Lack of athleticism proves downfall against fleet Philadelphia MICHAEL GRANGE October 13, 2008 TORONTO -- The Toronto Raptors still have five preseason games remaining to get up to speed, but the question is whether they can get fast enough no matter how much time they have. The Raptors lost a not-so-pretty exhibition game to the Philadelphia 76ers at the Air Canada Centre yesterday afternoon 85-79, but at this time of the year it's not the loss that matters as much as how it happened. Philadelphia, fresh off a red-hot close to last season and buoyed by the off-season signing of Elton Brand, showed that the Raptors have some serious holes to fill. Most of them yesterday came in the form of cracks and crevices in the Raptors defence as Toronto spent much of the afternoon trying in vain to prevent a parade of Philadelphia ball handlers from making their way to the paint at will. As a finishing touch, high-flying Andre Iguodala's exclamation-mark dunk that put the game out of reach in the final seconds makes the point: Isolated at the top of the key against the much slower Jason Kapono, Iguodala simply rocked back and forth until he got the lane he wanted and made it to the rim unimpeded to put Philadelphia up by six with 12 seconds left. It was hardly Kapono's fault. There are few defenders in the NBA that the 76ers guard can't beat 1-on-1. But not one teammate came to his aid - a theme repeated all too often. "We didn't play good defence," said Kapono, who had his best shooting day of the preseason, knocking down 6 of 10 shots for 14 points to lead Raptors scorers. "We're trying to find our cohesiveness, it's not easy." Most of the optimism surrounding the Raptors in the buildup to the regular season has centred around the acquisition of Jermaine O'Neal to shore up Toronto's interior defence and rebounding. But as a roster such as Philadelphia's shows, the Raptors remain a team with just average athleticism among its perimeter players. Globe and Mail
