- What’s the cure for a three-game losing streak? If you’re the Milwaukee Bucks, it’s a road date against the Andrea Bargnani-less Toronto Raptors.

- In the first game of a seven-game home stand, the Raptors offered little resistance on the perimeter, as the Bucks shot 12-25 from beyond the arc on their way to a 105-99 victory.

- Former Raptor Carlos "Count Chocula" Delfino accounted for half of those triples on his way to a season-high 25 points. DeMar DeRozan might have dropped 25 points on his own – but when you can’t check your man on defence, the scoring doesn’t mean as much.

- The free-throw disparity also played a role in this one. The Bucks connected on 27-for-37 while the Raptors shot 16-for-17 from the charity stripe.

- Somehow, the lowest-scoring first quarter team in the NBA (19.5 points) managed to take a 29-28 lead after one. However, all the offensive promise of the opening frame dissipated over the remainder of this sloppy matchup.

- Toronto managed to battle back from a double-digit deficit to tie things up at 69 in the third quarter. It was close the rest of the way, but ultimately the Dinos just ran out of bullets.

- The point guard battle never materialized, as potential All-Star reserve Brandon Jennings struggled to score 11 points on 3-for-12 shooting and Jose Calderon went 4-for-12 from the field. The advantage clearly went to Calderon, however, as he dished out 15 assists to go with just one turnover.

- Another lopsided matchup occurred up front, with Drew Gooden putting up 20-and-14 compared to Amir Johnson’s paltry 7-and-6.

- And in a two-possession game with less than a minute to go, Calderon’s inability to box out Jennings and the Raptors’ failure to secure a key rebound on a Stephen Jackson free-throw miss sealed it.

-The Toronto Raptors put in a surprising effort against the Miami Heat and were actually in it for the majority of the contest. Despite an impressive first half by the Dino’s they couldn’t sustain their great play in the second half, and dropped this contest to the Heat 95-89.

- Dwayne Casey again elected to utilize a smaller starting lineup with Jerryd Bayless at the 2 and James Johnson at the 4;this gave the Raptors a little more movement on the offensive end which helped them get off to a favorable start before J.J got into foul trouble.

- The Raptors got a huge effort out of Demar DeRozan who seems to have a big performance every four games or so. DeRozan dropped in 25 points, 16 of which were in the first half. DeMar also led the team in free throw attempts with 11, a good sign for DeRozan given his recent tendency to settle for long jumpers rather than attack the basket.

- After an impressive first half which ended with the Raps trailing by just 5, the wheels began to come off in the third. The Dino’s offense struggled mightily and suffered through a scoring drought of 4:38 before ultimately finding themselves in a 13 point hole heading into the fourth quarter. There was no doubt that the poor play by the Raptors in that third quarter ended up costing them the game in the end.

-The Miami Heat’s "big three" played like superstars in this one. LeBron James finished with 30 points, while Dwayne Wade had 25 and Chris Bosh added 12 points and 8 rebounds to lift the Heat over the Raptors.

-The Raptors' bench gave them a huge lift in the ballgame; their bench outscored the Heat's 31-15, highlighted by Linas Kleiza's 17 point outburst. Ed Davis was also solid, grabbing 8 rebounds and scoring 8 points.

- Even though the Raptors lost this game, the effort they put out in consecutive games now has to be encouraging. The Dinos will look to continue their momentum as they take on the Washington Wizards again Monday night.

- Despite a somewhat promising opening quarter, the Dinos faltered in the second quarter and found themselves down by 19 points at the half. The large deficit would prove to be too large, as the Raptors were unable to get back into the game in subsequent quarters.

- The Raptors offense struggled once again without their leading scorer. The Dinos shot just 37% from the floor and 20% from beyond the arc. The Raps compounded their shooting struggles by taking very poor care of the basketball-as a result the team turned the ball over 19 times which lead to 27 Hawk points.

-Defense was also an adventure for the Raptors on this night. The Hawks were allowed to do pretty much anything they wished against the Raptors porous D; The Hawks shot a whopping 51% from the floor which included a number of easy buckets in the paint.

- Joe Johnson, a notorious Raptor killer, led all scorers with 30 points, while former Raptors Tracy McGrady added 15 off of the bench. Hawks starters Zaza Pachulia, Marvin Williams and Jeff Teague added to their balanced offensive attack, all scoring in double figures with 10

- On the Raptors' side of things there weren't many bright spots; however, Ed Davis' 11 rebound, 9 point night does standout. In addition Gary Forbes had another impressive outing, scoring 10 points in 16 minutes, albeit largely during garbage time.

