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.
Tyson Ross 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.
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Jurickson Profar Jersey . -- Pinch-runner Rajai Daviss decision to steal third base just as Oakland catcher Derek Norris was throwing the ball back to the pitcher caught most everyone by surprise -- including several of his Detroit teammates.
http://www.rangersapparelsshop.com/prince-fielder-jersey-c-16/ . City has reached new heights under manager Manuel Pellegrini as they transition from big spending/immediate impact to perennial contender. Yaya Toures seeming discontent Tuesday may complicate that, as does the little issue of Financial Fair Play. CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Hornets owner Michael Jordan, a 14-time NBA All-Star, is pushing to bring the big game back to Charlotte. The Hornets, in conjunction with the Charlotte Sports Foundation, announced plans Tuesday to submit a bid to host the NBA All-Star Weekend in 2017 or 2018. A contingent of Hornets employees and city officials flew to New York Tuesday to deliver the bid to NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum and other league executives following a morning press conference in Charlotte. "This is a great time to be a Charlotte Hornets fan and a fan of NBA basketball here in the Carolinas," Hornets COO Fred Whitfield said Tuesday. "... This is a chance for us to host the greatest basketball players in the world on not a national, but a global stage." Whitfield estimates eight to 10 other cities will apply to host the game. Charlotte hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 1991 at the suburban Charlotte Coliseum, which has since been demolished. The Hornets now play in a downtown arena. Whitfield estimated Tuesday the arena, which opened in 2005, would need between $42 million and $43 million in upgrades. "The City Council at some point will receive the presentation on the results of the discussions that we have had," Whitfield said. "It has yet to be determined and it will be soon. Again, we want to makee sure that our arena is very competitive with and against the rest of the region with high quality and high fan experience.
Will Middlebrooks Jersey. " Whitfield said those improvements to the arena will most likely be funded with hospitality tax revenues. The team has openly discussed in the past its desire to have the game return to Charlotte for quite some time. In April of 2013, NBA commissioner Adam Silver addressed the possibility of Charlotte hosting a future All-Star game, saying "I cant speak as to the year, but Im very excited about the prospect of the All-Star game returning to Charlotte. Its a terrific arena and one of our best basketball markets in terms of passion." Silver said this past March that no dramatic changes were needed to the arena. He said the scoreboard, suites and lighting were some of the things that needed to be upgraded to host the All-Star Weekend, which regularly features the games biggest stars and a host of celebrities. He estimates landing the All-Star game will have $100 million economic impact on Charlotte area based off the numbers from last years game in New Orleans. Jordans Charlotte Bobcats went 43-39 last season and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2010, but were swept in the first round by the Miami Heat. Charlotte changed its name to the Hornets earlier this year.
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