YOU'D HAVE thought a moment of silence would have been mandatory.

Being the Grizzlies and Raptors, though, and therefore old hands at delivering stupefying moments, that particular hush and an accompanying round of slack jaws was held in escrow all the way until the second quarter.

Hey, same spit, different day. Anyone who's followed the Raptors' Team Sybil act over these long years know this is the way it goes. They refuse to put an opponent away early when they had the chance ? who'd have thought that? Vince Carter and Morris Peterson prefer to put some extra mustard on their hot dogs, and Hakeem Olajuwon looks 38 going on social security ? there'll be nights like this, because we've seen them before. And how about a stretch in the fourth quarter when they combined for four turnovers in eight seconds ? among 17 giveaways in the fourth quarter alone, and 40 for the night?

As for Vancouver, Memphis, wherever, they'll be fine once they figure out that making shots is the name of the game. The way they were going early on, they couldn't have found a basket if you put `em on a ladder underneath it and spotted 'em three rungs. It's like that old saying goes. You can take Big Country out of the country, but you can't take the pooch out of the Griz (at least, not until his contract runs out).