Raptors Stun Lakers, 93-92

Damon Stoudamire isn’t supposed to record tripledoubles any more than the Toronto Raptors are supposed to beat the Los Angeles Lakers.

But Stoudamire, the shortest man on the court Friday night at 5-foot-10, showed he can play at both ends, scoring 21 points with 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and the Raptors showed their improvement over last season with a 93-92 victory over the Lakers at Toronto.

“This was a big win for us,” said Stoudamire. “After we beat Dallas, we had something to prove against an established team. I think we will gain even more confidence from this win.”

As he has been so often in the short existence of the Raptors, Stoudamire was the key down the stretch, pulling up and draining a 3-point shot for a 93-83 lead with 1:53 to play. However, the Lakers, on three field goals by Shaquille O’Neal and a 3-point shot by Byron Scott with 24 seconds to play, cut the lead to 93-92.

Marcus Camby, who scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds in 28 minutes off the bench, missed both free throws with 12 seconds on the clock. But the Lakers couldn’t get the referee’s attention and let about 10 seconds tick off the clock before calling timeout with 2.2 seconds to play.

Eddie Jones tried a long inbounds pass to O’Neal under the basket, but Carlos Rogers deflected the ball to the baseline where O’Neal retrieved it and sent up a wild shot at the buzzer that wasn’t close.

The loss was the Lakers’ first against the two most recent expansion teams. They’re 4-0 against Vancouver and 2-1 against Toronto.

Bulls win rare matchup

The Chicago Bulls tied the club record set last season with a 5-0 start, knocking the Detroit Pistons from the ranks of the undefeated.

Luc Longley scored all 16 of his points as the Bulls took command in the first quarter and cruised to a 98-80 victory at Auburn Hills, Mich. The Bulls, who have never opened with six consecutive wins, play Boston at home tonight.

The matchup marked just the sixth game in NBA history pairing teams with records of 4-0 or better.

Detroit’s 4-0 start was its best since 1988 when the Pistons won their first eight games and went on to win the first of two NBA championships.

“You can see we’re comfortable. We don’t rattle. It’s like going in the water with a pool of minnows. We go with the flow,” said Chicago’s Dennis Rodman, who had 20 rebounds after collecting 22 Wednesday at Miami.

The Bulls have won 17 consecutive games against the Pistons dating to March 1993, including nine in a row at The Palace.

The big chill

Vancouver shot 31 percent from the field in an 88-72 loss at Cleveland. Bob Sura sparked the Cavaliers with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Washington shot 37 percent from the floor in a 102-87 home loss to Charlotte. Tony Smith led the Hornets with 20 points.

Dominance

Alonzo Mourning scored six of his 23 points during a decisive 14-0 second-quarter run to lead the Heat to a 101-89 victory over Milwaukee, at Miami.

It was Miami’s 14th consecutive victory over the previously undefeated Bucks (3-1), who last went 4-0 in 1971-72.

76ers break ice

Allen Iverson scored 32 points, leading Philadelphia in scoring for the third time in his four pro games, as the visiting 76ers defeated the Boston Celtics 115-105 for their first win of the season.

Iverson, the NBA’s leading rookie scorer, had 30, 15 and 24 points in his other games.

Vancouver and New Jersey, both losers, were the only other winless teams in action. Phoenix (at Philadelphia) and Indiana (vs. Washington) play tonight.

Other games

Dale Ellis scored nine of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as the Denver Nuggets rallied for their first home win of the season, 94-91 over the Golden State Warriors.

Anfernee Hardaway, taking charge at key moments, scored 29 points and led the Orlando Magic to an 86-82 victory over the winless New Jersey Nets.

Orlando swept the two-game series at the Tokyo Dome in front of crowds of nearly 40,000.

Patrick Ewing scored five of his 20 points in the final 1:46 of overtime and grabbed 19 rebounds as the New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Clippers 88-81 at Los Angeles.

Tonight’s highlight

Utah at Houston: The game features five players who appeared on the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players list: John Stockton and Karl Malone of the Jazz, and Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley of the Rockets.