Category: Politics Beat Blog

Thomas “Hitman” Hearns

Michael Jordan isn’t the only veteran who has made the transition from sports hero, to retired superstar, and back to the arena again.

Boxing legend Thomas “Hitman” Hearns is coming out of retirement to prove that he’s still got what it takes to be a champion.

Just six years from getting his AARP membership card, Hearns, 44, will begin his quest for success January 17th, at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven.

His post-retirement debut pits the 6-foot-1-inch Hearns against 5-foot-10-inch Thomas Reid in a 10-round cruiserweight fight.

“I’ve been working for six months to get [the fight] together,” said promoter Randy Fielder of the Hearns camp. “We were here for the Lewis-Tyson

fight in June. …. We couldn’t afford the Pyramid, but we chose the Civic

Center because it was the best venue and deal for the money [available].”

Fielder also said Hearns, who is a native Memphian, wanted to begin his quest in the South.

The World Boxing Association lists Reid’s last fight in October against Julio Cesar Gonzalez. Reid lost the light heavyweight bout with a technical knockout in the third round.

Although this fight is not a championship match, it could be the first of a trilogy of fights leading to the 190-pound cruiserweight division title. If successful, Hearns will be the only fighter to hold eight world titles in seven different weight classes.

According to Fielder, Hearns has been in training with longtime and legendary manager and trainer Emanuel Steward. Steward has not only coached Hearns to several previous title victories but is also the trainer for Lennox Lewis, who defeated Mike Tyson for the heavyweight title earlier this year.

Hearns has held world titles as welterweight, junior middleweight, middleweight, and light heavyweight. Four career losses have come against Sugar Ray Leonard, “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler, and twice to Iran Barkley. Hearns holds a professional record of 59 wins, four loses, and one tie, with 46 knockouts.

On Monday night Governor Don Sundquist, an erstwhile Memphian, held his final Christmas party at the executive mansion in Nashville in honor of the Tennessee press corps.

The reporters at one point serenaded Sundquist in song. This — to the tune of “I’ll Be HOme for Christmas” — was one of the selections. (The premise of the song is that the outgoing gov, who is retiring with wife Martha to a mountaintop home near the East Tennessee hamlet of Townsend, is giving advice to his successor, Gov-elect Phil Bredesen.):

VERSE

I’ll be home in Townsend

You can call on me

Rub-a-dub

In our hot tub

With Martha on my knee;

VERSE

Budget time is coming

TennCare’s in a spin

Pols don’t heed

re-al-ity

And what a mess you’re in.

CHORUS

You can have John Wilder

And the right-wing freaks

I’ll be homein Townsend

Don’t you wish you were me?

VERSE

Have your fun with T_DOT

And the small schools plan

Federal Courts

And last resorts

And Gordon Bonnyman

VERSE

There can be no telling

What the years will bring

But you’ll see

Van Hilleary

Is waiting in the wings

CHORUS

I’ll be home in Townsend

You can call on me

I’ll be home in Townsend

Don’t you wish you were me?

The Memphis Grizzlies were missing two starters and playing sloppily, but the Phoenix Suns still could not stop them.

Pau Gasol scored 21 points and grabbed 17 rebounds and Lorenzen Wright added 17 and 11 as the Grizzlies overcame 31 turnovers to record just their third victory of the season, 102-94 over the Suns.

“With Lorenzen Wright in the game creating space, it opened things up for Pau,” Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown said. “I’m very proud of Pau, he played big. He had a terrific all-around game.”

“I was just telling him to get some rebounds,” Wright said of the long but lean Gasol. “Sometimes Pau can go into a little lull out there when people start to push him around. I was just wanted to pump him up.”

Wesley Person contributed 17 points and rookie Mike Batiste 14 for Memphis, which was missing starting point guard Jason WilliamsShane Battier (leg infection). Rookie forward Drew Gooden, hobbled by a bruised knee, scored only eight points in 19 minutes.

