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I guess there are many reasons why the Raptors lost against the Trail Blazers Saturday night in Portland, I will try to discuss a few of the biggest reasons I noticed while I watched. Firstly, the Raptors came into Portland with a small 2 game win streak with wins against the Clippers and the Kings. It doesn't sound like much, but at this point in the season, small victories are vital to the health of this team. Most of the year, this team has struggled with ball control and finding opponents shooters in the context of the defensive schemes they have been using. With the team focused on interior defense and protecting the paint, they have allowed teams to beat them from the outside as the Hornets did, as the Nets did and as Brandon Roy and LeMarcus Aldridge did last night. With a combined 43 points, these two were able to find shot after shot over the defense and were pretty much wide open combine that with some timely rebounds and you get a sense of the frustration this team has faced as they seem unable to contain shooters or it seems every team has one guy turn in a spectacular game against them. As Jay continues to work, this team has gotten better at closing out shooters, but last night, it seemed they could not find the open guy, who was usually Brandon Roy.

Another area of concern was the ineffectiveness of our secondary scorers to contribute consistent points. Jason Kapono and Joey Graham are players that this team needs to get points from as that means that they are involved in the game and are able to take the focus off our big 3 guys. Jason was the only starter to not score a point last night and that is a huge reason why this game was lost in the second half. With only Chris Bosh and Jermaine O'Neal the only two scoring the Trail Blazers were able to collapse both LeMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden making the inside a tough place to score. The fact that they scored 29 and 17 is a testimony to how hard they worked and earned every point. Had Jermaine been able to get a few of the calls the refs seemed to not notice, this game could have been different in the end. Alas, the fact is, your scorers are paid to score. Andrea Bargnani was hot in the first half and scored 13 for the game, but he was ineffective in the second half and was relegated to the bench in the 3rd as the Raptors fell behind.

The third quarter was full of turnovers as the Raptors gave the ball away 8 times after only 3 in the first half. A large part of that was Will Solomon not being able to consistently make the correct entry pass. Jose Calderon as well, one of the premier guards in assist/turnover ration in the league turned the ball over 4 times in the game. The Trail Blazers were able to use their quickness and their length to create very difficult passing lanes for the Raptors after a half time adjustment. Scoring 10 points in any quarter in an NBA game will make it tough to win a game and is a testament to the quality of the team you are facing. The Trail Blazers are the youngest team in the league, but are well coached and have some excellent young talent with guys like Travis Outlaw, Steve Blake, Rudy Fernandez, as well as Greg Oden, Roy and Aldridge. Sitting in 6th place in the west, this team will be a very tough team to take out in a 7 game series.

As nice as the win would have been, last night, the guys looked like they are near the end of a grueling road trip with one more game against the Warriors Monday night, then they return home to host the Nuggets and the Rockets later this week. This Raptors team has begun to look much better defensively and showed a lot of heart on the boards Saturday night grabbing 12 offensive boards with Jamario Moon scoring on a couple put backs. One thing they will need to remember is that every team in this league has at least one guy who can light it up every night and someone will step up and score against them until they close out on the edges more consistently. They have improved, but still have work to do there.