''I wish I could wipe the slate clean, to be honest with you, I wish we could start over,'' Raptors star Chris Bosh said in a sombre post-game locker-room on what should have been a festive evening. ''We definitely have a challenge ahead of us.''

Andrea Bargnani topped the slumping Raptors (12-20) with 26 points, while Bosh had 24 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Jose Calderon finished with 18 points and 11 assists, while Will Solomon had 11 points. Jamario Moon added 10 points for the Raptors, who were playing without starters Jermaine O'Neal (knee) and Jason Kapono (quadriceps).

The Nuggets' win boosted their record to 21-12 and marked No. 900 in head coach George Karl's illustrious coaching career.

The Raptors were playing New Years Eve hosts for the first time in franchise history, and were hoping to head into 2009 on a winning note. They were finally back home after going 2-4 on a gruelling season-high six-game Western road trip. And the Raptors, who had been booed out of the building in their last game at the Air Canada Centre, a 96-86 loss to Dallas Mavericks on Dec. 17, were in the game until the dying moments on a night that saw 16 lead changes in the first three quarters.

Denver ended the third on an 11-0 run to take an 85-77 advantage into the final 12 minutes, an ugly stretch that saw Jay Triano lose his cool. The furious coach called a timeout after a three by Chauncey Billups, briefly hollered at his team then went and sat alone on the bench _ leaving his befuddled players to figure it out for themselves.

''It was a mental mistake,'' Bosh said of the reason for the timeout. ''You can't have mistakes like that in a game. It can't happen over and over. Once OK, we get it, but not two or three times. The reason he called that was because we messed up on a coverage, and they scored, and I'm sure it frustrates him because he says 'do this, do that,' and when it's not done five times out of 10, that's no good.''

Calderon drained a three with 4:22 left to cut Denver's lead to 101-98, bringing the crowd of 18,879 to its feet _ but the good feelings were short-lived. A basket by Nene sparked a 7-0 Denver run that put the visitors up by 10 points with 2:01 to go as the Nuggets cruised to a win.

''We have too many lapses, we don't play the intense Basketball we need to play for the whole game, we always have a gap in the 48 minutes,'' Bosh said. ''It's been a struggle early on, things really haven't gone our way, but we haven't played the Basketball that we're capable of playing yet. ''The good news is, we still have time to make it up.''

Elsewhere in the NBA it was: Orlando 113, Chicago 94; Detroit 83, New Jersey 75; Houston 85, Milwaukee 81; Oklahoma City 107, Golden State 100; and Philadelphia 100, Los Angeles Clippers 92.

At Toronto, Karl sipped on a celebratory beer in the Denver dressing room after the game.

''I'm not a champagne guy,'' the coach said. ''I'm a beer guy and some red wine, but I think it's Coor Light tonight. Beer after a win tastes like champagne.''

The four-game losing skid at home marks the first time Toronto has dropped four straight at the ACC since a five-game skid March 29-April 9, 2006.

Triano said the team's lacking the confidence to bounce back in games.

''I don't think in the history of the game anybody's pitched a shutout, there's going to be a basket scored against you and we can't stop and look around like 'Who's fault is this? Why did we get scored on?' Throw the ball inbounds and play,'' Triano said. ''We've got to play through mistakes. The game is full of mistakes and it's how you react to them, and right now I don't think we're reacting really well when a team scores on us, and we have to get over that.''

The Raptors were also looking for a little redemption Wednesday after being crushed 132-93 in Denver on Dec. 2, the fifth-worst loss in Raptors franchise history and the final straw for Sam Mitchell's tenure in Toronto. Mitchell was fired the next day, replaced by Triano.

While the game was definitely an improvement over the 39-debacle earlier in the month, the Nuggets still outshot Toronto 51 per cent to the Raptors' 47. The Raptors could have used O'Neal's big body up front _ they were outscored 50-34 in the paint.

O'Neal, who was coming off a season-high 36 points in Friday's 107-101 win at Sacramento, injured his right knee in Monday's loss at Golden State. The Raptors can breathe easy that it's not the same surgically repaired left knee that kept him out of 42 games with Indiana last season.

The Nuggets shot 58 per cent in the first quarter and raced out to a seven-point lead. Toronto battled back and took a seven-point lead on a three by Parker with just over three minutes left in the frame. Smith scored on a long jumper with three seconds on the clock to cut Toronto's lead to 31-29 heading into the second.

Neither team led by more than four points in a back-and-forth second quarter. Toronto was up by three points before back-to-back three-pointers by Anthony and Nene _ the second with 3.9 seconds on the clock _ sent Denver into the dressing room up 53-50 at halftime.

A three by Calderon had the Raptors up by three points with 4:29 to go in the third, but the Nuggets ended the quarter with a 11-0 run to lead 85-77 with one quarter to play.

Pistons 83, Nets 75

At Auburn Hills, Mich., Allen Iverson scored 19 points, and Tayshaun Prince added 16 to help the undermanned Detroit Pistons win their fifth straight game.

Magic 113, Bulls 94

At Chicago, Rashard Lewis set the tone by scoring 16 of his 21 points in the first half and Orlando rolled over the Bulls for its eighth win in nine games.

Rockets 85, Bucks 81

At Houston, Yao Ming had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Luis Scola added 11 points and 10 boards, and the Rockets beat Milwaukee.

Thunder 107, Warriors 100

At Oklahoma City, Jeff Green scored 26 points, Kevin Durant added 25 and Oklahoma City beat Golden State for just its fourth victory of the season.

76ers 100, Clippers 92

At Los Angeles, Andre Iguodala had 28 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, and Philadelphia held off Los Angeles to snap a four-game losing streak.