Live by the buzzer-beater, die by the buzzer-beater.

It was the Raptors who came out on the losing end of a miracle yesterday, falling 91-90 to the Phoenix Suns before a stunned Air Canada Centre crowd of 19,800.

The Suns' Penny Hardaway scored the winning basket on a driving layup 0.1 seconds before the game ended, taking a great pass from teammate Rodney Rogers. It was Hardaway who had in-bounded the ball to Rogers with three seconds to play, and the pair worked a precise give-and-go for the victory.

"The game isn't over till it's all zeros on the board," said Hardaway, whose Suns lost in Boston on Friday after the Celtics sent the game to overtime with a buzzer-beating bucket.

The Suns yesterday robbed Raptors guard Vince Carter of the distinction of being a game-winning hero twice in a row. Carter had given the Raptors a 90-89 lead yesterday when he grabbed a rebound off his own miss and hit a nearly impossible fadeaway jumper with three seconds to go.