It would take a journey into the minds of the Toronto Raptors ? and what a long, strange trip that would be ? to find some plausible explanation for the collapse that has them clinging to playoff contention instead of challenging for the top of the Eastern Conference.

The answer certainly doesn't lie in a pure statistical look at the top eight players because the numbers are definitely passable; rather there have been some misfiring synapses and mental burps that have caused the team's startling nine-game losing streak.

And that's the most confounding thing for the coaches and players, who talk a good game and then go out and blow opportunities like they were some gaggle of high school freshmen.