Analysis: Raptors getting it together on D

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ -- If you needed a microcosm for the Toronto Raptors' season so far, the last 24 hours couldn't have been more perfect in its imperfection.

Thanks to a Biblical deluge in the New Jersey area on Thursday, the Raptors encountered more than five hours in delays in trying to fly into The Garden State. Once they got to Jersey, the Raptors journey didn't become any easier. On Friday, their first bus from their hotel in Jersey City to the IZOD Center got stuck in traffic and turned the 19-minute trip into an hour-long one.

Their second bus, also crawling along in Friday rush hour traffic, inadvertently backed up into a car. While no one involved was physically hurt, the first bus then had to go back to get the players from the second bus because the driver had to stay and fill out an accident report.

Finally, players from the second bus arrived about an hour before tipoff. You wouldn't have blamed the Raptors if the thought had crept into their collective conscious: Uh oh. Here we go again. After all, what else could go wrong this season?

Yet under interim coach Jay Triano, who replaced the fired Sam Mitchell on Dec. 4, the Raptors have seemingly shed the woe-is-we attitude. It showed Friday. Ignoring any outside distractions, the Raptors commenced a thorough destruction of the New Jersey Nets, 101-79. The 79 points represented a season-low for the Nets and was 22-points below their 101.8 points per game average.

All-Star Chris Bosh noted it was the Raptors best defensive effort to date.

"We're really trying to put something together right now," Bosh said. "I think everybody's trying to grasp the concept we're trying to do. We're trying to protect the paint."

Triano has installed a simpler, yet more aggressive, defensive scheme for his team to follow.

"We've changed the emphasis," Triano said. "[Before] we would change the scheme based on the team we were playing. I think that became confusing for a lot of guys instead of knowing exactly where they needed to be in certain situations."

"I told the players I'd like to get to the point where our walk-through is about guarding everything our standard way. And if that doesn't work, we're going to the second and third options. Right now, we're still talking about our primary defense."

Teaching and learning Triano's new scheme has been done under less-than-ideal conditions. Because they've played five games in 10 days and have had only two practices since Triano was named Mitchell's replacement, the Raptors have had to learn the scheme mainly by watching video, going to meetings and in the walk-throughs before games.

On Friday, the Raptors looked as if they're quick studies. Their primary defense worked perfectly against the Nets, who had 60 points in the paint in the teams' first meeting in Toronto on Nov. 21. On Friday, the Nets had 24 points in the paint, 10 of which came mainly in garbage time late in the fourth quarter. The Raptors held the Nets to .313 from the field on Friday, including a paltry 6-for-23 from three-point range.

"It was very satisfying for us tonight," Bosh said. "We're trying to get better everyday. We want to carry our defensive efforts into the next day. We don't want to leave it in Jersey.

"We want to take it back to Toronto with us."

Devin Harris, who has made a living getting to the rack this season, had that livelihood denied him as Toronto held Harris to 14 points, 10 below his season average. It was worse for former Raptor Vince Carter, who had the worst shooting night of his career. Carter went 0-for-13 from the field and finished with a mere three points.

"Harris and Vince are such good players, you have to show them more than just one body," Triano said. "For the most part tonight we did that and kept everything funneled to the outside."

A lot of NBA teams would kill to have the length the Raptors have in the post. Bosh, Jermaine O'Neal and Andrea Bargnani, who spent a lot of time on the floor together on Friday, represent 21 feet of obstacle in the paint. Bargnani had five blocks by playing excellent help-side defense. And by keeping cat-quick guards like Harris out of the lane, the Raptors can have ball-hawking forwards such as Jamario Moon and Joey Graham patrol the passing lanes. Moon had five steals on Friday.

Still, the Raptors have work to do. At times when they didn't get out into transition, the Raptors offense seemed to bog down resulting in contested fadeaway jumpers.

"We're starting to get some flow running the floor," Triano said. "It's a mind-set. Instead of looking over for plays, run the floor and create on your own."

And then there's the rebounding. The Nets gathered an amazing 20 offensive rebounds and outrebounded the Raptors overall, 50-37.

"We really have to clean up our rebounding still," Triano said. "The job isn't done on the defensive end until we rebound the basketball. We were able to get away with rebounding real well."

"That's the final part of what we're trying to do on the defensive end."

Tonight was a good first step toward that final destination. Like their travel adventure before the game, it appears the Raptors will get there.

Eventually.