The bleak midwinter of the Toronto Raptors continued last night in Orlando. Another weak team, the Magic, hung around during the first half, then took advantage of a Raptors offensive stallout in Q3. Toronto came close to overtaking the lead midway through Q4, but couldn’t do so, and never threatened in crunch time.
While coach Dwane Casey may remain in high dudgeon about his squad’s defense, the real problem is on the other side of the ball. Two starters, Patrick Patterson and DeMarre Carroll, contributed no points. 2-Pat at least had an excuse; he left the game after 6+ minutes and didn’t return.