ATLANTA - With an ice pack wrapped around his injured lower back, a frustrated Jonas Valanciunas spoke to the media having just watched his teams second straight loss from the visitors locker room, unable to influence the final result.
James Pazos Jersey . After missing 20 games as a rookie a year ago, Valanciunas - like the Raptors as a whole - has been fortunate to be in good health this season. As he spoke about it, the Raptors sophomore centre scanned the room for wood to knock on. "It is disappointing because we lost today so thats the worst part of the day," said Valanciunas, who left Tuesdays game with a lower-back sprain in the third quarter, missing the rest of Torontos 118-113 overtime defeat at the hands of the Hawks. "Everyone wants to win and do something to help us win but I couldnt do anything sitting back here." With Valanciunas unavailable and Patrick Patterson missing his sixth straight game with an elbow injury, the Raptors found themselves as far outside their comfort zone as theyve been in months. Dwane Casey was forced to mix and match several different combinations of Amir Johnson, Chuck Hayes, Steve Novak and Tyler Hansbrough in the frontcourt while cycling through various unorthodox lineups to spark an underperforming second unit. All the while, Atlanta - winners of five straight after losing 14 of 15 - did them no favours. Following Sundays loss to the Suns, Casey was confident his team would not have to face the level of speed and quickness they saw that afternoon. Two days later, Jeff Teague had something to say about that. "He lived in the paint tonight," Kyle Lowry said of Teague, who matched his career-high with 34 points, hitting 11 of his 18 shots, all but six of them taken in the paint. "He got layups and free throws. You have a quick guy like that its hard for the bigs to try and help me and its hard for me to try to figure out where hes going. We tried to change our coverage a little and it worked but he lived in the paint too much tonight." "Its my fault," Lowry said, taking responsibility for his counterpart. But it wasnt, not entirely. "Its a speed league," he acknowledged. Its not the Raptors strength but theres too many up-tempo teams, too many quick players to allow it to be such a glaring weakness. Like Phoenix on the weekend, the Hawks burnt Toronto with speed, playing at a pace that the Raptors could not catch up with, especially with two key defensive players out of the lineup. Toronto tried blitzing Teague, they tried trapping him and switching and pick and rolls. More often than not the Hawks point guard blew by the coverage. He ran an effective two-man game with all-star Paul Millsap - who recorded his first career triple-double - and found open shooters. The Hawks hit 11 three-pointers, their seventh straight game with 10 or more. "We were trying to take away their threes," said DeMar DeRozan, who had 29 points to go along with 10 rebounds and six assists. "We did a good job to start out the game but we got out of place, missed some rotations and they started knocking down threes. They got confident with it and they kept knocking them down." "They make you change your coverages a little bit with the way they space the floor," added Lowry after a 20-point, nine-assist night. "But we had a decent chance to win that game." Late-game execution failed the Raptors - now 1-5 in overtime this season - once again. They turned the ball over eight times in the fourth quarter and overtime, also committing 16 fouls and giving up seven offensive rebounds. "I just thought we were casual with the basketball," said Casey, his team dropping back-to-back games for the first time since the West Coast trip in early February. "[We] had a lot of opportunities to attack and were casual and soft with our passes and they took advantage of it." The Raptors got off to a strong start, holding Atlanta to 17 points on 25 per cent shooting, including 2-for-9 from long distance in the first quarter. The momentum turned immediately as the second quarter began and the Raptors depleted bench came into the game. Without Patterson, Torontos second unit - outscored 59-11 on Sunday and 20-11 in the first half Tuesday - lacks spacing and movement on the offensive end and foot speed defensively. Then, late in the third quarter, the Raptors lost Valanciunas. The seven-footer felt his back tighten up as he turned to set a screen. "I stopped and hyperextended my back," he said. "I cant tell much about it. I just felt pain and that was it." Valanciunas, who hasnt dealt with back issues in the past, wanted to continue playing but the teams medical staff pulled him prior to the fourth quarter. For the third straight game the sophomore centre got off to a hot start, scoring 11 points and grabbing four boards in the opening frame. "I thought he had something good going, a match inside," Casey said. "He was attacking the rim, attacking the basket, he was giving us some rim protection and rebounding." Valanciunas will be re-evaluated in New Orleans ahead of Wednesdays game against the Pelicans.
Vinny Castilla Jersey . Seager had another triple, a home run and a double in a rare feat not seen in more than 40 years, leading Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners past the New York Yankees 10-2. "It was a weird play," Seager said of the triple in the fourth inning.
Bruce Ruffin Jersey . -- Kevin Harvick pulled away on a restart with 47 laps to go and ended Chase Elliotts two-race winning streak in NASCARs Nationwide Series with a dominating victory early Saturday at Richmond International Raceway.HARRISON, N.J. -- Toronto FC were a minute away from a big road victory against a team close to them in the standings before a veteran just back from the World Cup helped steal away what seemed a sure three points. Red Bulls midfielder Tim Cahill, who scored twice for Australia in Brazil just a week ago, knocked a header at the feet of New Yorks Bradley Wright-Phillips in the 93rd minute to beat Toronto goalkeeper Joe Bendik for a 2-2 draw Friday. The result left an often dominant Toronto (6-4-2) club with just a point in its first match following a league-wide World Cup break. "Im disappointed that we didnt hold out, disappointed that I couldnt make that last save. I thought we were the far better team the entire game," Bendik said. While New York (4-5-7) held a slight edge in possession, Toronto outshot the Red Bulls 20-14 with a 7-6 advantage in shots on target despite still missing midfielder Michael Bradley to the World Cup. Toronto manager Ryan Nelsen felt it was a match they could learn from and a sign they were gaining momentum after an opening three months that saw them play the fewest league games in Major League Soccer. "We had a couple of weeks (during the break) and sort of benefited off that," Nelsen said. "Guys are staying a bit healthier, and hopefully we can just keep on it." Despite a quality first half, Toronto trailed heading into halftime as Peguy Luyindula headed a cross from Ambroise Oyongo past a diving Bendik to make it 1-0 in the 36th minute. The Reds jumped out to their best period of the game to begin the second half, as Jermain Defoe beat New Yorks Carlos Robles against the grain to even the score in the 55th minute. The goal is Defoes eighth in nine league matches. Toronto made aa sub designed on going for at least a draw by bringing on Brazilian designated player Gilberto, who had been scoreless in nine previous matches.
Bryan Shaw Jersey. In the 72nd minute, after a dispute with Defoe over who would take a free kick from inside 25 yards, stutter stepped before cracking an unstoppable shot to the top right corner of the goal that froze everyone on the pitch, save for a helpless, diving Robles. "Sometimes you just get a feeling," said Nelsen, addressing the moments leading up to the kick between his two international stars. "I think Gil had a feeling he was going to do something, and players understand that. (That goal) will be shown around the world, for a long time." Defoe admitted he was fine with the decision in the end. "Yeah, it was meant (to be). In football, youre confident, and when he stepped up, I had that feeling that he was going to score. You can see from the celebrations, Im so happy for him." Gilberto eventually left the game in the 89th minute with what Nelson called a hip problem. Toronto were unable to fend off a desperate New York team that remained one point behind them for fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings, with a somewhat surprise substitution of Cahill for the goal-scorer Luyindula. New York head coach Mike Petke admitted that hed had no plans to use Cahill in any serious role prior to the team going down a goal. "I was hoping to bring Tim on in the 88th minute, up 3-0, so the fans could clap him for the wonderful World Cup he had," Petke said. "Obviously things change, with the score, with the way the game went. We felt, to bring Tim on for 20 minutes, perhaps something could happen, and obviously it did in the end." ' ' '