Portland Trail Blazers guard Nolan Smith (4) passes off the ball in front of Toronto Raptors forward Linas Kleiza (11) and Gary Forbes (3) during first half NBA action in Toronto on Friday January 20, 2012.The Canadian Press
The mark of a good NBA team is the ability to play four quarters with the same consistency and energy.
The Toronto Raptors, who are far from a good NBA team, perform in fits and bursts, the main reason they have now lost seven in a row and their record is an unappetizing 4-12 on the year.
The Raptors turned in another uneven performance Friday night, giving up the first quarter before turning things around against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Air Canada Centre.
But it was not enough as Portland rode a big early lead and a dominating performance by LaMarcus Aldridge to a 94-84 victory before 17,537 fans.
"It's kind of a tale of us, of who we are right now," Casey said. "We'll play the first three quarters hard and give up the fourth or, like tonight, I thought we started off soft."
Soft is one way to describe Toronto's opening quarter of play.
Uninspiring, horrible and just plain disastrous would be a few others to sum up Toronto's opening 12 minutes where they shot 31.8 per cent (7-of-22), were out-rebounded 18-8, and outscored 27-14.
For a team as offensively fragile as the Raptors are this year, it was far too deep a hole for them to escape, although you have to give them some credit for trying.
Casey said it is like his team needs to be kicked in the head a couple of times before it wakes up.
After trailing by as many as 21 points in the second quarter, the Raptors would fight back to trim Portland's lead to 51-46 with just over eight minutes left in the third quarter.
But you never really got the sense that Portland was going to roll over on this one, not with the way Aldridge was manhandling Toronto off the boards.
Portland's 6-foot-11 power forward turned in a commanding performance, scoring a season-high 33 points and a career-high 23 rebounds.
"He was just a monster out there...both in the paint as well as on the boards for us," Portland head coach Nate McMillan said.
Portland stretched its lead to 60-71 heading into the fourth quarter, where the Trail Blazers were never really challenged again.
With leading scorer Andrea Bargnani sitting out his fifth game with a sore calf muscle and guard Jerryd Bayless missing his 13th recovering from a sprained ankle, the Raptors were lacking in firepower.
Casey said the Raptors offence has been "crippled" by their absence.
"We don't have our No. 1 scorer, we've got to find other ways to win and to compete," he said. "I thought our guys competed after the first quarter."
Especially James Johnson, who finished with a career-high 23 points and six rebounds.
After a slow start, DeMar DeRozan scored 14 points in the second quarter to finish with 22 for Toronto
"Somehow, someway we've got to get four good quarters together and get healthy," Casey said. "Health is huge in this league. And it's not a forgiving league if you're not healthy."
As for Portland, Casey said he is impressed with the talent they have.
"Portland's a good team, believe me," he said. "They're going to be in the money at the end of the year. They're going to be one of the top teams that are talked about."