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Postata de: Dogcat250 Sep 10 2019, 03:32 AM

TORONTO - Stewing in the frustration of a Game 1 loss, DeMar DeRozan imprisoned himself in his room following a disappointing playoff debut on Saturday. His first postseason experience was something he had been dreaming about, something he had been preparing for, but it didnt go as he had planed. Reflecting on what went wrong, DeRozan spent the duration of the evening in solitude. He didnt turn on the television and he didnt speak to any of his friends around the league. He thought about returning to the Air Canada Centre at 1am to get up some shots, but decided against it. He needed to regroup, to recalibrate. The next day he went back to work. "Im a student of the game," said the Raptors All-Star. "I went back, watched the whole game two or three times." Fast forward to Tuesday nights sequel. DeRozan, finally getting into a rhythm, picked up his fifth foul with just over seven minutes remaining the final quarter. After pleading with coach Dwane Casey to keep him in the game, he was wisely subbed out, finding himself on the bench as his team clutched onto an evaporating lead. They had been up by as many as 11, but the Nets were closing in and the sell-out crowd, electric again, was getting deja vu. The Raptors were wilting under the pressure, succumbing to the veteran savvy of a Brooklyn team that owned the fourth quarter three days prior, or so we thought. There was DeRozan, in solitude once again on the bench, head down while his teammates and coaches convened during a timeout. "It was just my competitive spirit," he said. "I was a little frustrated, just calming myself down. I was a little frustrated that I couldnt be out there with my team, especially at that critical moment. Just staying focused." Two minutes later, he re-entered, the game tied at 83. Almost immediately, he drained a 20-foot jumper to put Toronto on top. Moments later, he knocked down a fadeaway, padding the lead. He never looked back. "It was just me taking advantage of the mistakes I made in the first game and not doing the same thing in this game," said DeRozan after leading the Raptors to a 100-95 win, evening their series with Brooklyn at one game apiece. "Its everything that you dream about, especially when you become a professional athlete, [play] at the highest level." After being held to 14 points - failing to make a shot until the third quarter - in the series premiere, the fifth-year guard scored 17 of his game-high 30 points in the final frame Tuesday, hitting four of his five field goal attempts and nine of his 11 free throws. "Im just happy for him because a lot of people said he had a bad game [Saturday]," said Kyle Lowry, who scored eight of his 13 points in the fourth quarter of Game 2. "Every one has a bad game once in awhile. Tonight, he just showed what he can do. He did an unbelievable job of attacking, being aggressive and he got his rhythm going. Once he gets his rhythm going, he is a hard guard." The playoffs, as we know, are about adjustments from one game to the next and, despite another patchy performance through the first 36 minutes, DeRozan gave the Raptors new life in this series, one that few are expecting them to win. DeRozan was far from perfect and neither were the Raptors. After committing 19 turnovers Saturday, Toronto threw the ball away 21 times. They hit just two of 16 attempts from three-point range and had to overcome quiet outings from both Lowry and Terrence Ross, who shot 1-for-8. Perhaps they were fortunate that the Nets looked nothing like the team that thoroughly outplayed them in Game 1. Paul Pierce, Saturdays hero, was just 2-for-11. He didnt make a shot until the fourth quarter, but couldnt recapture last weekends late-game magic, misfiring on a couple wide-open looks from beyond the arc in the final 30 seconds. The win wasnt pretty, but it was one they needed - a hard-fought game resembling the style of basketball Casey expects to see from his team. "Earlier in the year, we wanted to be the Freddy Krueger of the NBA," said Casey. "Not give up, not give in. I think our guys have done that. We won against a very veteran team like Brooklyn and that is very difficult to do because they seem to find a way to challenge you and keep you on your toes. I thought our guys did a good job of making sure they kept the pedal to the metal." "We werent going down 0-2," stated Amir Johnson, who also enjoyed a bounce-back performance, scoring 16 points to go along with nine boards. "We were the desperate team and we had to play desperate. There was no way we were going to lose that game. It was a must-win for us." Now, its a brand new series, a best of five that will shift to Brooklyns Barclays Center for Fridays Game 3 and Sundays Game 4. Despite the statement win, the Raptors are still expecting be overlooked as they head on the road. "For us to go through the struggles and start from the bottom," DeRozan said, sounding awfully like Drake, the teams global ambassador, seated courtside Tuesday, "and work our way up and still dont get the respect we deserve, we understand we still have a long way to go." "We dont want no attention, at all," added Greivis Vasquez, who scored 11 off Torontos bench. "Were fine with that. We let the people talk, but we do the talking on the court and thats just who we are, really. We lost the first game and everyone was talking. Everyone was killing DeMar because he couldnt do anything, now theyre going to love him for a couple more days. Its just basketball, man." "Everyone is doubting us, which is great," Casey said. "We look at their minutes in playoff play, they have a couple Hall of Famers on the team. We are the underdog, but the way our guys competed and fought tonight, I was proud. Now the series starts." Quiet contribution from Fields As practice was letting out on Monday, Vasquez inadvertently let the cat out of the bag; Landry Fields had been involved in the teams preparation for Game 2 and could be used to try and slow down Pierce or Joe Johnson. Sure enough, Fields entered the game in place of John Salmons late in the first quarter. Although 12 Raptors saw the floor in Game 1, Fields was relegated to the bench, where hes spent most of the season. However, the fourth-year forward has stayed ready and has been a reliable source of energy when called upon. Tuesday was no different. Without attempting a single shot, Fields, an active player on both ends of the floor, made an impact with his defence. After Johnson scored 12 points in the third quarter - mostly against DeRozan - Fields