- Leandro Barbosa returned to the lineup, but was ineffective; Barbosa netted just 4 points in 17 minutes of work. Likewise, DeMar DeRozan was also ineffective; despite coming off of an impressive 27 point performance against the Nets on Sunday, DeRozan mustered just 9 points on on 3 of 9 shooting against the Hawks.

- The Dinos are going to have to shake this one off quickly as they head into Boston for a matchup with the Celtics tomorrow night.

- Missing two of their biggest offensive weapons in Andrea Bargnani and Leandro Barbosa, the Toronto Raptors somehow managed to cruise to a 21-point victory over the New Jersey Nets. As broadcaster Matt Devlin noted, the 21-point lead with just over five minutes to go was the Raptors' largest lead over an opponent this season. And they held on to make it the final margin of victory.

- The Raptors finished with their first winning record on a road trip of five games or more since 2001. Yes, we had to take it back to the glory days of Vince Carter and Antonio Davis to find a Raptors team that had a better showing on an extended road swing. The Raptors improved to 5-9 on the road (they won all of six games on the road last season).

- Dwane Casey decided to shake things up with a small-ball starting lineup of Jose Calderon, Jerryd Bayless, DeMar DeRozan, James Johnson and Amir Johnson. And it paid dividends early as the Raptors finished the opening frame tied at 24.

- DeRozan displayed an aggressiveness rarely seen from the third-year pro. He dropped an efficient 27 points on just 12 shots while getting to the line a career-high 16 times. If someone could figure out how to coax that type of effort out of DeRozan on a nightly basis, I'm sure the Raptors organization would pay you a lot of money.

- For the Nets, it was Deron Williams and little else. Williams took 20 shots to score 24 points and looked annoyed (to say the least) as he watched the minutes tick away during garbage time. Anthony Morrow was the only other Net in double figures.

- Thankfully, the Nets' scorching three-point shooting from the last time these two teams faced each other didn't carry over to this contest. The team that will soon call Brooklyn home was just 7-for-22 from outside.

- It wasn't pretty, and you couldn't call what the Raptors played for a lot of the game "defense" but there were definitely highlights and enough for the Raptors to take it and beat the Phoenix Suns

- To start off, Andrea Bargnani's return was a massive boost for the club as he poured in buckets in the second half. If you were wondering if the Raptors missed Bargs presence, you just had to look at this game to see the impact. All in all, our returning "power forward" amassed 36 points to get the Raptors over the hump

- Oh, and defensively, Bargnani was still a step slow coming back from his injury. However, he managed to pull in 6 boards and play very impressive pick and roll defense with Jose Calderon. Yup, that's your two worst defenders from previous years being huge troublemakers for the Suns' pick and roll schemes. (Something that will be an emerging storyline from Casey's first year as coach)

- James Johnson also managed to even out some boneheaded plays with some effective offense. He crashed the offensive glass and managed to find 18 points on some very effective shooting and second chance points.

- Until the second half got rolling though, it was Leandro Barbosa who sustained the Raptors and barraged the Suns with 3 pointers. Once again, Barbosa showed why the Raptors simply can't depend on DeRozan for any kind of consistent offense or defense.

- On the other side, Robin Lopez was ejected for nudging an official in the first half and Steve Nash even picked up a technical after arguing a missed call.

- The Suns got a lot of scoring from Marcin Gortat and Hakim Warrick, both of which abused the Raptors individual defenders for most of the game.

- Overall it's a great win, and a great release of pressure as the Raptors travel to Utah to face the Jazz

-The Toronto Raptor's struggles continued, as they dropped their 8^th consecutive game 103 to 91 at the hands of the upstart Los Angeles Clippers. The game was not as close as the score indicates-the Raptors took advantage of extended garbage minutes to close the gap a bit in the fourth quarter.

-The Raptors once again got out to an awful start, scoring just 11 points in the opening Q. They dug themselves a 16 point hole which, in the end, they were unable to dig themselves out of. This is the 4^th time in their last 5 games that the Dinos were unable to reach the 14 point plateau in the first quarter.

-Heading into the game the starting front court battle was going to be a key for the Raptors if they hoped to steal one from the Clippers sans Chris Paul; unfortunately, the Clippers absolutely dominated that matchup. DeAndre Jordan went for 16 points and 16 rebounds, and Blake Griffin scored 18 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. Conversely the Raptors got relatively little out of their starters. Amir Johnson played just 6 minutes, scoring a single point and grabbing a solitary rebound. Ed Davis fared slightly better, grabbing 5 rebounds and scoring 7 points.

