|
|
|
PHILADELPHIA - Five minutes after Kyle Lowry recorded his fourth career triple-double, and second as a member of the Raptors, he was back in the locker room glued to his phone, streaming the Knicks game. At the time, Carmelo Anthony was at the tail end of a career and Knicks franchise-record setting performance in New York. Melo had 60 points and counting, as Lowry watched in amazement. "They just took him out," he told an enquiring DeMar DeRozan, putting down his phone to speak with the media following his own remarkable showing. No, Lowry didnt score 62 points - Anthonys final point total - but he too was coming off a game hell remember for the rest of his professional career, and beyond. "Its always special to play here," said the Philadelphia-native, who put up 18 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists in front of over 50 friends and family members in Torontos 104-95 victory over the 76ers. And his triple-double? "As long as its with a win, its a great feat." The win didnt come easy. Toronto got off to a quick start before coughing up an early 13-point lead to the last place 76ers. The Raptors trailed by one at the break and exchanged buckets with a tenacious Philadelphia team during the third quarter. Down one with a minute remaining in the third, Lowry drained a short jumper to give his team the lead, adding a step-back 18-footer prior to the buzzer. Half of section 123 - five or six rows of Lowry supporters - was on their feet as the quarter came to an end. The Raptors never relinquished their lead from there. "Always, coming here and winning the game is most important," said the Raptors point guard. "Even if I play terrible, if we win the game and I give my family something to cheer for Im happy." How big was his own personal cheering section? "50-something [people], a small amount," he said with a smirk. Following Friday morning shoot around, Lowry - having spent the previous night back at home - spoke about staying professional and blocking out the natural distraction of being in a familiar setting. He got his ticket requests in Thursday evening and by 5:00, two hours before tip-off, he insisted his phone would be turned off. "Its always special to be able to have them sit behind you and cheer for you and cheer for the team," he said. "Its definitely different but Im still a professional, Ive got to do my job, Ive got to help my team win." 48 hours earlier, Lowry missed all 10 of his field goal attempts as he batted the flu, running back-and-forth from the restroom in Wednesdays victory over Dallas. DeRozan picked up the slack for his ailing comrade, scoring a career-best 40 points. Theyve become something of a tag team. On Friday, with Lowry back to full health after some home cooking, both guards were tremendous. "Thats what he do, man," said DeRozan, who had 34 points of his own, including 16 in the fourth and 13 from the free throw line. "He puts us all in great positions to score. He rebounds, he pushes the ball, he does it all when hes out there on the court. You cant ask for another point guard like that who can do all those things." Lowry and DeRozan, are both awaiting their All-Star fate. The leagues coaches will vote in the reserves - they have until the weekend to submit their ballots - and Torontos backcourt duo is making one final, eye catching push. "Hes an All-Star," DeRozan said of Lowry. "Hes an All-Star," Lowry said of DeRozan. "Theyre both All-Stars," said Amir Johnson. Theyll find out on Thursday, but for now theyre both relieved to be winning once again. After dropping three of four last week the Raptors have been victorious in two straight ahead of a daunting matchup with the Clippers in the second night of a back-to-back Saturday and a crucial showdown with the suddenly red-hot, division rival Nets Monday. "I dont think we ever lost it," DeRozan said with confidence. "We understand we cant win every game. There are going to be games we wish we should have win but it might just not be our night. We understand that. We just have to stay positive when we lose a game, understand we have to learn from our mistakes and keep going." Meanwhile, DeRozan - making his All-Star bid - has scored 74 points in two games, shooting 11-for-16 in the fourth quarter during that stretch. Not bad right? "Melo had 62 [tonight]," he said. "I really didnt do too much." Cheap Air Max 90 White China . Mike Vecchione tied it at 2 with 4:01 left in the first, Saskatoon native Eli Lichtenwald gave the Dutchman the lead 57 seconds later, and Daniel Ciampini capped the spree with 2:57 to go. Cheap Air Max 90 2019 . Rob Klinkhammer and Mikkel Boedker scored 63 seconds apart in the first period for the Coyotes, who handed the Kings their third straight loss and took over sole possession of eighth place in the Western Conference. Mike Smith made 36 saves. http://www.outletairmax90cheap.com/ . The 21-year-old Canadian earned a spot in his third career ATP final on Saturday thanks to his first Top 10 victory of the new tennis season, a 6-4, 6-4 win over world no. 10 Nicolas Almagro of Spain. Fake Off White Air Max 90 . - Kyle Wood and Barclay Goodrow scored second period power-play goals to provide all of the scoring for the North Bay Battalion in a 2-0 victory over the Erie Otters in Ontario Hockey League action on Thursday. Wholesale Air Max 90 Essential . Murray, the defending champion and No. 3 seed, claimed his first match win at Queens in 2005 and went on to win the Wimbledon warmup three times. But he failed to take advantage of eight set points after leading the first-set tiebreaker 6-2, and Stepanek survived to convert with his second set point.