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Pridružen/-a: 19.01. 2019, 04:51
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 Objavljeno: 20 Feb 2019 03:18 Naslov sporočila: knee improve. |
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| TORONTO - Fresh off one of his most impressive outings of the season, DeMar DeRozan sat by his locker and spoke about carrying his suddenly injury-ridden team while a small piece of gauze soaked up the blood on the hand he used to carry them. Theres some irony there, somewhere. DeRozan needed "four or five" stitches to close a gash in the webbing of his left hand following Wednesdays surprising 107-103 win over the Houston Rockets. "I didnt even notice," he said. It happened late in the fourth quarter as he tried to rip the ball away from Omer Asik. "I looked down and my whole hand was soaked." "It wouldnt stop bleeding. But its cool." Next to Terrence Ross, the Raptors healthiest starter might be the guy with the bloody mitt. They had been fortunate to avoid the injury bug for most of the season but, as they say, when it rains, it pours. Suddenly, its hit them like a monsoon. Missing Kyle Lowry for the first time this season, out with soreness in his left knee, Toronto lost another indispensable cog when Amir Johnson was removed three minutes into Wednesdays game, having tweaked a lingering right ankle ailment. Just a few minutes later the Raptors fell behind by 12 points. With eight games left in their feel-good, Cinderella season the sky was falling, or so we thought. Fact is, this wouldnt be the first time theyve been written off, left for dead. They havent followed the script to this point, so why would they start now? "Guys stepped up," Dwane Casey said. With Patrick Patterson leading the charge in his second game back from an elbow injury, the second unit immediately captured momentum. John Salmons played his best basketball in months while Nando De Colo and Tyler Hansbrough both gave Toronto a lift with their energy off the bench. Greivis Vasquez, starting in place of the injured Lowry, filled in admirably at the point, recording eight assists without committing a turnover in a season-high 40 minutes of action. But no one was quite as impressive as DeRozan. The all-star guard faced all the additional defensive attention you would expect without Lowry in the lineup but after a 12-minute adjustment period he put the team on his shoulders and got to work. "I had to pick up the slack with [Lowry] out," said DeRozan, making just one of his five shots in the first quarter. "I havent really played without Kyle, hes played every game. It was an adjustment for me tonight but I figured it out there after the first quarter." DeRozan scored 15 of his game-high 29 points in the second quarter, connecting on all six of his attempts in the frame, including a 32-foot bank shot to end the half. Rising to the occasion, DeRozan was at his best when his team needed him most; the mark of a true all-star. The Raptors have two players that fit that description. With DeRozan sidelined for a couple games in late February, Lowry led Toronto to a pair of victories, scoring over 30 points in each contest. Now it was his turn to carry the load. "Theyve been doing it the whole year," Vasquez said of the teams star backcourt. "Both [of them]. Its not hidden that theyre our leaders. We go as they go and everybody understands that. This is why we have a healthy locker room. Were not fighting egos. We know whats going on. Those two guys are going to score, those two guys are going to make winning plays for us and weve just got to feed off their energy. Whenever those guys go down weve got their back, thats what this team is all about." Lowry originally sustained the injury colliding with LeBron James in Mondays loss to the Heat. Although there was no structural damage to his knee, it was still swollen on Wednesday and the teams medical staff decided it was best to hold him out, much to the dismay of Lowry, one would imagine. "If it were up to him he would go one leg," Casey joked before the game. "But you dont want to risk his future health for one game." Even in his absence, Lowrys tendencies seemed to rub off on his teammates. DeRozan took a rare charge. Vasquez tried to do the same, though he was called for a blocking foul. "I know he was laughing," Vasquez said of Lowry, who leads the league in drawing charges. "He knows I dont take charges." The good news for the Raptors is that neither Lowrys knee injury or Johnsons bum ankle appears too serious. Both players will benefit from some much-needed rest during Thursdays off day and hope to be ready for Fridays home tilt with the Pacers, Torontos final game against a winning opponent this season. "Weve been very lucky not to have had some major injuries, knock on wood, throughout the year," Casey said. "The little injury bug has hit us a little bit. The schedules not going to stop. Weve got to keep going. Next man up." Casey reaches milestone With the victory, Casey notched his 100th win at the helm of the Raptors, becoming the third coach in team history to reach that plateau, joining Sam Mitchell and Lenny Wilkens. Asked about the accomplishment after the game, the Raptors third-year bench boss shifted the focus to his players, as expected. "All I know is its [win] number 43 for us this year," he said. "Its not about [me]. Its about the team, its about the organization, its about the players that have been here the three years and the process that weve gone through." "To start where we did and kind of build, and were still building, is a tribute to the young guys and the players that have been through here." The stat The Raptors will finish the year with a 16-14 record against Western Conference teams, their first season above .500 versus the West since 1999-00. The quote "Ever since I was in New Orleans I wanted to start my whole career," said Vasquez, who made his second start as a Raptor after doing so in all 18 games with the Kings this season and all 78 he appeared in with New Orleans last year. "But when I came here I really humbled myself and understood that its about winning more than about putting up numbers. I can go out there and play 36 minutes and put up crazy numbers but what about the playoffs? What about making winning plays?" "So Im going to be ready, man. I love this team and Im willing to do whatever it takes." Jordan Mills Jersey . Which is to say, the top of this years draft class is not as dynamic or exciting as the 2013 class of Nate MacKinnon, Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Drouin and Seth Jones and its not as strikingly promising as the highly-anticipated 2015 slate of Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin. Kyle Williams Jersey . Neither side would publicly confirm or deny any