RAPTORS LET ANOTHER ONE GET AWAY

Since coming close should no longer be an option for the Toronto Raptors against any average-to-good team -- which is to say, the whole of the NBA's Eastern Conference -- losing 93-90 to the Chicago Bulls last night is a major disappointment.

Reading the boxscore, what really jumps out is that neither Jorge Garbajosa or Rasho Nesterovic managed to get the foul line. That overrides any excuses about Andrea Bargnani not playing or Chris Bosh (13 points on 5-for-14 shooting) being limited due to having two sore knees, even if that made guarding Chicago's Luol Deng (22 points) somewhat difficult.

It's absurd to have two starting post players not take a single free throw all night. Even if you're geeked by the prospect of taking it to the hoop against Ben Wallace who's ticked about not being able to wear his headband and let his 'fro fly, you have to figure that the typical NBA ref will whistle a foul on Big Ben sometimes even when he gets a clean block.

For the second straight game, the Raptors had a 10-point first-half lead. As the Star's Doug Smith noted in his quarter-by-quarter updates, Sam Mitchell put out an "odd lineup" of Jose Calderon, Fred Jones, Morris Peterson, Garbajosa and Kris Humphries to start the second quarter. That lasted all of two minutes, as the Bulls quickly cut the lead to four points.

It's those early-in-the-game failures that are leading to Raptors falling behind and having to rush things in the final minutes. That doesn't bode well for Mitchell's job security, one would think.