Shane Battier shoots over New York Knicks' Latrell Sprewell. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        NEW YORK — Shane Battier scored 21 points, including a tiebreaking jumper with 9.8 seconds left, and the Memphis Grizzlies defeated New York 90-88 Thursday night as the Knicks missed five shots in the final 6 seconds.

        It was the first victory ever in New York for the Grizzlies, who lost their previous five games at Madison Square Garden. Memphis won for just the second time this season on the road and dealt the Knicks their fifth loss in six games.

        The Knicks had plenty of chances to tie in the final seconds, but Marcus Camby missed a floater and a tip-in, Kurt Thomas missed a tip-in, Mark Jackson missed a 5-footer and Camby missed another tip.

        The loss spoiled a big fourth quarter for Latrell Sprewell, who scored New York's first 14 points of the period, including a personal 9-0 run that tied the game after the Knicks trailed by 13 late in the third.

        Sprewell finished with 27 points, Allan Houston had 25, and Jackson added 14 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Camby was 0-for-6 from the field and 2-for-5 from the foul line.

        Stromile Swift scored 15, Pau Gasol had 14, and Jason Williams added 11 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.

        Raptors 96, Bulls 91

        TORONTO — Vince Carter scored 29 of his 33 points in the second half and led Toronto on a 16-5 run after Charles Oakley floored him with a forearm below the chin in the fourth quarter.

        Brad Miller had 24 points, and Marcus Fizer had 19 for the Bulls, who have lost 14 straight road games and five games in a row overall.

        Antonio Davis had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Raptors, who won back-to-back games for the first time since winning three straight from Nov. 23-29.

        Carter had 14 points in the third quarter and 15 in the fourth.

        Lakers 107, Rockets 101

        HOUSTON — Kobe Bryant scored 27 points, and Derek Fisher added 23 by making seven of nine 3-pointers as Los Angeles dealt Houston its 15th straight loss.

        The Lakers, 25th in the NBA in 3-point shooting, were 12-for-20 (60 percent) from long range.

        The Rockets' 15-game losing streak is two short of the franchise record set in the 1967-68 season. They had a separate slide of 15 in a row that same season en route to a 15-67 record.

        The NBA single-season record is 23 consecutive losses, set by Vancouver in 1995-96, and tied by Denver in 1997-98.

        Shaquille O'Neal had 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Lakers.

        Rookie Eddie Griffin had career highs of 25 points and 13 rebounds for the Rockets, while Cuttino Mobley added 18 points, and Moochie Norris had 15 points and 10 assists.

        Mavericks 113, Bucks 101

DALLAS — Michael Finley and Steve Nash each scored 33 points in Dallas' season-high fifth straight victory.

        Tim Hardaway added 15 points, and Juwan Howard 13 for the Mavericks, who won despite only eight points and 3-for-14 field goal shooting from their top scorer, Dirk Nowitzki.

        Nowitzki, who started the night with a 23.3 scoring average, did lead Dallas with 12 rebounds. Finley and Nash added eight assists apiece.

        Nash went 12-for-18 from the field, including 5-for-8 from 3-point range. Finley hit 16 of his 31 field goal attempts, and the Mavericks shot 51.7 percent from the floor.

        Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson both scored 21 points for the Bucks, and Michael Redd added 16. Milwaukee's three-game winning streak ended.

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