discussions were taking place, until the near unexpected happened. On Saturday night sources confirmed to TSN, the league and players agreed to terms on a new, tentative CBA, pending ratification by the unions players. A league source confirmed the CFLs board of governors must also ratify any potential agreement. http://www.thebillsgearshop.com/Bills-Josh-Allen-Draft-Jersey/ . The ongoing funk on penalty kill and an unusually quiet night on home ice for the power play divided the Leafs from the Bruins at the ACC in a rare Sunday night affair. John Miller Jersey . Viewers in the Canadiens region can watch the game on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt and listen on TSN 690. The Canadiens have won three in a row and four of their last five games and recently put the finishing touches on a 3-1-0 road trip. O. J. Simpson Jersey .Y. - Alex Rodriguez paid $305,000 for evidence that could be used in the case involving the Biogenesis of America drug clinic, the Daily News reported Saturday.NEW YORK -- Ask Rafael Nadal how his famously troublesome left knee is feeling on the eve of the U.S. Open, and hell balk a bit while formulating a response. "I am ..." the 12-time major title winner began, haltingly, during an interview with The Associated Press. "You know ..." he resumed, before smiling sheepishly and pausing again. Eventually, Nadal offered something of a complicated answer. "I have to say that I am very well, because the results have been amazing since I came back," he said. "If I say something else, (it) will sound strange." Thats because when the years last Grand Slam tournament begins Monday, none of the players setting foot on the blue hard courts of Flushing Meadows possesses as much momentum -- or is in as fine form -- as the No. 2-seeded Nadal. Hes won his past 10 matches heading into the first round against the 97th-ranked Ryan Harrison of the United States. Another past U.S. Open champion on Monday afternoons schedule is 2000-01 winner Venus Williams, a former No. 1 now ranked 60th who will be taking on recent Wimbledon semifinalist and 12th-seeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium. At night, Williams younger sister Serena, the defending champion, plays 2010 French Open winner Francesca Schiavone of Italy, while 17-time major champion Roger Federer faces 62nd-ranked Grega Zemlja of Slovenia. The biggest curiosity when it comes to Nadal these days is how his knees will hold up. Theyve presented recurring problems for him over the years, particularly the left one, which kept him out of action from late June 2012 until February 2013. He missed the London Olympics, last years U.S. Open and this years Australian Open. "I feel more comfortable now than six months ago, thats for sure," Nadal said, then quickly added: "But I still have pain some days." He was asked whether he thinks that might be the case for the rest of his career. "Hopefully not," the 27-year-old Nadal said. "Hopefully not." Hard courts could exacerbate the matter because of the pounding legs take on the unforgiving surface. Nadal himself maintains that there should be more tournaments played on other kinds of courts. Yet hes been successful everywhere, winning the Australian Open and U.S. Open once each, along with Wimbledon twice, to go along with his record eight championships on the slower red clay of the French Open. Nadal is 15-0 on hard courts in 2013, with his current run of victories built en route to titles at Montreal and Cincinnati. "Hes on a great streak right now. Hes playing fantastic tennis. Hes playing as well as anyone in the world right now," said the 21-year-old Harrison, who will be making his Arthur Ashe Stadium debut against the tournaments 2010 champion. "So Im going to have to bring a really high level out." Nadals rivals at the top of the game have taken note, too, of course. Summed up defendiing champion Andy Murray: "Hes going to be very difficult to beat here.dddddddddddd" Top-seeded Novak Djokovic, who won the 2011 U.S. Open, said: "Nadal is definitely back, and hes playing maybe the best tennis that he ever has played on hard courts. ... He seems like he changed a little bit the game. He stepped in a little bit more. He knows that now he has to be a bit more aggressive than he usually is because of, I guess, his knees and everything and because hard court is not clay. Its not his favourite surface; its faster. Im sure he worked on that." Nadal agreed with that assessment: He is making an effort to hit balls earlier than he used to. He is trying to be more aggressive. "Im clearly very impressed, especially seeing him play really well on the quicker hard courts. ... Hes someone to be reckoned with. There were a lot of question marks when he came back. Especially, people thought he was just going to play on the clay courts, or most of it, and just some hard courts," said Federer, the champion in New York every year from 2004-08. "Hes playing a full schedule," Federer said, "and hes had an incredible season so far." All told, Nadal is 53-3 with a tour-leading nine titles, more than twice as many as any other man. He reached the final at 11 of the 12 tournaments he entered. A year ago, when Murray beat Djokovic in five sets in the U.S. Open final, Nadal was at home on the Spanish island of Mallorca, watching the tournament on television. Nadal wasnt particularly concerned about missing this particular tour stop, he said, as much as he fretted about when -- and, really, whether -- he would get back to playing his best. "I was worried about the recovery, not about being here," he said. "I was more worried about when I will have the chance to be back, how will the knee improve. ... Emotionally, there were ups and downs. It is hard when you are working every day and you dont see the improvement on the injury. That is the hardest moment, the toughest moment." The last time he was seen in Grand Slam action, at Wimbledon in June, Nadal was being beaten by 135th-ranked Steve Darcis, the only first-round loss of his career at a major tournament. That also was Nadals only defeat in his past 33 matches. If he and Federer both win four times at the U.S. Open, they will meet in the quarterfinals. They own a combined 29 Grand Slam titles, have faced each other 31 times (Nadal leads 21-10), including in eight major finals (Nadal leads 6-2) -- and have never been on opposite sides of the net at Flushing Meadows. "We deserved a final here in the U.S. Open. Yeah, that is strange that it didnt happen. I remember Roger having match points in the 2010 semifinals, 2011 semifinals -- so we were one point away. ... I missed it in 2009; I missed it in 2008," Nadal said. "Hopefully this time will be the good one." Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' ' |
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