"The Raptors aren't likely to ever find enough offence to offset the loss of Andrea Bargnani so they will have to become even better defenders if they are going to win games.

They certainly didn't get off to a rousing start in that regard here Friday night.

Allowing the Denver Nuggets to score seemingly at will in the first half, the Raptors began their second Bargnani-free period of the NBA regular season with a 96-81 loss at the Pepsi Center.

Coming off inspired victories in Phoenix and Salt Lake City, the Raptors were hoping to ride some sort of momentum through the fourth game of an arduous five-game road trip.

Instead, they allowed the Nuggets to pile up an opponent-high 54 first-half points on 56 per cent shooting as the game was effectively over after just 24 minutes."