An OMB joynt.

Hey! The defence is back! Not that it made any difference. San Antonio's defense was even better. Or at least, their players were allowed to get away with more hacks and dives than we were. That's still defence, right? Bruce Bowen has got to be one of the top 5 most irritating players to watch in the NBA, because he brings so little to the table other than his ability to get away with more flops than anybody else (except Derek Fisher, or course). Why do refs like Joey Crawford still fall for their tricks? Oh yeah, because he graduated from the Dick Bavetta School of Helping Flawed Championship Teams To Repeat.

Despite the garbage play, the Raptors offence over the four quarters was still wildly inconsistent. How do you drop in 32 points in the 3rd, but get 9 and 10 in the second and fourth? That's just brutal. All they needed was a couple of made jumpers and they still could have walked out of the SBC Centre with an upset win. As a fan, these are the ones that stick in your craw for a few days. Especially since I was on the brink of permanently changing the channel at half-time and then they dragged me back into it with that big 3rd, only to cough it up again in the fourth.

There were a few positive signs, for those of you who need us to throw you a bone. The Raps actually outrebounded the Spurs 42-40, so if they bring that style of positional defence consistently against the Knicks and Magic over the weekend, it should help the cause to remain above .500 before the Christmas break. Donyell Marshall also continued his very solid play by snagging 14 of those 42 boards. I mean, what more can we ask of this guy, really? Well, other than to maybe hit that WIDE OPEN CORNER TREY TO TIE!

Anyways, despite the four game losing streak I'm still not ready to punch the panic button, since the last two games did involve teams that we might just as well have crossed off the schedule as losses before the season even started. However, you might want to check my blood pressure again Sunday night.