But Memphis shot 54 percent (38-of-71) from the field and limited Phoenix to 42 percent (41-of-97), and won the rebounding battle, 47-33.

“The frontcourt is the key,” said Brevin Knight, who had nine points, 11 assists and five turnovers starting in place of Williams. “Without those guys getting rebounds we can’t push the ball up the court. They make my job easy.”

“Brevin was fantastic for us,” Brown said. “He played about 10 minutes the other night but tonight he came out and gave us 33, and he was sick before the game. … He made big decisions on the floor in the flow and tonight everything worked out for him.”

The Grizzlies, who snapped a five-game losing streak, took the lead for good, 40-39, when Wright dunked and made a free throw with 3:15 left in the second quarter.

Memphis led 49-44 at halftime and 72-68 entering the fourth quarter, but Phoenix got no closer than 83-79 on a jump hook by Shawn Marion midway through the final period.

“It feels good to win,” Gasol said. “I never had a year like last year and now to start this year it makes things difficult. But I just go out and play ball because that is what I do. If we go out and play unselfish then we’ll win more games. If people come out and want to take their shots and be selfish we’ll lose.”

Stephon Marbury scored 35 points, Marion added 23 and Memphis native Penny Hardaway 17 for the Suns, who were opening a season-high five-game road trip.

“It’s not the way to start a road trip,” Marbury said. “I take this as the hardest game of a road trip. You always want to win that first game. It helps your confidence as a team when you get that first game.”

Phoenix had won five of seven games but committed 18 turnovers en route to falling to 1-6 on the road this season. The Suns have lost four in a row away from America West Arena.

“We can’t let a team make that many mistakes and get away with it,” Marbury said.

Memphis, which is 0-10 on the road, improved to 3-8 at The Pyramid.

“It feels great to get a win, any win,” Wright said. “If we work hard in every game, then we will have a chance to win.”

“Those guys are hungry,” Hardaway said. “They attacked the basket and got to the rim. They capitalized on our turnovers and we didn’t capitalize on theirs.”

John Grice scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds Saturday as Memphis ran away from Furman in the second half en route to a 72-55 victory.

Memphis (4-1) opened the second half with a 23-4 run as the Paladins (3-5) missed nine of their first 11 shots. The Tigers built the lead to 57-33, and Furman never got closer than 17 the rest of the way.

Furman also was hampered by 23 turnovers and shot 47 percent to Memphis’ 51 percent.

Rodney Carney finished with 15 points for the Tigers, while Earl Barron added 14, both hitting 6-of-9 shots from the field. Point guard Clyde Wade, starting in place of the injured Antonio Burks, had 10 points and five assists, seven of his points coming off steals and breakaway buckets.

Jason Patterson had 12 points to lead Furman while Kenny Zeilger and Maleye Ndoye had 10 points each. Zeigler had a team-high seven rebounds.

Memphis also dominated the boards, 36-26.

The Tigers, who opened the game sluggishly, led 34-29 at halftime thanks to an offensive burst by Wade with about four minutes left before the break.

The Tigers were struggling offensively and trailed 24-23 when Wade scored seven straight points in 35 seconds. He had a 3-pointer and two steals that led to layups in the stretch resulting in a 30-24 lead.

Barron scored the final two baskets of the half for the five-point lead at the half.

The Tigers opened the second half with Burks, in limited duty, scoring six points before Furman called timeout two minutes in.

Memphis maintained at least a 20-point lead through most of the latter part of the second half.

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NASHVILLE — Lt. Gov. John Wilder, who usually refers to himself in the third person, says he is in touch with the cosmos and all is well.

State House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, whether he admits it or not, must borrow a page from Wilder’s book — except for the cosmos chapter — if he plans to keep his job and control the lower chamber of Tennessee’s General Assembly.

Wilder, the longest serving head of a legislative body in the United States, has maintained his control of the Senate since 1987 through a coalition of Democrats and like-minded Republicans.

