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You could hear the celebrating in Tank Nation as regulation time wound down Wednesday night. A series of desperation heaves by the Toronto Raptors Kyle Lowry and Greivis Vasquez had given the Charlotte Bobcats a gratefully-accepted second wind after what was at one time a 16-point deficit. Ultimately, it would be a buzzer-beating jump shot by Kemba Walker in overtime that would deliver a 104-102 Bobcats win, and the duality of the 2013-2014 Raptors fan remained intact.

Walker's shot, after DeMar DeRozan missed the first of two free throws and with the Raptors Jonas Valanciunas unable to fight through a screen, ruined a chance at the Raptors third consecutive win.

While there's a certain soul-sucking aspect about wanting your team to lose deliberately when it's not even Christmas so that it can join the great Eastern Conference conga line to the draft lottery, it has become reality. Even as Lowry nailed a brazen three-pointer with 12.1 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, the Twittersphere exploded with one thought: "Trade him, Masai. Trade Kyle Lowry right now." Odd, isn't it, that a player whose character has often been a cause of concern for his coaches has shined even as trade rumours swirl around him? "He is," head coach Dwane Casey remarked later, "playing at a very high level."

Lowry finished with 17 points and along with DeRozan (30 points) and Amir Johnson (13 rebounds and 10 points) was a constant down the stretch, playing smartly with five fouls and carrying a sizable load when Vasquez's cold shooting (he finished 4-for-15) forced Casey to shelve plans to use a two-guard set in the fourth quarter. Which is too bad since it worked nicely at times. "Go!" Casey yelled at Vasquez late in a turgid, somnambulant first quarter. "Go!" he repeated. The Raptors responded, pushing the ball the way they do on the road but often seem reluctant to do at home, seizing control and seeming poised for a third consecutive win before playing five of their next six away from the ACC in and around Christmas.

But fortune was not with the Raptors, and neither was Valanciunas' brain. Walker, who finished with 29 points, was clearly the go-to guy for the 12-14 Bobcats, and Valanciunas was late getting over to him.

"It's tough," said Valanciunas. "He made a tough shot." Casey saw it a little differently: "J.V. switched a little late," said Casey, whose team is 9-14 and failed to score in its first six possessions in O.T. "You've got to be precise."

The Raptors came into the game shooting better than 45 per cent from the field in four consecutive games, after doing so just five times in their first 18 games. All that ball movement that has resulted from the dumping of Rudy Gay's contract on the Sacramento Kings? This is the product of it; better quality shots. Better chances to make them. "Side to side," Casey said before the game. "That doesn't allow the other teams defence to get set."

The Raptors strung together runs of 11-0 and 7-0 in the second quarter, with newcomers Vasquez and John Salmons – who joined the team in the Kings deal - playing key roles. At one point, the teams combined for twice as many turnovers as assists (20 to 10) and combined for a grand total of two assists in the opening 12 minutes. Salmons had eight points in the second quarter while Vasquez – who will be the Raptors point guard when general manager Ujiri's next move is made and Lowry is dispatched, and who has a chance to stake a claim to a roster spot in 2014-2015 – had five points and three assists in a little more than eight minutes of the quarter.

The Raptors led 47-37 at the half and pushed their lead to 61-45 in the third quarter before the Bobcats surged with a 25-9 run, leaving the teams tied at 72-72 after three quarters. The Raptors had several good looks in the second half but they didn't convert.

"I told the team afterward that we'll take those looks," Casey said. "We keep taking them with confidence, like we did in (wins) in Philadelphia and Chicago, and we'll knock them down."

Dell Curry, the former Raptors player who is now a television analyst with the Bobcats, suggested during the Bobcats 95-87 win over the Kings on Tuesday that Gay had in fact played his way out of Toronto; that he had little worry about putting his own game into the tank even as the rest of the city waited – waits, truthfully – for an indication of whether the Raptors as a whole would join the convoy of franchises in a full-scale retreat to a deep, deep, draft lottery.

Say this for Lowry: he's playing his part, either way.

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