Meanwhile Mitchell's successor, Jay Triano, awoke Thursday morning on the one-year anniversary of his promotion to head coach facing his first public crisis on the job. After an unconscionable defensive effort that saw the Raptors surrender the second-most points in franchise history, more than one player openly criticized the coach's schemes in the game's solemn wake.

And more than one veteran voice said Triano is failing to call out the players who are making the most egregious defensive mistakes.

"Every time something happens it's always, 'It's okay, it's all right.' It's not all right," said Jarrett Jack, the reserve guard. "Problems go by without attacking them or challenging them or bringing them to the forefront and getting them solved. We can't keep keep putting them to the back of the bus and just saying, 'That's okay.' It's not all right. Everybody can't walk on eggshells around here and say, 'We're playing good Basketball.' We're not."

Said Antoine Wright: "You've got to address (the defensive issues) and you've got to show people on tape. It's not personal. If you want to win, you're going to have to make some sacrifices."

Wright, who has criticized Triano's schemes previously, was the only Raptor not to see the floor on Wednesday. He said Triano has failed to "call out" under-performing Raptors because unnamed teammates are "too sensitive" to criticism. And although he and Jack were the most explicit in their post-game assessments, their sentiments weren't unique. After Triano gave a post-game press briefing in which he said he couldn't fault his team's effort - "I can't say I (saw players) not trying out there" - other eyes remembered it another way.

"The defensive effort hasn't been there for a while. We didn't magically appear last on the charts defensively," said all-star forward Chris Bosh, who, after scoring two points on two field-goal attempts, didn't seem thrilled with the offence, either. "I mean, tonight was just a total embarrassment. We couldn't stop anybody. We haven't stopped anybody all year."

A year to the night the Raptors dropped a 39-point loss in Denver that got Mitchell fired, perhaps the only difference was that on Wednesday, Mitchell had the option of retreating to a luxurious lounge for a glass of red wine after his old employer fell behind 24 points in the first half and never made a rally.

Triano, meanwhile, is left to figure out how to snap the Raptors out of an early season malaise. That the locker room is filled with public suggestions cannot be a good thing. In Mitchell's four-plus seasons it's difficult to remember more than the occasional moment when his strategies were openly questioned - and it was usually by Bosh, an all-star with the right to vent.

If the beef is that Triano isn't being tough enough on the defensive weak links - and a large percentage of the starting lineup pops to mind - it rings true. Even Triano's allies in the organization - and he is such an agreeable man he doesn't possess a known enemy - have quietly wondered about his ability to impose discipline on self-interested multi-millionaires. With no previous experience as a pro head coach before this, certainly he deserves time to figure out the art.

But he'd best do it soon.

"You can keep talking about it and talking about it and talking about it. It's time to act," said Bosh.