ESPN - Weekend Dime: Grudge Games - NBA
“What am I going to do? Lock him in the hotel room?”

Raptors coach Sam Mitchell, scoffing at the idea that Dallas-reared Chris Bosh returning home Tuesday night would actually be more distracting than motivating in the midst of Bosh’s slow start to the season.

Mitchell’s scoffing proved justified, too, when Bosh totaled 31 points and 12 rebounds in his homecoming. The breakout game couldn’t prevent a painful 105-99 loss to the Mavericks in which visiting Toronto squandered a 24-point lead, but Bosh literally and figuratively rebounded the next night with 22 points and 19 boards in a six-point win at Memphis that lifted the Raps to 6-6.

The performances were by far Bosh’s best back-to-back games of the season, after he had generated more turnovers (10) than baskets (nine) in his previous two games. He’s clearly been struggling with his outside shot and his confidence — confidence in his game as well as his body — but Bosh believes he has finally “turned a corner” in his recovery from the plantar fasciitis that has plagued him since last season and a knee injury sustained early in training camp.