Now playing: the rock-bottom Raptors.

The landings are getting harder with every loss, too, as Toronto's string of futility hit 12 games here at the Compaq Center last night. The Raptors got a season-high night of offence from Vince Carter, a badly needed shot of adrenaline from Jerome Williams, and a 17-point third-quarter lead ? and still they lost, 112-109 to the lottery-bound, no-defence Houston Rockets.

Now there's no telling how low the Raptors are going to go, and for all their talk of fighting on, there was a definite hint of the white flag in this one. When Steve Francis stepped up his intensity in the third quarter, the big lead vanished faster than his first step. When Cuttino Mobley nailed three successive baskets to open the fourth period, it was gone. And when Eddie Griffin and Walt Williams spotted up on the perimeter in that white-knuckle fourth quarter, nary a Raptor in sight to upset their aim, it was over.