Scary as it is for opponents to contemplate, Paul came into Wednesday's game shooting 82 per cent from behind the arc; this from a guy who's a lifetime 35 per cent shooter from deep. And while the sample size is small (Paul has now made 12 of his 15 three-balls in five games), the alarming success rate suggests Paul has carried through on his vow to improve his jump shot.

Considering he was perhaps the league's best point guard without being a great three-point shooter ...

"That's the one part of the game they said he needed to work on - now you've got to go guard him out there," said Triano.

If the coach was shuddering as he spoke, forgive him. The Raptors have their weaknesses, perhaps none as glaring as their inability to defend against elite point guards - heck, half-decent point guards. And the three-game road trip that begins Friday against the Hornets will bring Toronto's hoopsters in contact with some specimens that lean toward elite.

If Saturday's visit with Jason Kidd and the Dallas Mavericks is a holiday in comparison to chasing around Paul, consider that the Raptors round out the road trip with a former NBA final MVP named Tony Parker on Monday.

"Very good point guards - and it doesn't stop there," said Triano. "We come home and play Derrick Rose (of the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday) and then we have, I think it's Baron Davis and Steve Nash. It just keeps going."

Not that Triano is thinking that far ahead. On Thursday, before he found himself listing off his list of No.1s, he chastised a reporter for making reference to the three-game road swing.

"How many games?" Triano said, when somebody made reference to the three-stop trip that commences in New Orleans. "We're thinking about one game at a time."

This one might not be pretty if the Raptors don't find a way to contain Paul - no easy feat given that Jose Calderon, the Raptors' starting point guard, has struggled to defend his position. Still, defence is a team endeavour and the Raptors spoke Thursday of their wont to turn Paul into both a jump shooter and the Hornets' primary scorer.

The thinking is that if Paul is shooting jump shots, he's not water-bugging down the lane. And if he's not in the lane, he isn't eluding the collapsing defence to make pinpoint passes to wide-open teammates, and he isn't making layups.

"It's not fun (chasing him)," said Antoine Wright, the Raptors swingman, who has had the pleasure. "Once he gets in the paint, he gets all those other guys going. Now you've got all his shooters spread out, hitting shots. You've got (David) West posting up. You've got everything you'd want. If we can turn him into their primary scorer, I think that helps us."

Said Jarrett Jack, who is expected to take a turn attempting to shadow Paul: "Chris has the ball so much - he has the ball 104 per cent of the time, if you catch my drift. He's scoring the ball, he's making the pass for somebody else to score. Just trying to corral him, which isn't something easy to do, is something we've got to stress."

It's essentially a nightly stress for Triano, indeed.

"That's what this league is, it's about being able to stop point guards," said Triano, and if the coach wasn't shuddering, Raptors fans have the right. "We're going to have to get a little bit better at it than we are right now."