"It felt like it looked," the Raptors guard said yesterday, referring to a play on Thursday on which he was taken down hard by Charles Oakley of the Chicago Bulls.

"Yeah, I saw it on TSN (late Thursday night). I happened to be watching. It was a tough one. But it's just pain as usual (yesterday). Nothing out of the ordinary."

The Oakley tackle was the turning point as the Raptors subsequently played more inspired basketball and came back to post a 96-91 win.

When asked if anyone but Oakley -- a former Raptor -- could get away with such a mugging without prompting retaliatory strikes, Carter said, "Probably not.

"I just had to deal with it and keep going. We were trying to win the game and it was a crucial point. We didn't need anybody else getting thrown out, especially on our team (which was missing two regulars in Hakeem Olajuwon and Chris Childs)."