Some 10 days and five games into his tenure as the Raptors' interim head coach, Jay Triano has presided over precisely two practices, so the Raptors have been learning mostly by watching video. Even so, the most recent returns suggest Triano's players may already be grasping the concepts he and his staff are attempting to instill.

Last night the Raptors' new defensive scheme - which emphasizes protecting the paint at the expense of surrendering long jump shots - held the Nets to 31 per cent shooting from the field.

And it certainly rendered Carter irrelevant. Three weeks after Vinsanity broke Hogtown hearts with the game-winning jam in overtime to cap a 39-point outburst at the Air Canada Centre, Carter went 0-for-13 from the field in scoring three points. It was the first time in the former Raptor's career that he'd played more than 10 minutes without a field goal

"There wasn't a lane tonight. We closed up all the gaps," said Joey Graham who, along with Jamario Moon, provided the first line of Toronto's multi-layered defence when Carter had the ball. "If (Carter) thought he had a lane, it closed up very quick for him. That's one of our new principles for our team. No gaps. No open spaces."

Said Lawrence Frank, the Nets coach: "They put four guys in the paint and one on the ball ... You have to give Toronto credit."

There were other promising signs for the Raptors. It was the second straight game they'd held their opponents to sub-35 per cent shooting, for one thing. It was the second game in three in which they outscored their foe in the paint (34-24 last night). And though they have spent the bulk of the early season as the NBA team with the fewest fast-break points per game, the visitors even ran a little last night, outscoring the Nets 16-10 on the break.

It's not as though they didn't have their lapses; the Raptors were out-rebounded 50-37.

"We were lucky to get away with the win without rebounding well," said Triano.

Still, the Raptors, led by Chris Bosh's 18 points, saw six players score in double figures. Jason Kapono, who started in place of the injured Anthony Parker for the second straight game, scored 16 points, as did Graham.

Devin Harris, the New Jersey point guard who Graham guarded when he wasn't hounding Carter, led the Nets with 14 points and five assists.

For a while, it looked like the Raptors might not get to the arena. Faced with Friday night gridlock in the most populated metropolitan area in the United States, the team's bus driver sought out a shortcut through the tight streets of Jersey City, N.J. At one point, the bus collided with a car. And though no one was hurt - and while the Raptors got a police escort to guide them the rest of the route - the 15-kilometre jaunt from their hotel to the arena turned into a 70-minute trek.

That eventful trip came on the heels of a Thursday afternoon flight that, after a few hours of weather-related delays, turned into an epic.

"It was like going to L.A.," said Triano.

The Raptors don't go west until Friday's game in Oklahoma City, but the schedule offers no short-term gimmes. Tomorrow, when the Hornets come to town, commences a seven-day stretch in which the Raptors will play five games. Wednesday brings the Dallas Mavericks. And Carter and the Nets are in town Monday.

"We can't relax. He can let loose for 30, 40, 50 points any night," said Bosh of Vinsanity. "We just have to remember what we did."