Naifeh, a Covington Democrat, presides over the 99-member House of Representatives largely by controlling his 53 fellow Democrats

For the 103rd General Assembly that convenes Jan. 14, Naifeh is going to need more than Democrats to prop him up. He’s going to need Republicans, plenty of them.

Some House Democrats are grumbling loudly that Naifeh cedes too much control to certain colleagues whom critics call the “West Tennessee Mafia.” Indeed, the No. 2 House leader, Speaker Pro Tem Lois DeBerry, is from Memphis. The Democratic Caucus chairman is Randy Rinks of Savannah. Former Finance Committee chairman Matt Kisber, who did not seek re-election, is from Jackson.

Between them, they have controlled the House. That will change somewhat in the coming legislative session.

This time around, there is talk of dissident Democrats joining with Republicans, who have 45 members in the House, to form a coalition that would oust Naifeh.

Naifeh is working to head that off.

His best bet is handing out a few committee offices, maybe a chairmanship or two, to Republicans, giving them a seat at the table they had previously been denied.

Wilder has less of a grip on the Senate, but then it’s not his nature to rule with an iron fist.

In Wilderese, “the Senate is the Senate.” That means each of the 33 senators has a voice that can be heard long before legislation reaches the Senate floor, where its fate has already been decided.

One complaint about the House is that power is wielded by only a few. The House Finance Committee has 30 members, and nine of those serve on the budget subcommittee, the dreaded “black hole” where legislation can live, die or languish until it is blessed by Democratic leadership.

Legislation with a yearly cost of $100,000 or more — that applies to most major bills — automatically is assigned to the Democratic-dominated Finance Committee. Most of those bills, in turn, wind up in the “black hole.”

The “black hole” is supposed to determine the budgetary impact of legislation, but some lawmakers say the subcommittee has actually changed the intent of legislation.

Veteran Rep. Frank Buck of Dowelltown, made that complaint in an emotional speech to fellow House Democrats during their caucus meeting two weeks ago. Buck, a small-town lawyer who speaks his mind, received nothing but silence after his speech.

Buck also warned about the need for bipartisanship, noting that House Republicans gained three House seats this year and Democrats must recognize the GOP’s growing influence.

Later, Naifeh said Buck’s comments were inappropriate, especially given that the gathering was the first for freshmen legislators.

Whether he likes it or not, the time has come for Naifeh to reach out to Republicans. He should appoint Republicans to committee offices and give them more of a voice in the General Assembly.

That approach has worked well for Wilder, who can count on Republicans when he needs them.

It can work well for Naifeh, too.

All he has to do is give it a try.

THE SEASON OF MISTRUST

Man, it looks like a cold winter.

The Memphis City Council and the Shelby County Commission don’t trust the contractor, the Public Building Authority, or the PBA’s consultant on the Grizzlies arena. On a project that is already a virtual full-employment act for consultants, they want to hire another super-consultant accountable to them.

The commission doesn’t trust the county auditors who are looking into county travel and credit card use so it hauls them into a meeting and puts them on the spot instead of the credit card abusers.

The county attorney doesn’t trust his office’s objectivity in the current “sensitive political environment” so it farms out an investigation of county commission administrator Calvin Williams to a freelance investigator. The commission doesn’t trust the objectivity of the freelancer so it brings in an old hand to review his report.

The Land Use Control Board doesn’t trust the Office of Planning and Development so it overrules its recommendation on the boundaries of a downtown sports and entertainment district.

The city council doesn’t trust the Land Use Control Board so it overrules its recommendation and changes the boundaries back the way they were.

The Memphis City Schools Board of Education doesn’t trust Superintendent Johnnie B. Watson on the moldy situation at East High School so it demands another investigation.

The white members of the school board don’t trust the $14 million being spent to overhaul the air conditioning at two schools so the daily newspaper commissions an expert who says the job could be done for about half that much.

The black members of the school board don’t trust the white members or the newspaper so they vote to spend the $14 million anyway.