-The Raptors offensive woes continued without their leading scorer Andrea Bargnani in the lineup. The Raptors shot just 35% from the floor and 38% from beyond the arc. DeMar DeRozan had another rough shooting night, hitting on just 4 of his 19 shot attempts and tallying 15 points. The other Raptor starters, James Johnson and Jose Calderon combined to shoot 4-16 and scored just 10 points between the two of them.

-The Raptors bench provided the lone bright spots for the club. Leandro Barbosa scored a team high 19 points and Linas Klieza added 16 points of his own, looking much more fluid on the offensive end. Aaron Gray also showed signs of coming around; he grabbed 8 rebounds in 15 minutes of work.

-In the end, the Clippers got great performances out of their front court starters and a nice one-two scoring punch off the bench from Caron Butler and Mo Williams who combined for 41 points to sink the Raptors at the Staples Center. The Raptors will now look to end their 8 game losing streak on Tuesday night in Phoenix against the Suns

- As the Toronto Raptors learned last week against the New Jersey Nets, there are no guaranteed wins for this team. Facing a Washington Wizards squad that had tuned out its coach and scored above 90 just twice this season, the Raptors dropped a 93-78 decision to the team formerly known as the Bullets and failed once again to climb to the .500 mark.

- The Wizards got to the rim at will in the first half, scoring 38 of their 46 points in the paint. They scored 54 points in the paint overall.

- Twenty-two turnovers leading to 19 Wizards points also didn't help the cause.

- Andrea Bargnani continued to lead the way on offence with 22 points on an efficient 9-for-16 from the field, as he builds a case to play in his first All-Star game. But if this team is going to enjoy any type of sustained success, Il Mago needs to bring it on both ends of the floor every game and not allow opposing teams to form a layup line to the bucket.

- Of course, as soon as the Raptors switched to a zone defence in the 3^rd quarter and tried to pack it in, Chris Singleton hit a triple. It was that kind of night.

- Want to know how bad it got for the Raptors? The corpse of Rashard Lewis – the same Lewis who refused to play the other night after arguing with Sam "Big Balls Dance" Cassell – led the Wizards in scoring with 15 points.

- The Raptors shot an anemic 40% from the field and 4-20 from beyond the arc. And those numbers actually improved significantly in garbage time!

- Rasual Butler continues to be one of the worst starters in the NBA. Why this guy plays let alone starts remains the biggest mystery of the season. Unfortunately, James Johnson and Gary Forbes aren’t doing much to warrant a change in the starting lineup.

- The Raptors finish up their only back-to-back-to-back set tomorrow night in Toronto against the Sacramento Kings… the same Kings who got blown out 112-85 in Philadelphia tonight.

- The Toronto Raptors grinded out a win in the Mecca of Basketball, defeating the Amar'e Stoudemire-less New York Knicks 90-85. The Raptors held the Knicks to 35.9 percent shooting overall and just 28.6 percent from beyond the arc.

- The Raptors were on fire in the first half, shooting 58.3 percent to take a 17-point lead into the lockerroom. Andrea Bargnani was perfect from the field - but seemed to do a bit of a disappearing act after a 4-for-4 effort in the first quarter. And DeMar DeRozan showed flashes of aggressiveness while matching his season average of 16 in the first half.

- Contrast that with the Knicks who shot just 28.2 percent after two quarters. Take away the five 3-pointers and it could've been a lot uglier for the Knicks.

- Although Toney Douglas torched the nets in the third quarter to shave eight points off the lead, the Raptors finished strong.

- Carmelo Anthony dropped 13 points in the fourth quarter, as the Knicks closed to within one on two occasions. But the Raptors really made Melo work for his points this evening. He shot just 13-for-31 from the field to get his 35 points. Outside of the streaky Douglas, Melo carried the team offensively.

- Bargnani played the closer with under a minute to go, nailing a jumper and then getting fouled on consecutive possessions. He hit two free throws with 17.7 seconds left to put the Raptors up three, 88-85. Bargnani has now scored 20 or more in four consecutive games.

- The corpse of Rasual Butler also woke up to post a double-double (13 points and 10 rebounds). He nailed three 3-pointers while giving James Johnson and Gary Forbes splinters.

- Overall, it was nice to see the young, rebuilding Raptors bend but not break on one of the biggest stages in pro basketball.