"It is understandable that so many people in Toronto want Jose Calderon to do well because on the surface he seems like a prince of a guy and it is at times painful to watch how much he wants to exercise leadership.

But in the new NBA world, it seems too often to be a matter of the spirit willing and the flesh failing to deliver. Just when his supporters in this city pointed to consecutive double-doubles and a return to the ranks of the NBA leaders in assists-to-turnover ratio as a sign he'd re-established himself, Calderon comes up with a performance like Wednesday's – a career-high eight turnovers in a 115-93 loss to the Detroit Pistons.

Calderon's game went south long before Amir Johnson pulled up lame late in the first half, his pregame treatments for back spasms not effective. Or before Andrea Bargnani strained his left calf muscle midway through the third quarter, then left for good in the fourth. There would be no franchise-record 25-point comeback on this night as there was the last time these teams played, because the Raptors had only eight and a half men (give or take a Joey Dorsey) and even against a club like the Pistons – beset by the type of internal strife that naturally results when a player such as Richard Hamilton gets accused sotto voce of pulling the chute on his team – it was not enough.

At least we didn't get waffles. In fact, the 15,303 who were at the Air Canada Centre – many of whom were doubtless among the mean-spirited who rocked the Raptors with boos on Nov. 28 when the Atlanta Hawks took advantage of mismatches galore – were remarkably quiet when the Raptors sneaked off the court at the half, losing 62-44. Perhaps it was DeMar DeRozan wishing them a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year before the game (isn't that usually done by the next player to leave town?) DeRozan followed that up with a rim-shattering dunk and then – poof – disappeared into the night. Games like this called for a statement from DeRozan. Instead, he delivered a question mark."