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TORONTO - Winning the game was not important, Dwane Casey repeated leading up to his teams sixth exhibition game Monday. cheap jerseys from china . Apparently nobody told the young group of reserves that shared the floor as the Raptors heroics forced two overtime periods before clinching the victory in a game that exceeded three hours in duration. For Casey this game, like the five that proceeded it, was all about finding cohesion amongst his second unit, determining the right combinations as he works to trim down his rotation and seeing what he has in the young players who will make up the end of his bench. On Monday all of that meant playing to win. With 11 seconds remaining, down two coming out of a timeout, Casey considered going for the win; an all or nothing three-point attempt that may have appeased the working media, many of whom grew restless as the rare preseason thriller crawled along. Instead, Landry Fields inbounded to Tyler Hansbrough on the elbow, who faked the pass back to Fields and blew by an unsuspecting Metta World Peace for the two-handed slam to tie the game. "I owed it to the players," Casey said of his decision to force overtime. "Weve got to try to execute down the stretch. It crossed my mind [to go for the three] but it wasnt the right thing to do." "It was good for us to learn," he explained following Torontos 123-120 win over the Knicks. "I know its excruciating for [the media] to have to stay up late and miss [their] deadlines but its good for [the players]." No starter played in the fourth quarter or in either of the extra periods as Casey continued to experiment with his reserves, many of whom have failed to stand out over the first six games. Hansbrough and Terrence Ross, who both figure to be mainstays off the bench this season, came through down the stretch while Quincy Acy, Dwight Buycks and Julyan Stone - who still hasnt made the team but is a safe bet to snag the final roster spot - played like they have something to prove. "The guys fought, scraped [and] got their way back into the game," Casey said. "Its a great experience for those young kids to be able to play in those situations because in the regular season most likely, unless something catastrophic happens, theyre not going to be in the game." "It prepares you for future games," said Ross, who scored a game-high 27 points including a buzzer beating three-pointer that forced double overtime. "If you ever get in that situation you know what to do and what not to do." "You really just get comfortable in that situation," he continued, "because the first time you go out there its always kind of nerve-racking no matter how many times you go over it in practice so just getting that live experience helps." Raining Ross Triples With 4.1 seconds remaining in the first overtime period, Julyan Stone found Ross - the inbounder - coming off a screen. The sophomore rose up, faded away and drilled the game-tying triple at the buzzer. By that point Ross was on fire. The Raptors guard was just one-for-three, all three-point attempts, through seven minutes in the first three quarters. He finished the game seven-for-15, including six-of-13 from long range, in just over 25 minutes. "My teammates kept passing me the ball," he said, "so I knew if they were passing to me I was going to shoot it. They gave me the confidence to keep shooting so thats what I did." At times Ross has been the most impressive player on the floor during the preseason, scoring most of his points in bunches. Other times, specifically early in games, hes gone relatively unnoticed, something Casey has noticed and is working with him to correct. "It took Terrence a little while to get going," the Raptors coach said of Ross, who should be the second units biggest source of offence if he can become more consistent. "Once he got going he was okay but hes got to do that as soon as he comes in [the game] in that second quarter." Shades of Hakeem Once again in the preseason DeMar DeRozan put on a show in the paint, completely dominating smaller defenders in the post and making it look easy. From his trusted up and under move, to a devastating spin that made rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. look silly, to the fake behind the back pass that fooled former defensive player of the year Tyson Chandler en route to an easy lay in, DeRozan continued to turn heads and earn high praise. "I thought his footwork when they had single coverage [on him] was big-time," Casey said of DeRozans work in the post. "He looked like hed been working with Hakeem [Olajuwon] down there." "Its a footwork thing," said DeRozan, who has been studying film of great post-up guards including Kobe Bryant and Andre Miller. "Understanding how a players going to play me and just using my advantages. I know if I get a player in the air either I get the foul or get the lay-up. I just have different options and Im starting to understand that more." DeRozan had 21 points in just under 30 minutes, shooting 8-for-15 from the field, including his first two treys of the preseason. After going a perfect 5-of-5 in the paint Monday, he is now shooting 19-for-25 (76 per cent) in the restricted area, where he has taken 43 per cent of his field goal attempts during the exhibition season. Chemistry on the Wing The league, or at least the Knicks, have noticed the evolution in DeRozans game as hes beginning to see double teams intended to put pressure on him as a ball handler. "I thought his passes out of the double teams were huge," Casey said. "I think Rudy [Gay] got a three off of one of them. So hes got to punish them with the pass as much as his scoring out of the post." DeRozan improved his ball handling and court vision last season and looks to be taking the next step playing alongside another dangerous offensive weapon in Rudy Gay. Gay finished with 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting, also hitting a couple of three-pointers, in just under 26 minutes. Continued Search for Second-Unit Symmetry Again, the group of Ross, Fields, Hansbrough, D.J. Augustin and Austin Daye struggled to begin the second quarter on Monday. That group, which has given up early leads on a couple occasions this fall, gave up a one-point advantage that the starters