Wichtig!! Forum-Regeln » dont we have him yet?

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." Andrew Bailey Angels Jersey . Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone dismissed Tuesdays massive anti-government protest in Manama as "a lot of kids having a go at the police." "I dont think its anything serious at all," Ecclestone was quoted as saying in The Guardian newspaper on Wednesday. Andrelton Simmons Jersey . Nathan Beaulieu, Tomas Jurco, Danick Gauthier and Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist each as the Sea Dogs extended the longest streak in the Canadian Hockey League this season. https://www.cheapangels.com/. Bell Medias 12-year partnership with the Ottawa Senators includes five major components: - English-language regional television broadcast rights for TSN – a minimum of 52 regular season and pre-season games - French-language regional television broadcast rights for RDS – a minimum of 40 regular season and pre-season games - English-language broadcast rights for TSN Radio 1200 – all games - French-language radio broadcast rights – all games - Telecommunications and retail sponsorship and activation rights "We recognized early on that our regional broadcast rights coming up for renewal was a very important asset," said Senators owner Eugene Melnyk. Miguel Del Pozo Angels Jersey . Dallas also Monday recalled defenceman Aaron Rome from his conditioning assignment with the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League and assigned goaltender Jack Campbell to the AHL squad. Shohei Ohtani Jersey . Cammalleri suffered a concussion in the Flames 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. The 31-year-old forward did not travel with the team to Carolina.ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Detroit Tigers had seen enough from their shaky bullpen to know something had to be done. So the AL Central leaders acquired right-hander Joakim Soria. "Obviously, Im excited to have Joakim on the team," manager Brad Ausmus said Thursday before the Tigers began a four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels. "Anytime you can get help of his calibre, especially at the back end of the bullpen, I dont think there would be a manager who wouldnt be excited about it." Detroit dealt pitching prospects Corey Knebel and Jake Thompson to the Texas Rangers to get the 30-year-old Soria on Wednesday night. "We gave up a lot, guys that we valued," Dave Dombrowski, the Tigers general manager said. "But it was a necessity." The Tigers have been working on improving their bullpen for weeks because closer Joe Nathan has been inconsistent and Joel Hanrahan apparently will not be able to pitch this year. Setup man Joba Chamberlain has been their only reliable reliever. Soria was 1-3 with a 2.70 ERA, saving 17 games in 19 chances this year with the Rangers. He is 15-18 with a 2.51 and 177 saves in 199 chances over five years with the Kansas City Royals and two in Texas. The Rangers signed Soria to an $8 million, two-year contract before last season as he was recovering from his second Tommy John surgery. His contract includes a $7 million club option for 2015 with a $500,000 buyout, making him even more attractive to the Tigers. Soria sounded as if he will be happy with whatever role the Tigers give him. He is joining a franchise aiming for its first World Series championship since 1984 and leaving a last-place team that has had high hopes dashed by a slew of injuries. "This is a good feeling," the Mexican-born Soria said at his locker in Angel Stadium while accepting welcoming handshakes from several of his new teammates. "Im grateful to Texas, because they picked me up when I was hurt. So I wish all the best for them. But now Im in a different family, its a different feeling. Im willing to do whatever they want me to do and do whatever it takes to help this team win as many games as we can. My goal is to win the World Series." Aussmus said that Nathan, a six-time All-Star, will remain as the closer with Soria starting out as the seventh-inning reliever and Chamberlain staying in his current setup role.dddddddddddd "Id probably leave Joba in the eighth inning because hes pitched so well there," Ausmus said. "I talked to Joakim about pitching in the eighth if Joba wasnt available, and in the ninth of Joe wasnt available. So he was open to help any way he can. Hes pitched in all those roles before, so having someone with Joakims experience in the ninth if Joe cant go is enormous." Ausmus is grateful for the chance to have two closers with All-Star credentials at his disposal, but insisted that Nathan is his guy right now -- although he wouldnt use him more than three days in a row. "I never saw (Soria) as a threat as a teammate," Nathan said. "Hes another great arm that we brought over here. Hes a gamer. Hes a winner. He wants the baseball and he just loves to compete." Nathan has struggled at times this season, but not enough to give Ausmus a reason to take him out of the closer role. "Even though Ive done quite a bit in this game, one of those things Ive also done is pull myself out of the closer role when I dont feel as if Im helping the club," Nathan said. "But right now is not one of those instances. Im definitely throwing the ball with more consistency and getting a lot more swings and misses, which is always a good sign. But with that said, this is Brads decision." When the Tigers were considering making a move to add Soria, they asked Nathan and Ian Kinsler about him. "Both of them were effusive in their praise of him as a player and a pitcher and as far as his makeup on the team," Dombrowski recalled. "One of the comments was, Why dont we have him yet? It was a real plus for us to know we can have another quality pitcher for next year." To help this season, Detroit signed Hanrahan to a $1 million, one-year deal in May -- a year after he had elbow surgery -- to pitch out of the bullpen. Dombrowski, though, said it is "highly unlikely," that Hanrahan will pitch this season. "Were not counting on him at all," Dombrowski said. ' ' '