The Mavericks were all over Kris Humphries, left, and the Raptors over the final three quarters on Wednesday night. (Ron Turenne/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Raptors started strong, but they could hardly have finished more meekly.

Leading by 12 after the first quarter, Toronto was outscored 75-53 over the final 36 minutes in a 96-86 loss to the visiting Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.

The dismal defeat capped an 0-3 homestand for the Raptors (10-15), who've lost eight of their last 10 overall to sink to last place in the Atlantic Division.

Chris Bosh had a relatively off night, registering 12 points on an errant 6-of-20 shooting and adding nine boards. Toronto's scoring leader suggested he's not exactly dreading his team's upcoming six-game road trip after the Raptors were jeered by the home crowd late in Wednesday's loss.

"Shoot, if I want to get booed, I'll go on the road," said Bosh, who came in ranked fifth in the league with 24.1 points per game. "It's really tense here right now. When you're down three points at home and you're getting booed, that's kind of disheartening. Whether the crowd knows it or not, they play a big part in the game."

Jermaine O'Neal scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds in a losing effort, while Jamario Moon collected 13 points and 11 rebounds as the Raptors were outrebounded for the 14th game in a row.

Toronto coach Jay Triano was at a loss to explain his team's collapse.

"Honestly, if I knew I'd change it," Triano said. "I coached the same the first quarter as I did the last three when we were a disaster. I think we run a lot better, we have a lot better energy early in the game. I don't know if we just run out of gas, or we just don't create flow, or if we don't make the right adjustments."

Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry poured in 27 points apiece for Dallas (14-10). Nowitzki added 10 rebounds and four assists, while Terry grabbed seven boards and distributed eight dimes.

Howard sparks key Mavs run

Some of the Mavericks players said they could feel Toronto's confidence deflating as the game wore on.

"If any team sees guys hanging their heads, that kind of gives the other team a little more momentum," said Dallas forward Devean George. "When you saw guys going 'Not again,' that kind of feeds into the other team. We all kind of sensed that. They were really frustrated with things weren't going right and we started making a run."

The Raptors torched the visitors 33-21 in the first quarter, but by halftime their advantage had eroded to five points.

Dallas picked up where it left off after the break, putting together a 12-5 run. Josh Howard scored nine of those points, including the go-ahead jumper four minutes into the third quarter.

Howard finished with 20 points in his first start since Nov. 18. The small forward, who came off the bench Monday night in a loss to Denver after missing 11 games because of a sprained ankle, also scored Dallas's first nine points.

The Mavs never trailed from there, though Toronto whittled the gap down to as few as two points early in the fourth. Dallas point guard Jason Kidd put to rest any notions of a comeback by nailing a jumper from the top of the key with 4:23 left to put Dallas up by 10.

The lead was still 10 with just over two minutes to go when the Mavs grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed three-pointer by Kidd, drawing boos from the frustrated Toronto crowd.

The Raptors will try to get back on track when their road trip begins Friday night against lowly Oklahoma City, but Triano wondered if his team has what it takes to see an entire game through.

"Are we not in good enough shape to play 48 minutes?" the coach said. "I hope that's not the case this late in the season, but maybe it's not a conditioning factor but it's that they get worn down. The last three games, we started off extremely well, scoring and running and we've got great flow, and then all of a sudden it just stops."

With files from the Associated Press