Antonio Davis had issued a warning after Toronto's close call against Atlanta on Friday night that the Raptors would need to go back to the drawing board to work on beating the zone defence the Hawks had used so successfully against them.

It's obviously a work in progress.

The Los Angeles Clippers watched film of that contest and threw a near-identical matchup zone at Toronto yesterday in posting a 79-72 win over the listless Raptors. The win ended a four-game road losing streak and gave the Clips just their third road victory of the season.

"Oh yeah, we watched the Atlanta tape two or three times and saw that that was the way Atlanta got back into that game," L.A. coach Alvin Gentry said after the game.

The Raptors led 29-19 after the first quarter but managed just 15 points in the second period after the Clippers switched to a zone defence..