Is everyone in the holiday spirit yet?

Conflict is par for the course in Memphis politics, but we’re breaking new ground, sailing into uncharted waters, taking it up a notch and all that.

First, the arena. Once upon a time 15 years ago public officials thought that by creating a public building authority and putting some business heavyweights on it they could take politics out of a project. FedEx CEO Fred Smith took the job, The Pyramid got built, and there was a minimal amount of grumbling until Sidney Shlenker came to town to try and fail to develop its interior space at the top and bottom.

The new arena that will sooner or later drive The Pyramid into extinction will cost $250 million, including millions spent on consultants making $250,000 to $450,000 to oversee everything from luxury suites to public relations to the hiring of minorities and union members. Last week David Bennett of the PBA presented the city council with a report listing expenditures to date. The project, he told the council, is on time and within budget. Councilman Myron Lowery and others were not impressed and voted to hire, what else, another consultant.

Second, the school board. Relations between Watson and board members Sara Lewis and Hubon Sandridge have never been good but lately appear to be positively poisonous. East High School has been a career killer for principals and a festering sore for various complaints for more than a decade. It won’t be a surprise if Watson doesn’t last more than another year. The pending departure of board member Barbara Prescott, an informed and invariably calm voice, won’t help matters.

Finally, county government. Mayor A C Wharton said this week he had never seen such an atmosphere of distrust and suspicion. While the investigation and long-overdue audit of the personal use of county credit cards in the previous administration continues, a new one is underway involving a couple of old political pros, Williams and Assessor Rita Clark.

Shelby County Attorney Donnie Wilson took the unusual step of hiring an outside investigator, attorney Les Bowron, to look into Clark’s complaints about being pressured to hire employees from Williams’ staffing agency and then verbally abused by Williams when she wouldn’t go along.

Bowron, an attorney since 1982 and a former member of the Wyoming Legislature, interviewed all of the main players and submitted a report to Wilson which was made public this week. The report is both interesting and troubling. Bowron didn’t have subpoena power and nobody has been charged with anything. Bowron insists he was merely an independent finder of fact.

But in a way Williams has been charged with improper conduct in the report and in the media. As former county attorney Brian Kuhn told The Flyer this week, special investigators are usually used in low-profile sexual harassment complaints against the county. Clark vs. Williams is a heavyweight bout. Kuhn has, by mutual agreement of the commission and the county attorney, been assigned to take the report wherever it will go next.

Bowron’s report and its attached exhibits read like a deposition, or, if you prefer, unedited reality television. When a reporter investigates a story, the public gets a two-minute or 1500-word story, not the raw notes and outtakes. In Bowron’s interview with Williams’ “managing partner” Valarie Richardson, to take just one example, you had a trained professional investigator with a law degree skillfully questioning a nervous 33-year-old woman having a hard time getting her answers straight about some very sensitive questions, and then giving the transcript to the county attorney who gave it to the press at their request.

If I were her, I would have wanted a lawyer.

^“Silly” is how outgoing Governor Don Sundquist this week characterized the negative use of his name and image by the competing candidates in the gubernatorial election which was concluded last month, with Democrat Phil Bredesen defeating Republican Van Hilleary.

In one of his TV commercials, Bredesen featured a still photo of Sundquist with his erstwhile U.S. House colleague Hilleary, suggesting in the voice-over that voters shouldn’t once more elect an untested congressman as governor. One of Hilleary’s commercials coined the term “Bredesundquist” to imply that both the current governor and the former Nashville mayor (who struggled hard to deny such a suggestion) were income tax partisans.

“That’s the single most obvious thing that contributed to his defeat,” the governor said about the Hilleary commercial in particular and the Republican candidate’s efforts to distance himself from Sundquist in general.

The governor levied his judgment about the tone of the campaign on Tuesday, after he had addressed the members of the Memphis Rotary Club at The Peabody. The speech, which was something of a valedictory for the outgoing governor, saw Sundquist back up not an inch from his controversial — and ultimately unsuccessful — espousal of a state income tax.

