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Not with the sore Toronto backcourt of Fred VanVleet and Danny Green way off (a combined 4-for-18 from the field). Not with Pascal Siakam sputtering, a rarity this season, and the bench nearly completely punchless. No, this just wasn’t Toronto’s night, even if it started in encouraging fashion, with the team moving the ball beautifully on the way to building a 27-25 lead after a quarter.

“It’s a strange one. I think if it started that way you would think ‘oh, you didn’t come ready to play,’ but we were really sharp and moving the ball and popping it around and had a nice lead and probably should have had a bigger lead if we would have made more of our opportunities,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said.

“And then the thing just turned and we never really could get stops and we couldn’t finish at the rim very well. Just was a really poor night for all of us.”

Boy did it ever turn. The second quarter might have been the worst 12 minutes we’ve seen from the Raptors all season.

Toronto shot 23% (5-for-27), including 1-for-6 from beyond the arc and allowed open for foray after open foray to the hoop at the other end. Overall Toronto’s 26.2% two-point shooting was the worst in franchise history.

All-star guard Kyle Lowry was out again due to back tightness, Jonas Valanciunas remains on the shelf and their absences were felt.

Beset by injuries, Toronto has gone just 7-7 in December after starting the season 19-4, but VanVleet didn’t sound at all worried.