"The longest road trip of the season — during which they will have visited both sides of the continent, the desert and some mountains — ends in Newark, N.J., on Sunday night.

The Raptors, 6-14 heading into a game against division rivals New Jersey Nets, have discovered a few things about their team, their season, their fortunes during a journey that also included stops in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Denver.

A few points:

IN THE ZONE

If there's one thing the Raptors seem to have accomplished on the trip, it's fine-tuning a zone defence that can befuddled teams for long stretches of games.

It's a trademark of coach Dwane Casey and it was a key part of a come-from-behind win over the Utah Jazz."