Offensively, the Raptors are slowing down when they should be speeding up.

Defensively, the Raptors are fretting about each other rather than concentrating on their own jobs.

That basically sums up the feelings of Raptors guard Chris Childs, whose team has lost three games in a row and is only one game above .500 on the season.

Childs said the Raptors offence is fine when the players are running, but there comes a point in every game when the defence stiffens. The Raptors' response has been to slow down and try to execute in a half-court set, but Childs believes there's a difference between choreographing deliberate plays and crawling at a snail's pace.

"I think we're setting up too much," said Childs, whose team is coming off an 0-2 trip to San Antonio and Charlotte. "We have to get the ball out and go straight up the court.