Acknowledging that the controversy over his “flat tax” proposal had tended to obscure the rest of his gubernatorial tenure, Sundquist told the Rotarians that he had “no regrets.” Afterward he predicted that the one-cent sales-tax increase enacted in the 2002 General Assembly “might not last even a year” as a stopgap against Tennessee’s fiscal needs.

In any case, he said, Gov.-elect Bredesen will almost certainly have to reevaluate tax policy before the end of his first four-year term.

• Tre Hargett of Bartlett, the newly elected leader of the Republicans in the state House of Representatives, eschewed crowing in favor of humility Monday night as he reflected on his victory over former minority leader Steve McDaniel of Parker’s Crossroads and another challenger, Bobby Wood of Harrison. “When you run against a friend, whether you win or lose, it’s never easy,” Hargett said, and he was hesitant about an observation from a fellow Shelby Countian, GOP national committeeman John Ryder, who compared Hargett’s victory to the ascension of Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the U.S. House after the 1994 election.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t like the analogy. I was never a Newt Gingrich kind of Republican. I consider myself more of a centrist, and I’m not about divisiveness,” said the plainspoken Hargett, who loosened up and gratefully accepted the compliment when assured that Ryder was not commenting on what he perceived as similar political philosophies but on the likelihood that Hargett, like Gingrich, would refuse to accept the long-term inevitability of minority-party status for Republicans.

“It’s an honor that the public granted us its trust by awarding us three more seats,” said the man who succeeds McDaniel as the guide for a body of Republicans enlarged to 45 by last month’s election.

Hargett, who won a second-ballot runoff against McDaniel, acknowledged that shifts brought about by the election may have aided his victory but deemphasized his differences with the former leader over a state income tax, which McDaniel supported and Hargett (like Wood) rejected.

“I think we’ll have to concentrate in this next session on issues and not personalities,” said Hargett, who named “the continuing fiscal strain” and implementation of a state lottery as two matters the legislature will need to address.

Also elected to significant positions in the Republican House leadership were two other Memphians — Paul Stanley of Germantown, who became the treasurer of the GOP caucus, and Curry Todd of Collierville, who was named to the key Fiscal Review committee to replace Memphian Joe Kent.

However much Hargett chose to underplay the symbolic aspects of the caucus vote, it was clear that something of a sea change had occurred. The new leadership is conspicuously to the right of the old one. McDaniel was not only a supporter of Sundquist’s flat tax, he was known as a moderate in general. As Ryder put it, “Steve seemed comfortable with the role of minority leader. It wasn’t so much a matter of policy or even personal style. He just seemed content with his place in a known scheme of things.”

By contrast, Hargett was a volunteer member of a House group that was formed two years ago in response to an exasperated House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh‘s insistence that members uncomfortable with the flat income tax he and Governor Sundquist supported come up with something else or outline the drastic cuts that would be called for if no solution were in view.

Hargett did not blink at the demand; he proposed a series of far-ranging cuts — few of which would be reflected in subsequent legislation, however. Still, he had made his mark as a budget hard-liner in a time of legislative conflict that would end up favoring the anti-income-tax hard-liners.

• Although the two books on the family recently published under the names of former Vice President Al Gore and his wife Tipper Gore have had disappointing sales nationwide, a decent-sized crowd turned out Saturday at Davis-Kidd Booksellers for the right to have their copies of the books signed.

In a conversation after the signing, Gore conceded that he had been too “scripted” in his 2002 presidential campaign and appeared to bask in a suggestion that his recent remarks on national policy seemed to have his “heart and mind in sync.”

Tre Hargett of Bartlett, the newly elected leader of the Republicans in the state House of Representatives, eschewed crowing in favor of humility Monday night as he reflected on his victory over former minority leader Steve McDaniel of Parker’s Crossroads and another challenger, Bobby Wood . of Harrison.

