 19,800 fans (just shy of a sellout) something to cheer about. But much of the arena was empty by the final buzzer.
"They jumped on us early," said Raptors coach Jay Triano. "For whatever reason we were a step slow tonight. We were slow reacting. We were slow going to the ball on the glass, and they take advantage of that. They move the ball extremely well and Steve orchestrates things."
While Carter's scoring is down this season -- he's averaging just 13.4 points a game and scored just six in the Suns' win over Atlanta on Wednesday -- he's always played well in his games back in Toronto, perhaps invigorated by the inevitable booing he receives from the fans.
Carter's teammates made sure he was fully prepared for the angry chorus, booing him during the morning shootaround.
"It was quite comical today, even when we were running five-on-zero drills, every time he touched the ball they booed the heck out of him," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "The thing that our guys find amusing is they say when Steve has the ball, obviously he's the darling of Canada, what's going to happen if he has the ball and throws an alley-oop to Vince, then there's cheers and boos all in one possession."
That very thing happened, of course, less than two minutes into the game, and the fans only booed.
Carter tuned out the jeers on a 7-for-12 shooting night, but at one point during the third quarter, a fan yelled: "Retire Vince!" Carter hollered back over his shoulder: "Not yet!" As if to prove his point, he then calmly drained a three-pointer.
"It doesn't bother me either way," Carter said. "You can say what you want, boo, just leave my family out of it. What's a boo? Like a fan said, we're booing because we miss you not because we hate you. Then you have some that just hate me. How can you hate me? What did I do? It's just the nature of the beast, it's sports, it was expected. So be it."
As Carter walked off the court after the buzzer, a handful of fans chanted "Bring back Vince!"
The 37-year-old Nash, whose Suns sit 10th in the Western Conference -- two spots out of the playoff race -- struggled with his shot, shooting just 2-for-12 on the night. But he commanded his team with his usual mastery, threading precision passes all night before heading to the bench at the end of the third where he remained the rest of the game.
Carter, 34, also didn't make an appearance as Gentry gave his veterans a breather.
"Tonight I didn't play very well," Nash said. "I thought collectively we played well, our defence was good for the most part, I tried to put pressure on the defence and create openings for my teammates, and sometimes the shots don't go. My teammates did a good job of finishing and making plays. I thought it was a great team effort."
Describing the Suns' offence, Gentry summed up Nash's role on the team: "We run screen and roll with Steve Nash, and if that doesn't work, we run screen and roll with Steve Nash. That's who we are. It's kind of worked out for us for the last six years. I'm not a genius in the coaching profession but I'm smart enough to know that when he has the ball in his hands, good things happen."
Carter scored an energetic 11 points in the first, including a pair of dunks to help the Suns out to an early 11-2 lead. The Raptors would pull within six, but Phoenix outscored Toronto 23-8 to the end of the quarter to take a 35-14 lead into the second.
Pietrus scored on a fadeaway jumper early in the second to stretch the Suns' lead to 24 points and the closest Toronto could come was 17 points before the Suns headed for the locker-room at halftime up 60-42.
The Raptors opened the third with an 8-2 run to come within 12 points but the Suns pulled away, a pair of free throws by Gortat giving the visitors a 26-point lead with 1:14 left in the quarter. Phoenix took an 86-62 advantage into the fourth.
Notes: The Suns were playing the first of a six-game road trip. ... Carter, traded to New Jersey in 2004, was making his first appearance at the ACC since Nov. 22, 2009, when he was playing for Orlando. ... The Raptors host the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, then the New Orleans Hornets on Tuesday before leaving for London, England, for two games against the New Jersey Nets. ... New Suns guard Aaron Brooks didn't travel to Toronto. The Suns traded Goran Dragic to Houston for Brooks on Thursday.
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