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- In the dressing room after Brandon Dubinskys late goal forced overtime, Columbus Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno half-jokingly said hed get the winner. Then he did it. Dubinsky scored with 22.5 seconds left in regulation and Folignos wrist shot just inside the blue line 2:49 into the extra session -- from right over the top of the Stanley Cup painted under the ice -- gave the upstart Columbus Blue Jackets a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night. Asked if he had called the goal, Foligno laughed. "I might have," he said with a wide grin. "I didnt actually think it would work out, but it ended up working. Im going to thank my lucky stars." The Blue Jackets overcame a 3-0 deficit for their first home playoff victory in the franchises 13 seasons, sending the series back to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Saturday night tied 2-2. The defeat left the Penguins, who had rolled over Columbus in all five meetings during the regular season, stunned. "We lost the game, its 2-2 now and we have to have a response from our whole group," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. Craig Adams, Chris Kunitz and James Neal scored in a 5:01 span in the first period to stake the Penguins to a three-goal lead and briefly silence the rowdy crowd of 18,970. But the Blue Jackets, unlike prior teams that had made the franchise a laughing stock by piling up defeats and failing in big games, kept coming. Rookie Boone Jenner scored on a 5-on-3 power play to cut it to 3-1. That was an ominous sign for the Penguins. In the three previous games of the series, a team had scored first on the way to a 3-1 lead -- and then lost the game. This one was no different. Ryan Johansen, who would star on Dubinskys tying shot, then tapped in a goal, also with a man advantage, to make it 3-2 through two periods. It stayed that way, both Marc-Andre Fleury of Pittsburgh and Columbus Sergei Bobrovsky trading big saves, until the final minute. As brilliant as he had been at times, Fleury was the culprit. Without really having to, he elected to go to the back wall to handle Jack Johnsons pass around the boards. He whiffed trying to handle the puck, it hopping over his stick, and he was left out of position. Johansen was there to saucer a quick backhanded pass through the crease where Dubinsky netted it with 22.5 seconds left. "We just dumped it in and went to work," said Dubinsky, acquired in the blockbuster deal that shipped captain and franchise hallmark Rick ;Nash to the New York Rangers two years ago.dddddddddddd "It was a Columbus goal. We forechecked them hard, Joe threw it out front to me. I dont know what happened with Fleury, but a couple of guys went down and I shot through them and it went into the net." That touched off a wild celebration, with dancing in the aisles and the loudest sound heard in the Blue Jackets mostly dismal 13 seasons -- well, for at least a few minutes. Meanwhile Dubinsky slid on one knee on the ice before being mobbed by his teammates. In the overtime, the Blue Jackets had the best of it -- as they had for all but the start. Foligno carried the puck through the neutral zone and was 12 feet across the blue line when he fired a low wrister that he tucked under Fleurys glove. As the players piled on top of Foligno, the crowd went crazy again. "The fans were outstanding," Foligno said. "When we were down 3-0, they stuck with us and they kept cheering us on. And it really gave us a lot of momentum throughout the game." Fleury finished with 42 saves but had no explanation for what happened on the tying goal. "They dumped it in and I thought I would stop it for my (defence)," he said. "I dont know, it just bounced over my stick and went right to their guy (Johansen). And he put it right in front." Penguins captain Sidney Crosby defended his goalie. "I didnt get a good look but, you know what, I trust Marc," he said. "For a puck to come out like that, Im sure it had to take a bounce or some kind of a weird hop." Bylsma also blamed a funny bounce. "It was just a puck that comes off of the stanchion and its a bouncing puck," he said. "Obviously, it leaves them with an open cage and an opportunity." The closing goals buoyed the hopes of the Blue Jackets and called into question the Penguins, who have been playoff busts since winning the Stanley Cup in 2009. "I dont know if you can script a better finish," Richards said. Notes: The NHL announced earlier Wednesday that Game 5 will start at 7 p.m. on Saturday in Pittsburgh. ... Bobrovsky had 22 saves for the Blue Jackets. ... Columbus was without rookie D Ryan Murray, who was wearing a boot after being hit with a puck in practice. Veteran Nick Schultz took his spot. ... Bylsma said he was hopeful C Marcel Goc (ankle) may be able to play in the series. ... Likely NHL MVP Crosby has not scored a goal in his last nine playoff games and Evgeni Malkin hasnt found the net in his last eight. ' ' '
« Sidney Powell responds after Trump campaign says she is not part of legal team: | out Davis for a third » |
|
Board Statistics
The forum has 2168
topics
and
2220
posts.
0 members have been online today: |