“When you run against a friend, whether you win or lose, it’s never easy,” Hargett said, and he was hesitant about an observation from a fellow Shelby Countian, GOP national committeeman John Ryder, who compared Hargett’s victory to the ascension of Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the U.S. House after the 1994 election.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t like the analogy. I was never a Newt Gingrich kind of Republican. I consider myself more of a centrist, and I’m not about divisiveness,” said the plain-spoken Hargett, who loosened up and gratefully accepted the compliment when assured that Ryder was not commenting on what he perceived as similar political philosophies but on the likelihood that Hargett, like Gingrich, would refuse to accept the long-term inevitability of minority-party status for Republicans.

“It’s an honor that the public granted us its trust by awarding us three more seats,” said the man who succeeds McDaniel as the guide for a body of Republicans enlarged to 45 by last month’s election.

Hargett, who won a second-ballot runoff against McDaniel, acknowledged that shifts brought about the election may have aided his victory, but de-emphasized his differences with the former leader over a state income tax, which McDaniel supported and Hargett rejected.

“I think we’ll have to concentrate in this next session on issues and not personalities,” said Hargett, who named “the continuing fiscal strain” and implementation of a state lottery as two matters the legislature will need to address.

The House GOP caucus also elected H.E. Biddle of Knoxville as assistant leader, Rep. Charles Sargent of Frankling as chairman, and Paul Stanley of Germantown as treasurer.

In a blistering report to the county attorney’s office, an independent investigator recounts how a high-ranking county official warned Shelby County Assessor Rita Clark he would “ride your butt all the way to reelection” if she didn’t back off on her criticism of his moonlighting business as head of a temporary employee agency.

Calvin Williams, administrator of the Shelby County Commission Office, was described by Clark as being “irate” with her in a phone conversation on November 25th. Williams had tried to get Clark to hire some temporary employees from him but she refused.

The Memphis Flyer obtained a report from the Shelby County Attorney’s Office that details various encounters between Williams and other county employees. The report was compiled by Lee Bowron of Allen & Associates. Bowron is an attorney and former member of the Wyoming Legislature. He was retained by the county to investigate the Williams matter due to what the report calls “the sensitive political environment” in the county building, which has been rocked by revelations of credit card abuse in recent months.

Bowron recorded all of his key interviews except Williams, who insisted that he only take handwritten notes. The transcripts of the interviews are included in the report.

Williams is head of T & T Temporary Services in addition to his full-time job with the commission. Last summer he offered to provide temporary employees to Trustee Bob Patterson and Clark. Patterson accepted the offer; Clark thought it was a conflict of interest and did not accept. She was also concerned because Williams’ company was not on an approved list of county vendors.

Clark told Bowron that Williams contacted her in July or August and asked her to do him a “favor” by using the service. After talking to two fellow employees, Cheyenne Johnson and Patrick Lafferty, Clark decided not to confront Williams but to meet with the county personnel officer, Jim Martin, instead. She said he advised her “as an elected official, I could hire anybody I wanted.”

Things heated up in November when Williams apparently became concerned that Clark or someone in her office had gone to the media with the story. He accused Johnson of being “the shit starter.” He used profanity in the conversation with Clark, which was overheard by Lafferty on a speaker phone. The report makes quite a fuss about Williams’ use of the word “shit” in several instances and his generally threatening tone.

“It was clear to (Clark) that (Williams) expected her to clear up the ‘mess’ or else,” says the report.

The “or else” involved allegations that Williams was prepared to make about conflicts of interest in the assessor’s office, where Clark admits using approximately $1 million worth of temporary help during reappraisals.

Williams also told Clark, “I’m the wrong Negro to be messin’ with.”

Williams told Bowron that his boss is whoever happens to be the current chairman of the county commission and that “each chairman can operate under whatever rules he wants.”

