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Fresh off two dismal efforts at home, the Toronto Raptors found a new and more devastating way to lose.

Carmelo Anthony buried an 18-foot fadeaway at the buzzer to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 97-96 come-from-behind win over the Raptors on Friday night.

Toronto played some of its best basketball of the season over the first three quarters but crumbled in the fourth, watching a 12-point lead melt away following a series of mistakes.

Three in the final minute — a Chris Bosh missed free throw and a pair of Denver offensive rebounds — helped set up Anthony’s dagger shot.

After the all-star forward missed his first shot attempt in the dying seconds, the loose ball was batted to Nene.

He swung it to Chauncey Billups, who fed Anthony inside the arc. Anthony dribbled once and hoisted up a jumper that went in as the final horn sounded, drawing gasps from the sellout crowd of 19,800 at Air Canada Centre.

“It always hurts to lose a close game like that,” said Bosh. “We just have to place this behind us and go on to the next game.”

Anthony, who led all scorers with 25 points, wasn’t so sure it was going in.

“Chauncey got the ball, I [saw] Bargnani chasing him out and I just cut to the basket,” said Anthony. “It was just one of those shots that went in. [When] I released it, I thought it was long.”

Anthony said it was fun to suck the life out of the crowd.

“I reckon hitting one on the road, you get that much more joy out of it,” said Anthony. “That much more satisfaction. You’ve got 20 thousand people against you and you can make a shot to silence them? That feels excellent.”

Billups chips in

Nene added 20 for the Nuggets (48-25), who avoided their first four-game losing streak since February 2007. Billups chipped in 18 points, despite going just 4-for-18 from the field.

Bosh had 18 points and 12 rebounds, DeMar DeRozan added 15 points in a rare reserve role and Andrea Bargnani place up 14 points and 15 rebounds.

Sonny Weems also had 14 points for Toronto (35-36), which has dropped two straight to remain entrenched in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. The loss comes as the Raptors enter a pivotal two-game road stretch against Charlotte and Miami, the two teams directly in front of them in the East.

Toronto had dropped its previous two games at ACC by a combined 52 points. And while Friday’s heartbreaker may sting for a while, the Raptors did plenty right — outrebounding Denver 58-38 and holding the third-best offence in the NBA under 100 points.

Head coach Jay Triano said it was simple to glean some positives from it.

“We rebounded extremely well,” said Triano. “To outrebound a team by 20, to hold this team to 41 per cent from the field, I thought our defensive schemes were excellent.

“Their stars made plays. It’s tough to swallow, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Bosh, who has expressed frustration at his team’s recent lack of effort, said he want to see more games like this one.

“It just goes to show we’re gonna have to give that effort every night, from here until the season is over,” said Bosh. “If we do that, we can have a lot of fun playing basketball, and I reckon we’ll be in a better position for success later.”

Sabres’ Drew Stafford deflects the puck into the pads of Senators goalie Brian Elliott. (Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

Given a small window of opportunity against their nemesis, the Buffalo Sabres were their own worst enemy.

Penalty distress led to a Jason Spezza power-play goal while the Sabres failed to score on four manpower advantages of their own in a 4-2 loss to the visiting Ottawa Senators on Friday night.

It was Buffalo’s fifth loss in as many meetings this season versus the Senators and the ninth consecutive defeat at the hands of Ottawa, which closed to within five points of the Northeast Division-leading Sabres with a third straight win.

Buffalo did halt the shutout streak of Brian Elliott, who couldn’t stop a deflected puck off the left skate of Senators defenceman Erik Karlsson at 10:52 of the second period.

Elliott, who blanked Montreal and Philadelphia earlier this week and made 41 saves Friday, went 175 minutes 41 seconds without allowing a goal. Current Sabres netminder Patrick Lalime holds the Ottawa record at 184:06.

More to come

Denver’s Carmelo Anthony, right, drives into Toronto’s Andrea Bargnani. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)

Carmelo Anthony buried an 18-foot fadeaway at the buzzer to lead the Denver Nuggets to a come-from-behind 97-96 win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.

After Anthony missed his first shot attempt, the loose ball was batted to Nene. He swung it to Chauncey Billups, who fed Anthony inside the arc. Anthony dribbled once and hoisted up a jumper that found mesh as the final horn sounded, drawing gasps from the crowd at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre.

Anthony led all scorers with 25 points, while Nene added 20 for the Nuggets (48-25), who avoided their first four-game losing streak since February 2007. Billups chipped in 18 points, despite going just 4-for-18 from the field.

Chris Bosh had 18 points and 12 rebounds, DeMar DeRozan added 15 points in a rare reserve role and Andrea Bargnani place up 14 points and 15 rebounds. Sonny Weems also had 14 points for eighth-place Toronto (35-36), which has dropped two straight entering a pivotal two-game road stretch against Charlotte and Miami, the two teams directly in front of them in the Eastern Conference.

Down four at the half, the Raptors took advantage of some shoddy Denver shooting — the Nuggets shot a putrid three-for-21 in the quarter — and seized the lead with seven minutes to go in the third. Bosh added consecutive dunks later in the quarter, and Toronto rode that momentum to an 81-72 advantage entering the fourth.

A Marco Belinelli jumper extended the lead to 12 before the Nuggets answered, with a Billups three fuelling a 9-0 run. An Anthony 18-footer evened the score with 1:39 remaining, but Bargnani followed with a running layup and drew a foul, making the shot to place Toronto back up by three.

Anthony missed a pair of free throws at the other end, but Denver retained possession and Billups hit a three with 33.9 seconds left. Bosh drew a foul on Toronto’s next possession and converted one of two free throws to place Toronto up 96-95 with 16.2 seconds remaining, setting up the frenetic end.

With Hedo Turkoglu missing the game with a stomach virus and DeRozan struggling of late, the Raptors retooled their starting lineup, inserting Weems and Antoine Wright. The go paid dividends — Weems and DeRozan scored in double figures, while Wright added eight points and six rebounds.

Just as it had in Wednesday’s 26-point loss to the Utah Jazz, poor shooting stung the Raptors early on. They made just two of their first 10 shots — Wright missed a pair of three-point attempts terribly — and the Nuggets cruised to a 10-4 lead just four minutes in.

A Billups three extended Denver’s lead to nine and, despite a pair of DeRozan baskets from in close late in the quarter, the Nuggets loved a 26-19 advantage after one.

Belinelli led the Raptors back in the second. His three from the corner on a bounce pass from Bosh made it a one-point game, and Jarrett Jack added five straight points midway through the quarter to vault Toronto in front 40-36.

Denver responded immediately — an Aaron Afflalo three restored Denver’s lead, and he polished off a three-way passing play with an uncontested layup to highlight a 9-0 run. Smith added an off-balance three in the final minute, and the Nuggets led 56-52 at the half.