TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors beat the New York Knicks 131-113 on Wednesday night, a victory that became meaningless when Chicago won at Charlotte to clinch the final Eastern Conference playoff berth.
DeMar DeRozan scored a career-high 24 points and Andrea Bargnani also scored 24 for the Raptors, who finished 40-42, a game behind the Bulls. Toronto owned the tiebreaker and would have earned the No. 8 seed had the teams finished with the same record.
Amir Johnson scored 21 points, Sonny Weems had 18, Jose Calderon had 15 and Marco Belinelli 14 for the Raptors. Toronto's 131 points were a season high.
Bill Walker scored a career-high 28 points and Danilo Gallinari added 22 as the Knicks wrapped up their third straight 50-loss season and their sixth year in a row without a postseason berth.
David Lee had 19 points and 11 rebounds in what could be his final game with New York. The Knicks plan to be active in free agency, and it's not known if retaining Lee is a priority.
Chris Bosh took a seat on the Toronto bench midway through the opening quarter, his first appearance since suffering two facial fractures in an April 6 game at Cleveland and undergoing nasal surgery. Asked about Bosh's status before the game, coach Jay Triano said, "I don't think there's anything in the next week for him."
Bosh was not on Toronto's bench in the third quarter, but returned for the fourth. It could have been his last time on the Raptors' side, since he can become one of the most attractive free agents available in July.
Toronto led 29-19 with 2:41 left in the first, but Walker and Gallinari each made 3-pointers as the Knicks cut it to 33-30 after one.
The Raptors opened the second with an 11-4 run, pushing their lead back to 10 points at 44-34 and forcing the Knicks to call timeout. Johnson scored 11 in the second as Toronto maintained a double digit edge for much of the quarter, but a 3-pointer by Toney Douglas made it 73-64 at the half.
DeRozan scored 11 points in the third and Calderon added nine as the Raptors took a 105-94 lead into the fourth.
Notes
DeRozan matched his career high with nine rebounds. … Weems started for Toronto despite leaving Monday's win at Detroit with a sore right ankle. … The Knicks shot 15-for-33 from 3-point range.