had earned coming out of the opening frame and allowed the Knicks to rip off 15-6 run before Casey was forced to call a quick timeout and regroup. "I was disappointed in the approach in the second quarter," he admitted. "When you come in the game theres nobody guaranteed minutes. We cant come in soft. Weve got to get rid of that tag of teams coming in, pushing us under the bucket, grabbing offensive rebounds, taking the ball away from us with us being non-physical and I thought in the second quarter we did that." The Raptors, who finished the game with a 57-52 advantage on the boards, were outrebounded by nine in the first half. Augustin and Daye played just seven minutes and gave way to Buycks, Stone and Acy in the second half. An Uneventful Return for Bargnani Andrea Bargnani made his second preseason return to Toronto in a span of 10 days. The former Raptors forward was booed by the sparse crowd during pre-game introductions but the harsh reception was a bit more subdued than it was during his first game back and tailed off as the night went on. Bargnani scored 13 points, five of them from the free-throw line, on 4-of-12 shooting after starting off 1-of-8. Up Next The Raptors will host Memphis at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday. Hear it live on TSN 1050 Radio at 7pm et. With just two exhibition games remaining, Casey has indicated he will begin to tighten the rotation and give his starters more playing time, including minutes in the fourth quarter as they prepare for the start of the regular season. nfl jerseys china .S. Open on Wednesday as he recovers from back surgery that has kept him out of golf for nearly three months. cheap jerseys .ca! Hi Kerry, I love the column, keep up the good work! It doesnt make me more sympathetic to bad calls by the refs, but it sure explains a lot! On Tuesday, Zach Bogosian and Lars Eller just went off to the Sin Bin together - Bogosian for interference and Eller for embellishment. MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Markel Browns streak of eight straight games scoring in double figures for Oklahoma State was in jeopardy -- until he hit his final shot. Brown made a 3-pointer with 12 seconds to lift the 11th-ranked Cowboys to a 73-72 win over West Virginia on Saturday. Oklahoma State (14-2, 2-1 Big 12) trailed for most of the game, but got solid efforts from its top two scorers in the final minutes. "Proud of our team for just hanging in there," Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford said. "There was moments where it could have got away from us, but we just kept hanging in there and then we made a few big plays. And obviously Markel hit a really big shot." The game featured four of the top six scorers in the Big 12. Marcus Smart and Brown again came out on top over the Mountaineers duo of Eron Harris and Juwan Staten after a Cowboys season sweep a year ago. Despite some foul trouble, Smart had 22 points and 13 rebounds to give him two straight double-doubles. He had none before a win over Texas on Wednesday. Brown finished with 12 points. Staten finished with 20 points, but missed a pair of layups in the final 30 seconds. Harris, the leagues second-best scorer, was held to 11 points, more than seven below his average. Harris made just 3 of 11 shots. "He didnt play very well," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "Im telling him every day, you have to work." West Virginias Terry Henderson scored a season-high 21 points, including a 3-pointer that put the Mountaineers ahead 72-70 with 1:14 remaining. Freshman Nathan Adrian, whos been mired in a shooting slump, sent the home crowd into a frenzy with a block of LeBryan Nashs shot attempt with 1:04 to go and West Virginia got the ball back on the tie-up. But Staten missed a layup with 27 seconds left, Brown got the rebound and Oklahoma State called timeout. Once play resumed, Smart found Brown at the top left side of the circle. "We were actually trying to feel out a shot, but when Marcus came off, everybody crashed on him, and like once before in the game he kicked it to me," Brown said. "I was open, I got a defender off hiis feet and I made the shot. wholesale nfl jerseys. " Ford recalled that Brown had failed to take a wide-open 3-pointer on another possession about 30 seconds earlier. "Right when he did, I told him dont pass up another shot," Ford said. "And it just so happened he got another look." Staten missed another layup in traffic in the closing seconds. But Huggins was quick to come to his defence. "Juwans trying to win games," Huggins said. "I wish everyone else would follow suit sometimes. He has worked his tail off, he studies (and) he doesnt take practices off. I wish everyone else would do the same thing. He set a great example." Nash finished with 18 points. Devin Williams had 12 points and 13 rebounds for West Virginia, (10-6, 2-1), which saw its three-game winning streak snapped. Oklahoma State gave up a season high for points in the first half for the third straight game, but took advantage of a pair of West Virginia turnovers and went on an 8-2 run to open the second half for its first lead 47-43 with 16:22 left. Smart went to the bench with his third foul with 12:04 left, and the Cowboys did just fine without him. Oklahoma State went on a 7-0 run, with Brown stealing a pass from Brandon Watkins and dunking the ball uncontested for a 57-52 lead with 10:24 left. Smart returned from the sideline after three minutes and kept the Cowboys momentum going with a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer. West Virginia attempted just two free throws during its first-half run, but started getting free throws midway through the second half. The Mountaineers needed them because they made just one field goal over a 10-minute stretch after halftime. Henderson broke the drought with a 3-pointer and Staten made a layup 32 seconds later to tie the score at 67-67 with 4:21 left. Each team made two field goals the rest of the game in a physical finish. West Virginia set the tempo from the onset, leading by as many as eight in the first half before Oklahoma State got its act together with a 15-4 run to tie it. Williams turnaround jumper with 2 seconds left put West Virginia ahead 41-39 at halftime. cheap jerseys cheap jerseys from china ' ' ' |
