<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>How bad? Historically bad.In one of the darkest nights in the team's history last night, the Raptors set records for defensive ineptitude in a capitulation of outrageous proportions that will etch this version of the franchise in the record book for dubious achievements. They gave up more points in a half and more in a first quarter than any Toronto team ever has – and that's quite a list of teams that were mediocre at best – in a 137-105 drubbing administered by the Denver Nuggets. Denver's 79-point first half was the most points ever surrendered in a half, eclipsing the 78 the Los Angeles Clippers got against Toronto on March 13, 1998, near the end of the horrific 16-66 third season. Denver's 44-point first quarter was the worst start to a game ever by the Raptors, who gave up 42 first-quarter points against Milwaukee in January 2000. The 137 total points given up were the most this season and the fourth highest total in team history. And as punishment, the players will see it all again. "We're going to watch the whole game and then we're going back to our basics of playing defence and you have to play defence to stay on the court," said an angry Sam Mitchell. "If you're not playing defence, you have to come sit down. It's that simple because we're not going to win if we don't play defence." The numbers didn't tell the entire tale. Toronto simply didn't compete after about the first six minutes, allowing the Nuggets to do as they pleased. Denver, which shot a shocking 73 per cent in the first quarter and 64 in the first half, repeatedly got out on the break for easy baskets, found shooters wide open on the perimeter all night and had the game put away before the second quarter even began. "It's indecisiveness, not doing what you're supposed to do," said Mitchell. "When you go over the scouting report and say `no baseline drives, this guy likes to drive baseline' ... he beats you once, okay; he beats you twice, okay; the third time he beats you and the help is standing there saying, `I got your help, bring him this way' and the guy still beats you? We just have to find guys who are recommitted to playing defence the way we played it earlier." The Raptors, now 0-3 on this five-game road trip, have lost four of their last five and seven of nine and still have back-to-back road games in Sacramento tomorrow and Utah on Monday before they get back to the comfort of home.</div> Source: The Toronto Star <span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><u>Simply Humiliating</u> </span> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>It was a record-setting night for the Raptors. All the wrong records. And it had Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell suggesting changes will be in the offing if they have another collective defensive meltdown like they had last night in a thoroughly humbling 137-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets. "The last two games we're not guarding anybody," a visibly upset Mitchell said. "(Today) we'll get a chance to practise. We'll watch the whole game. It's like I told the guys, we've now gone from 12th in the league defensively to (something like) 17th. We're not guarding, and if you're not guarding, you're going to have to come out of the game. "We just have to find guys who are going to be committed to playing defence like we played earlier and made us 12th in the league and those will be the guys who will play." The records came early. The embarrassment, though, was from start to finish.</div> Source: The Toronto Sun
