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The Toronto Raptors have a hole in their soul they can't seem to cover up no matter how much therapy they commit themselves to, how many self-help books they read or how many game videos they watch.

Whether by their own designs or by coincidence, they're a poor rebounding team — the worst in the NBA — and neither former head coach Sam Mitchell's exasperated tough love or current coach Jay Triano's new approach can hide it for long.

Last night, the New Jersey Nets laid the Raptors' inadequacies bare for 18,561 to see at the Air Canada Centre, scoring a 94-87 win. The final tally wasn't the most telling statistic. The Nets grabbed 54 rebounds to Toronto's 38, including an 18-7 pounding on the offensive glass.

That work yielded the Nets a 26-2 edge in second-chance points, and while Raptors' nemesis Vince Carter snared a game-high-tying four offensive rebounds, for once he was just a symptom and not the cause of the bleak mood in the Raptors' dressing room afterwards.

"We do a pretty decent job guarding, but you can't let a team take 14 more shots than you," Triano said. "And they get 14 more shots because we don't box out, we don't rebound, we don't finish the play."

It all started so well. With just two games — now one — left at home before the Raptors play six in a row on the road, they came out with some urgency and were rewarded with a 16-2 lead with less than four minutes played. All five starters scored.

But the Nets crept back in — they won the second quarter 26-18 to tie the game at the half thanks to a 9-1 edge in offensive rebounds — in part because of the Raptors' own tactics.

Earlier in the season, the Raptors were consistently the victims of dribble penetration that threw their defence into chaos. Under Triano, protecting the paint has been a top priority. One strategy they've been using has been to switch on screens leaving the Raptors' big men guarding opposing guards on the perimeter.

As long as the big men sag off enough, the guards can't penetrate, resulting in long, contested jump shots.

But the risk is that opposing big men are often matched with Raptors wings and guards at the basket, which can create its own set of problems.

"We have to do a better job rebounding as a team," said centre Jermaine O'Neal, who finished with 12 points and six rebounds in 28 minutes. "Anyone who understands basketball understands the format. We switch a lot. The format is a pretty good format, but the negative is we switch guards on to bigs and bigs roll the guards down and the bigs are getting the rebounds and we're on the perimeter guarding the guards. …

"Our bigs are doing a good job guarding guards, but the flip side of that is we're nowhere near the rebound."

In the fourth quarter, the Raptors did neither guard the guards nor rebound the ball. Leading 70-63, the Raptors came out ice cold — they didn't hit a shot from the field until Jose Calderon hit a three-pointer with just 2 minutes 35 seconds to play.

By that time, the Nets were on a 25-4 run and the Raptors were trailing by 14. And while Carter was relatively dormant — he scored 20 points on 8-for-24 shooting, following up his 0-for-13 marksmanship against Toronto last Friday — Nets point guard Devin Harris got around at will.

He scored the Nets' first nine points of the fourth quarter, and 16 of his 20 in the frame. Between the Raptors switching and the darting Harris gathering a crowd, the Nets snared five offensive rebounds and scored 10 second-chance points to none by Toronto down the stretch.

The beneficiaries were Nets players such as little-known rookie Ryan Anderson, who had a 21 points and eight rebounds off the bench — eight and seven in the fourth quarter — better combined totals that any Raptors starter.

What to do? Look in the mirror to begin with, the basis of all successful therapeutic approaches.

"I think it's a matter of us not getting into bodies," said Triano, showing his first signs of exasperations as the Raptors dropped to 10-14 on the season and 2-4 under his watch.

"There are two kinds of rebounders: the guys who go get it and the guys who keep guys from getting it. Right now we don't seem to have the bounce to go get, to chase it. So we have to be much better being physical and doing a better job on the glass."

Scoresheet

Notes: Toronto Raptors president Bryan Colangelo will attend at a press conference today at the Air Canada Centre, where Canada Basketball will unveil a new high-performance strategy. Colangelo was recently appointed to the organization's board. It's believed the future of Raptors broadcaster Leo Rautins as national men's team head coach will be clarified at the meeting. Rautins's contract expires at the end of this year. … Jake Voskuhl wore No. 77 in his Raptors debut last night. … Three Raptors games this week — last night against the New Jersey Nets, tomorrow against the Dallas Mavericks and Friday against the Oklahoma City Thunder — were scheduled for broadcast on TSN2, which is unavailable to Rogers Cable subscribers. … Six games into Jay Triano's coaching tenure, the Raptors remain last in the NBA in fast-break points, averaging 7.348 a game. Toronto is also last in points in the paint, averaging 30.957.

Next Tomorrow, Dallas Mavericks at the ACC, 7 p.m. EST

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