If this keeps up, whichever club gets the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs is going to be rubbing its collective hands in glee.

Jason Richardson scored 27 points and his backcourt mate Raymond Felton added 21 to lead the visiting Charlotte Bobcats to a 105-100 upset of the Toronto Raptors on Friday night at the Air Canada Centre.

Toronto's Anthony Parker, right, drives to the hoop past Charlotte's Emeka Okafor during the early going of the Bobcats' victory over the hometown Raptors on Friday night.
(J.P. Maczulski/Canadian Press)

The loss drops Toronto from a tie for fifth in the Eastern Conference to alone in seventh at 38-38 — the first time the club has been at .500 since the middle of January.

But they were able to clinch a playoff spot through the back door thanks to a win by Detroit over New Jersey.

Chris Bosh and Rasho Nesterovic each had 23 in the losing cause. It was the latter's season high.

The loss to a now 29-47 Charlotte club marks Toronto's 13th defeat in the last 19 outings and if every other team at the bottom end of the East wasn't so bad, the team could be facing a season without playoffs.

The night was summed up by a play in the last minute, with the Raptors trailing 98-97.

As guard T.J. Ford came into the offensive zone, he had his pocket picked by Earl Boykins, who raced the other way with the Raptor on his tail.

Ford fouled the diminutive Bobcat as he was laying the ball in and the three-point play gave Charlotte an insurmountable lead.

"I don't think that one play dictates the whole game," said Ford, who was having a strong game until that point and tied a season high with 14 assists. "I think we've just got to do a better job in the fourth quarters.

"We're going into the fourth quarter with leads and we're not doing a good job of protecting them."

Richardson was dynamic all night, piling up 18 in the first half and 27 overall to go along with seven rebounds, six assists and two steals.

"We're just not executing on defence when we need to," Raptor coach Sam Mitchell said. "We have stretches where we play good defence and then we have stretches where we just don't.

"You can't do that trying to make the playoffs or going into the playoffs."

The Raptors were an anemic four-for-17 from three-point land — normally a highly effective part of their game. 

Another slow start

Raptors got off to another slow start in this one, trailing 27-22 after the opening 12 minutes.

Richardson led the Bobcats with 11 points and three assists while Felton had three rebounds.

Bosh led Toronto with eight points and two rebounds, Ford contributing five assists.

The Hornets pushed the advantage to 10 by halfway through the second period but Toronto began to chip away and, thanks to a jumper by Jamario Moon at the buzzer, made it 51-46 Charlotte.

Richardson had upped his totals to 18 points, three assists and a trio of rebounds in a first-half tour-de-force. Felton had seven points.

Bosh added six to total 14 points at the half to lead the Raptors