It wasn't pretty, but the Toronto Raptors pulled off their biggest upset of the NBA season Friday, knocking off the defending champion Spurs 83-73 in San Antonio.

Neither team shot well on the night, with the Raptors draining 40.5 per cent of their attempts and their opponents making good on just 31.9 per cent. But Toronto hit enough shots in the second half to hold off a brief comeback bid by the Spurs and pick up their first win in San Antonio since 2001.

The Raptors' Andrea Bargnani, left, and teammate Chris Bosh contest a shot by the Spurs' Tim Duncan during the first half of Friday's game in San Antonio.
(Doug Sehres/Associated Press)

Five players scored in double figures for the Raptors (16-14), who snapped a three-game losing streak. Jason Kapono led with 15 points, while Jose Calderon and Kris Humphries had 14 each and Andrea Bargnani added 11. Chris Bosh chipped in 10 despite sitting out the fourth quarter as coach Sam Mitchell went with his reserves.

"They're a good basketball team. They're the defending world champs. And we beat them on this floor," said Mitchell.

Michael Finley's 20 points topped San Antonio (20-8), which was done in by its 19 turnovers leading to 22 Raptors points. Spurs stars Tim Duncan and Tony Parker were the worst offenders, with Parker coughing the ball up seven times to overshadow his 15 points, and Duncan committing five turnovers to mar his 16 points and 12 rebounds.

"We got shots that we usually knock out, and they didn't go out tonight," Duncan said.

Former Raptor Matt Bonner had 10 points — including a pair of three-pointers — for the Spurs, who were without super sub Manu Ginobili as he nurses a sprained finger.

Toronto, which limited its turnovers to eight, looked like it might sail to an easy upset as late as four minutes into the third quarter, when Anthony Parker drained a three-pointer to give the Raptors a comfortable 52-38 lead.

But the champs quickly snapped out of their slumber, rattling off nine consecutive points — capped by a Duncan layup off his own rebound — to cut their deficit to five. By the end of the third, it was down to three.

Toronto, though, proved up to the challenge, inflating their lead to 11 with six minutes to go in the fourth and all but cruising from there.

"To hold that great a team to 73 points is pretty good defence," Kapono said. "To finish out such a quality team, it says a lot about this team and that's something we need to build on."

The Raptors were helped by Duncan and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, both of whom received technical fouls in the fourth for arguing with referees.

"This place is not an easy place to win in," Bosh said. "It's the toughest we played all year."

With files from the Associated Press