The report concludes with this paragraph:

“Whether or not Mr. Williams’ conduct violates the county employee handbook or suggests other public misconduct, official misconduct, or official oppression under Tennessee law is not for this investigator to determine. However, one could hardly review the evidence gathered and not conclude that Mr. Williams wanted Mrs. Clark and her office to either take some affirmative action or cease taking action; one would also likely conclude that Mr. Williams wanted those hearing his voice to clearly understand that there would be consequences for those persons who chose not to comply with his demands.”

GRIZ BLOW ONE LATE

Alvin Williams gave the Toronto Raptors the lead, then made sure they never let it go.

Williams had a layup, two free throws and a key rebound in the final 38 seconds, lifting the Raptors to a 92-87 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies at The Pyramid.

Vince Carter scored 27 points for Toronto, which led for less than a minute over the final three quarters but nevertheless improved to 2-0 on their four-game road trip.

“It was real big for us to pull it out,” Williams said. “We just really dug down in the fourth quarter, even when they were making runs. We did a good job of keeping our composure and making plays at the end.”

Williams finished with 20 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. He had a breakaway layup during an 8-0 spurt that pulled the Raptors within a point with 3:40 remaining, then took charge in the last minute.

The 6-4 guard went all the way for a layup and an 88-87 lead with 38 seconds to play.

“Alvin has always been that Energizer Bunny for us,” Raptors center Antonio Davis said. “I really feel that if we kick the ball to him, he’ll make something happen. Luckily, this time he got the ball when he was a little bit ahead of the pack. And when it comes to chasing somebody down, I don’t think nobody in this league can chase that guy down.”

Davis blocked a sweeping drive by Pau Gasol, leading to two free throws by Williams with 15 seconds remaining.

“(The block) was everything, everything we had fought for to get to that point,” Williams said. “If they would’ve scored, the game would’ve been over. But he made that big block.”

The Grizzlies had a chance to tie, but Wesley Person missed a three-pointer from the right corner. The long rebound went to Williams, who lobbed a pass to Carter for a breakaway dunk that sealed the win.

“They (Raptors) made all the big plays and that’s what you’ve got to have,” Raptors coach Lenny Wilkens said. “I told them, ‘If we don’t quit, we’ll make good things happen.'”

Davis had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors, who have won consecutive games for just the second time this season. They have taken five of the last six meetings with the Grizzlies.

Shane Battier scored 14 points for Memphis, which had won two in a row following a season-opening 13-game losing streak.

“Today was just one of those days when the energy is there and then it’s not,” said Memphis coach Hubie Brown, who fell to 2-6 since replacing Sidney Lowe. “From three minutes left in the fourth quarter, we didn’t get the job done.”

A basket and free throw by Stromile Swift gave Memphis its largest lead at 83-74 with 5:42 to play. But Carter returned and made a floater in the lane, starting an 8-0 surge.

Michael Bradley had a follow shot and Williams had a layup before Davis sank two free throws to cut it to 83-82 with 3:40 left. Carter answered Battier’s follow dunk with two foul shots, and Davis answered Gasol’s hook with a tough reverse layup to make it 87-86 at the 2:24 mark.

Morris Peterson scored 10 points and Bradley added eight and nine rebounds for Toronto, which shot 44 percent (38-of-86) from the field.

“Michael Bradley did a very good job for them off the bench in offensive rebounding,” Brown said.

Gasol had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Jason Williams scored 10 points for Memphis, which shot 42 percent (36-of-85). Rookie Drew Gooden scored nine points on 9-of-17 shooting.

Swift’s driving layup opened the second quarter, gave the Grizzlies a 20-19 lead and started a 10-0 surge. Memphis held a 46-37 halftime lead, but Peterson scored six points in a 9-2 run that began the third quarter.

“It was a very unorthodox half, both ways – a lot of stoppages in the game and there just wasn’t really any continuity,” Carter said.

A basket by Jermaine Jackson gave the Raptors a 62-61 lead with 2:24 left, but the Grizzlies scored 21 seconds later and took a 67-64 edge into the final period.