TORONTO - The rare packed house at the Air Canada Centre might have come to see the Blake Griffin show, but the Toronto Raptors ended up stealing the spotlight.

Andrea Bargnani poured in 27 points, while Ed Davis finished with 13 and a career-high 14 rebounds to lead Toronto to a 98-93 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday, ending Toronto's three-game losing skid.

The Raptors stepped up their game amid all the hoopla about the Clippers' human highlight reel known as Griffin, the lone visiting player to receive cheers during team introductions and already one of the most exciting players in the league in his rookie season.

"I wish we could we could play a big game every night because every time we play a team with a superstar or a lot of hype around it, we definitely step up and we did tonight," said Toronto's DeMar DeRozan.

DeRozan had 17 points, while Jose Calderon added 10 points and 11 assists for the Raptors (15-40), who've won just two of their last 18 outings, and have won just 10 times at the Air Canada this season.

Griffin, second in the league in dunks behind Dwight Howard and a YouTube dunking sensation, finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds, stats that could easily have been higher had it not been for an excellent defensive effort by Davis.

"You listen to enough people talk about Blake Griffin, I think it gets our guys fired up to play and try to stop him," said Raptors coach Jay Triano. "They don't want to be the recipient of him dunking on them or making plays on them, so our guys were very focused and into making him work for everything that he had."

Baron Davis added 20 points for the Clippers (20-34), who've won just four games on the road this season.

The Raptors and Clippers paced each other virtually point-for-point through most of three quarters before the Raptors took a seven-point lead into the fourth.

The Clippers were coming off a humbling loss to the Cavaliers on Friday that snapped Cleveland's NBA-record 26-game losing streak, but it was the Raptors who played like they had something to prove down the stretch. Holding onto a two-point lead with just under four minutes to play, Bargnani drained a stepback jump shot from just inside the three-point line, and drew a foul for a three-point play to put the Raptors up 90-85.

A turnover led to an easy running dunk for Griffin with 1:24 to go that brought the Clippers within five. But Bargnani quickly connected on a 22-foot jumper 20 seconds later to seal the victory for Toronto.

"It feels good after all those losses to win a game at home, it was a very solid game, everybody played good, especially Ed, he did a great job on Blake all game long," Bargnani said.

The high-flying Griffin had the fans on the edge of their seats every time he touched the ball in the early going Sunday. The 22-year-old finally gave them what they wanted with 4:19 left in the first quarter, taking flight to slam home an alley-oop from Baron Davis. Griffin, who sat out last season after having reconstructive knee surgery, stared menacingly at the sideline TV camera as he dangled from the rim.

Asked what he would grade the dunk out of 10, DeRozan whistled and said: "11."

DeRozan will square off against Griffin in the dunk contest during next weekend's all-star festivities in Los Angeles, and the emerging Raptor wasn't to be outdone by his Clippers rival on Sunday, taking a pass from Calderon and driving to the hoop for his own monstrous one-handed dunk in the third that brought the sellout crowd of 19,800 to its feet.

"It was just fun," said DeRozan, who glanced over at the Clippers bench on his way back up the court. "When we get out running in transition, it's definitely fun, and to be able to get dunks is definitely big. I don't dunk as much as Blake in a game so that was a good one."

The two met at centre court to compare notes after the final buzzer.

"We were talking about the dunk contest, he tried to ask me what I've got, I tried to ask him what he's got, but we weren't telling anybody," DeRozan said.

The capacity crowd was just the third for Toronto this season -- the other sellouts were games against Boston and the L.A. Lakers -- and Griffin was a big reason.

"It's exciting and humbling, but at the same time I have to realize that my main priority is first to win," Griffin said, of the crowds he draws. "I would rather play in front of three people and win rather than 20,000 and lose."

Leandro Barbosa chipped in with 11 points for Toronto, while Sonny Weems added 10.

Brian Cook had 17 points for the Clippers, while Ryan Gomes added 14.

DeRozan led Toronto with 10 points in the first quarter as the Raptors went up by six points several times, but the Clippers scored the final six points of the frame and the score was tied 24-24 heading into the second.

The Raptors and Clippers paced each other through a second quarter that saw the score tied 10 times, neither team leading by more than three points. Calderon scored on a driving layup with three seconds left in the half, and the two teams headed into the dressing room tied 48-48.

The Raptors finally put some distance on the Clippers, taking a 10-point lead with 1:32 left in the third on a hook shot by Ed Davis. Toronto led 78-71 with one quarter left in the game.

NOTES: Former Raptors captain Chris Bosh makes his first of two trips to Toronto on Wednesday when the Raptors host the Miami Heat. That game is Toronto's last before the all-star break. . . Ed Davis's previous rebounding high was 13 on Friday. . . The game marked the Raptors' 500th regular-season game at the Air Canada Centre. . . The Raptors swept their series with Cleveland the previous two seasons.