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| CHARLOTTE - Jonas Valanciunas took a quick glance at the stat sheet, no longer banned post-game, crumpled it up into a ball and hurled it across the locker room. At the bottom of the page the final score read "100-95" - Torontos third loss in four games - but it was how they got there that had the Raptors young centre shaking his head as he destroyed the evidence. In the less literal sense he wasnt alone. The Raptors locker room was filled with distraught players drowning their sorrows in a sea of chicken fingers and mac and cheese at the post-game buffet, eager to forget about their most recent setback. "We cant really panic, but weve got to hold each other accountable," said Greivis Vasquez, moments after his team failed to close out what would have been a historic comeback in eventual defeat to a familiar, albeit perplexing foe, the Charlotte Bobcats. "Its easy when we win and you smile and youre cool, youre hanging around, but when you face adversity or obstacles, thats when you really show your character, so now weve really got to show what [were] made of." For Vasquez - who helped engineer Torontos late-game run - his teammates and his coach, there were no moral victories to be celebrated after cutting a 30-point third quarter deficit to one with 26 seconds remaining. No moral victories, not anymore, not if they fancy themselves a playoff contender. Instead the question was, how could they fall behind by 30 to the Bobcats - who had lost 10 of 13 and were playing without Kemba Walker - in the first place? "Effort," Kyle Lowry said, and repeated six times in a three-minute scrum. For the final 16 minutes they played with plenty of it, outscoring the nemesis Bobcats 54-29 to close out the game. For the first 32 it was nowhere to be found. "Thats it, effort," the Raptors point guard continued. "That simple. Effort." Its not that simple, not for the teams fans or coaching staff that were left to wonder where that effort went for two and a half quarters in a game the Raptors sorely needed. "Its a long season but you tell a lot about who you are in these situations," Dwane Casey said. "Today was a gut-check game and the fourth quarter we turned it around but its about what we did in the first three quarters thats disappointing." Coming off a loss to the corpse of the Los Angeles Lakers 24 hours earlier, and an equally disheartening defeat in Boston last week, the Raptors scored a season-low 11 points in the first quarter. For the second straight day they attempted nearly three times as many three-pointers as free throws and allowed the leagues 28th ranked offensive team to score 100 points on 49 per cent shooting. The loss was their seventh straight in Charlotte to a Bobcats team that has been varying degrees of terrible throughout that span of Raptors futility. "Weve got to take these two losses to heart," said Vasquez who had 15 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, his best line as Raptor. "Were professionals, we know what were playing for, so, [theres] no excuses on this team. Some guys just got to step up and understand what were playing for." "I think were fine," he continued. "Weve just got to wake up and understand that one loss cant really take us down, but one win can really build some good momentum." Veteran bruiser Chuck Hayes put it best. "Its an emotional roller coaster in this league." A week ago they were riding high, winners of three straight and eight of 10, since then theyve crashed back down to earth. Where do they truly stand in the grand scheme of things? Likely somewhere in the middle. Success in the league is fickle, as Casey knows and Hayes has learned in his years of service. "After the momentum we had in December you would kind of hope it would shift over into the New Year but the New Year aint been so good to us so far," said Hayes, who recorded his first double-double - 12 points and 13 rebounds - since Apr. 11, 2011. "But theres a lot of basketball left." Hayes, along with fellow reserves Vasquez and Patrick Patterson, played the bulk of the fourth quarter in place of frontcourt tandem Valanciunas and Amir Johnson, who each played less than 19 minutes, and Terrence Ross, who logged 21. For the fourth straight game Valanciunas failed to eclipse 23 minutes or score in double figures, shooting 6-for-21 over that stretch. On Monday he was overwhelmed in a daunting matchup with crafty, low-post shaman Al Jefferson. The Raptors sophomore bit on Jeffersons pump fakes, got beat on the boards and most alarmingly let his frustration get the better of him. Jefferson, who had a double-double after the first quarter, finished with 22 points and 19 boards. Fellow sophomore Ross has also seen his performance slip over the teams recent slide, recording just one point on Monday, shooting 0-for-6. Meanwhile, Johnson connected on just one of his four attempts and has exceeded 10 rebounds in one of his last 15 contests. "Weve got to find a start that fits us," said Casey, who wouldnt rule out an eventual lineup change but insisted its too early to make that call. "You cant spot any team in this league 25-30 points and expect to be successful." The Raptors will be given a much-needed day of reflection before hosting the Mavericks on Wednesday. It will be the first time theyve faced a winning team in seven games. After squandering three golden opportunities in six days, it could be the wakeup call they need. "Weve got another game," said Hayes. "This is not it, [its] just a little adversity and weve got to find a way to respond." Jacob Larsson Ducks Jersey . Some of his Saginaw Spirit teammates