It was as if the bad old days came back to haunt the Raptors at the Air Canada Centre with a trapping, doubling, physical defence making it difficult for them to get any sustained flow to the game.
It resulted in turnover after turnover after turnover, rushed shots taken just to beat the shot clock, and not nearly enough of the ball and player movement Toronto has installed in an offence solely to handle that kind of defence.
And it almost resulted in a third straight loss.
Despite giving the ball away needlessly far too often, the Raptors hung on down the stretch to beat the Detroit Pistons 96-91 to snap a two-game losing streak.