With his team failing to consistently implement the defensive system it has been working on since training camp, coach Jay Triano agrees it might be time for some "tweaking" to basic principles employed by the majority of NBA teams. Whether that means more switching, more double-teams, more zone or more stuff unrecognizable to the casual observer is still open for discussion. "Do we think about tweaking things a little bit? Yes," Triano said after the 7-11 team worked out at the Air Canada Centre on Tuesday.
"We've got guys that are maybe not good individual defenders or (who) struggle guarding certain things and we have to provide help and assistance for them, and I think that's up to me to find out how to best utilize these guys at both ends of the floor."
That the Raptors are not a good defensive team should come as no surprise, given their personnel. They don't have a true "lock-down defender" on the roster, their big men are hardly intimidating and the best they probably can hope for is to finish in the top 20 among teams in most defensive statistical categories.
And going against three pretty good offenses in their next three games -- at Atlanta, at Washington and at Chicago -- might force them to make changes regardless of what the coach thinks now.
WIZARDS 106, RAPTORS 102: The Raptors were outscored 34-25 in the fourth quarter -- making just 8 of 23 field goals -- as they suffered their fourth straight loss. Hedo Turkoglu committed his fourth and final turnover on the game's most vital possession, losing the handle on the ball driving with Toronto down two and about 30 seconds left. Chris Bosh had 22 to lead Toronto.
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