are among the mourners at todays service in east-end Toronto. An autopsy determined Trafford died of self-inflicted asphyxiation. The Toronto natives body was found last Wednesday in his SUV in a parking lot in Saginaw Township, Mich. Ducks Jersey . Nurse, the Oilers first-round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, had 13 goals, 37 assists, and 91 penalty minutes this season with the Ontario Hockey Leagues Sault Ste. http://www.hockeyducksstore.com/authentic-mike-santorelli-ducks-jersey-sale/.com) - Coming down the stretch of a lengthy road trip, the Vancouver Canucks aim to rebound from just their second loss in seven games on Sunday evening as they visit the Ottawa Senators. Kevin Bieksa Jersey . Malone will become an unrestricted free-agent and as per the collective bargaining agreement, the Lightning will be responsible for two-thirds of the remainder of his contract over twice the length of the rest of the deal. Simon Despres Ducks Jersey . Whether its a sign of things to come remains to be seen, but that question will likely be answered within the next week. Nash is the biggest name in the NHL rumour mill heading toward the Feb.Each week, TSN.ca NFL Editors Ben Fisher and Mike Hetherington discuss three hot fantasy football topics. This week they take a look back and their best and worst calls of the fantasy season. What was your best call this season? Fisher: I didn’t hit on much, but at a time when Robert Griffin III was still getting QB1 grades, I was pretty adamant he wouldn’t live up to those expectations, not even close. I also predicted Griffin wouldn’t last the year as starter but what I didn’t see was Kurt Cousins also getting replaced … or for that matter Colt McCoy looking half serviceable. Griffin struggled even before his ankle injury – his proneness to injury another contributing factor to my low draft grade – and while he put up passable numbers in the games he started upon his return, he never came close to resembling a QB1. Griffin was exposed as a mediocre quarterback in Washington this season and almost certainly sank your fantasy team if you drafted him high. Hetherington: Way back after Week 1, I stated that Cordarelle Patterson was a boom-or-bust WR option and could be considered a sell-high candidate for owners. My reasoning included an imminent quarterback change that would result in a production dip and a run-first offence. Now, I’m not convinced having Teddy Bridgewater under centre was the sole reason for Patterson’s decline, but if you offloaded the second-year pro for a more consistent weapon, you likely got a major upgrade. At a time when Patterson was coming off a game with over 100 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown, one of my bolder calls of the season paid off. What was your worst call this season? Fisher: After watching a very mediocre running back in Knowshon Moreno put up monster numbers in a Peyton Manning-led offence, I thought a decent back in Montee Ball could put up even bigger numbers for the Broncos this season. At least I thought Ball was a decent running back. Ball was a below average running back before he got injured, which eventually led to CJ Anderson getting the job and halfway proving my point that a back better than Moreno could do some real damage in Manniing’s backfield.dddddddddddd It just happened to be a running back I’d previously never heard of. Hetherington: This one is painful to admit as I look back on it. In mid-October, I declared Colin Kaepernick to be the best dual-threat option over Russell Wilson and Cam Newton. Kaepernick was coming off his best game of the season; throwing for 343 yards and three touchdowns against the Rams defence. Kaepernick has not had a multi-touchdown game since and has subsequently dropped completely off the fantasy QB1 radar. Looking back, the correct choice would have been Wilson, but even Newton would have been a better choice than the one I made. Who was the biggest surprise performer this season? Fisher: DeMarco Murray staying healthy all season was a big one, and Andrew Luck taking the reins as top quarterback sooner than expected was surprising too, but Odell Beckham Jr. leads the list for me. Beckham was topped only by the Steelers’ Antonio Brown, another pleasant surprise in his own right, in average points per week by receivers. The rookie first rounder was a fantasy force after recovering from a back injury that kept him out of the lineup the first four weeks of the season. And the best part? He did it in style! Hetherington: I’m going to call this one a tie between Le’Veon Bell and Demarco Murray, both of whom were projected to finish outside the top five of fantasy backs. The two will finish as by far the best running backs of 2014 and are currently separated by just 0.1 fantasy points (Bell has that slight edge). Each are surprises for their own reason, however. Bell was set to share the Steelers backfield with LeGarrette Blount – and did briefly – but took over as the feature back, so much so that the Steelers to cut ties with Blount. He also emerged as a major weapon in the passing game, receiving for more yards than any other back. Murray’s value was considered relatively limited entering the season by his injury history, yet he handled the biggest workload of his career without missing a game. If you had either back on your team, you likely had major success this season. cheap nfl jerseys authentic jerseys nfl wholesale wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' ' |
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posted on: 11/10/2015 03:04:00 AM
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