held him to just two points in the final period. "Its just human nature, we always talk about who scored the most points, who carried the team," Vasquez pointed out. "Credit to Landry, because he wasnt playing at all and look at what he does. He was the MVP tonight. It wasnt anyone else but him because he didnt score, but he played great defence and that was contagious." Casey tightened his rotation, using just eight players, splitting minutes in the frontcourt amongst Johnson, Jonas Valanciunas and Patrick Patterson The stat(s) - Toronto had a 52-30 advantage on the boards, including a 19-11 edge on the offensive glass. Their 52 rebounds was the most the Raptors have ever tallied in a playoff game. - Valanciunas recorded his second straight double-double in the series - 15 points and 14 rebounds - becoming the first NBA player to total at least 30 points and 30 boards in his first two career playoff games since Ralph Sampson and Sam Perkins in 1985. - DeRozan became the fourth player in Raptors history to score 30 points in a playoff game, joining Vince Carter, Chris Bosh and Antonio Davis. The quote "Weve been here when people just thought you could come to Toronto and get a win," DeRozan said. "Weve been though all that, frustrating seasons and we want everyone to know that when you play against the Toronto Raptors, youre going to have to fight, youre going to have to bring your game." http://www.vapormaxschuhe.de/vapormax-weiss-deutschland.html .com) - The Ottawa Senators will try to keep their slim playoff hopes alive when they face the Chicago Blackhawks who are trying to secure their place in the post-season. http://www.vapormaxschuhe.de/vapormax-herren-deutschland.html .C. -- Al Jefferson said he feels like hes playing the best basketball of his 10-year NBA career. http://www.vapormaxschuhe.de/vapormax-plus-deutschland.html . LOUIS -- The Tampa Bay Rays have placed right-handed pitcher Joel Peralta on the 15-day disabled list with an undisclosed illness. http://www.vapormaxschuhe.de/vapormax-schwarz-deutschland.html . The Big Man finished 3-1 in Week 19, and sits at 53-24 on the season. Now Schultz is ready for more action. http://www.vapormaxschuhe.de/vapormax-damen-deutschland.html . The 24-year-old Raley was 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA for Chicago in his first two career starts after being called up from Iowa on Aug. 7. He was optioned to Iowa on Monday after losing 3-0 to Cincinnati in Chicago on Sunday.REGINA -- The stadium that was once home to CFL greats like George Reed, Ron Lancaster and Dave Ridgway is about to host its last championship. Mosaic Stadium, home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders football club, will host the 101st Grey Cup on Sunday. Sure, there will be more regular season games at Mosaic, possibly playoffs too, but no more championships. The stadium will be torn down when a new facility is ready for the 2017 season. Former Roughrider Steve Mazurak says he has a lot of fond about memories "about this great old stadium." "I was blessed with the fact that I was able to be a teammate of Ron Lancaster and George Reed," said Mazurak, who played wide receiver and slotback from 1973 to 1981. "To share a huddle with them and to stand there and go OK, theres Ronny Lancaster, hes reading a play and hes actually calling my number, that gives me goosebumps right this very second." Former offensive lineman Gene Makowsky says the stadium holds a special place in his heart too. Makowsky, who played for the Riders from 1995 to 2011, says the Labour Day matchups between Saskatchewan and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were always a lot of fun. "The one memory I think that stands out is certainly the 07 Labour Day Classic. Certainly, the playoff games are the big games, but I still for some reason just remember the last drive by (former Rider quarterback) Kerry Joseph in the 07 Labour Day Classic," Makowsky said in an interview in front of the stadium. "It was a big game between two teams that were vying for first place and it was huge play. He ran 30 yards untouched in the endzone and the crowd just went wild. It was just amazing." Mosaic Stadium last hosted the Grey Cup 2003 when the Edmonton Eskimos beat the Montreal Alouettes in front of 50,909 fans. Mosaic sits in an area of Regina known as North Central, near downtown. The stadium, that originally started as a rugby field in 1910, is known for wind that, as Mazurak says, will "knock your socks off" and old wooden bench-style seating. It has undergone several upgrades over the years and extra seats have been added in the endzones for Grey Cup.dddddddddddd "But way back in the day, that what was we called Hemorrhoid Hill. And so if there was an overload of crowd, they would put them on that hill and people would sit on the grassy knoll at the south end of Mosaic Stadium, of course then it was Taylor Field," Mazurak said in an interview on the field. "If the stands were full and the grassy knoll was full, then they would line people up along the sidelines here." Mosaic was place where Mazurak would go as a nine-year-old boy to watch the Riders and sit on rickety wooden benches in the north endzone, "probably for less than a $2 bill," he said. It was later the place where he played high school and junior football before becoming a Rider. "(It has) a lot of warm feelings of fuzziness with me," said Mazurak, who is now the teams now vice-president of sales and corporate partnerships. Mazurak says there are a lot of mixed emotions when he thinks about Mosaic being torn down, especially when he thinks about the history and the pride in the stadium. But he also says its time for a new facility. "When they finally put the bulldozer to it, oh the quicker they can do it, the better. Then we can finally be what we want to be for our fans and thats major league," he said. "Only through a major league venue can you really get to the point where you need to be for the whole game day experience." Makowsky is now one of those fans. Hes a season ticket holder who takes his children to games. When Mosaic is torn down, long-time season ticket holders will find themselves in different seats, he noted. "Theres been people that have sat in the same seats for 40 and 50 years, you hear that all the time," said Makowsky. "So thats going to be certainly an end of an era and itll be a little bit sad in a way, certainly, if you move along to the new stadium you wont be sitting with your own section anymore, the people that have surrounded you for years and years." "But the old stadium served us well," he added. ' ' '