The Toronto Raptors closed the home portion of their schedule with an energetic 111-104 win over the Philadelphia 76ers before 18,018 diehards at the Air Canada Centre.

As has become habit a team representative - Bosh in this case - took the floor before the game and offered brief recognition of the people who have been paying the $70-million (U.S.) payroll, and getting faint return at least by wins and losses.

The win improved Toronto to 18-23 at home and 31-49 on the season. Only the injury-riddled Washington Wizards did a worse job defending their home court in the Eastern Conference.

So just before the tip last night Bosh took the microphone. The tradition started in 1998 when then Raptors general manager Glen Grunwald walked to centre court at Maple Leaf Gardens (this in the pre-ACC era) and stood tall as the boos rained down at the end of a 16-66 season. Grunwald apologized and then went about making the team better.

But anyone expecting some kind of heartfelt mea culpa from Bosh, the franchise cornerstone and team captain, was likely disappointed last night.

"On behalf of the Raptors organization, we'd all like to thank you for the support this season. We know it's been rough, but thank you for you support," he said. "Without your support we wouldn't be able to be here. So thank you to the fans and we'll see you next season."

We?

Of course he backtracked - or at least sidetracked - after the game. To their credit the Raptors played with a decent amount of energy, holding off the playoff-bound 76ers despite giving up 22 offensive rebounds. They did it by shooting 53.8 per cent from the floor and converting 23-of-27 from the line while counting 27 assists on 42 field goals. So they delivered that way. Bosh led all scorers with 22 points.

But otherwise Bosh left his game on the floor.

"My employer right now is who it is right now," he said when asked about his future. "This [Toronto] is who I work for and who I play for. ... We're going to talk about [my future] later on. We haven't discussed it yet; we're going to talk about it later."

It's not surprising Bosh is playing coy about his plans as he heads into his free-agent season. His future isn't entirely up to him. But even team officials refer to his status as the elephant in the room.

And the tumbledown effect is considerable. Did Anthony Parker play his final game at the ACC as a Raptor last night? Shawn Marion has been at the very least intriguing as the small forward on a front line with Bosh and Bargnani. He hounded traditional Raptors killer Andre Iguodala into 10 turnovers and stole the ball from him with Philadelphia trailing by five with 40 seconds to play. It sealed the game, but Marion is a free agent this summer, too.

The coaching staff's contracts are all up at the end of June. Jay Triano might be back as the head coach, but maybe not. His assistants? Who knows.

"Welcome to limbo," joked one Raptors insider.

The organization did an earnest job trying to put a pleasant face on a disappointing home campaign. They called it Fanapalooza and filled the night with giveaways and promotions.

But it hardly makes up for a year in which the players the fans paid to watch too often left the floor not only with a loss, but without a scuffed knee or a causing their opponent to even get their back up.

"That has to be something that changes, obviously," Triano said.

SCORESHEET

NOTES Chris Bosh has a chance to eclipse his own franchise record for double-doubles in a season with 43, but he'll need two in his final two games after finishing last night with just eight rebounds to go with his 22 points. He set the franchise mark of 42 double-doubles in 2006-07. ... Jose Calderon is all but assured to surpass the NBA record for free-throw shooting accuracy set in 1980-81 by Calvin Murphy of the Houston Rockets, who hit 206-of-215 attempts for 95.8 per cent. Calderon made all four of his attempts last night and is 149-of-152 for the year for 98 per cent this season. ... Andrea Bargnani had four blocked shots in the first half last night and six for the game.

NEXT Tonight at Washington, 7 p.m. ET

TV TSN

Michael Grange