Texte » will not be signed prior to Cana

TORONTO - As the Raptors locker room cleared out following a failed comeback attempt at home to the Nets Tuesday, Rudy Gay was nowhere to be found. Minutes removed from another poor shooting performance, the Raptors forward had gone straight to the teams practice facility on the third level of the Air Canada Centre, where he put up shot after shot. He shot until he made 500 jumpers, undoubtedly tortured by the nine he missed during the game and the one he chose not to take at the end of it. Trailing by 15 with just over three minutes remaining, the Raptors mounted a furious comeback to set up one final possession, giving them a shot to send the game into overtime or win it outright with a three. With 10.7 seconds on the clock, the ball in Gays hands as Dwane Casey intended, the forward drove into the lane, Paul Pierce forcing him left. As Kevin Garnett came over to help, the driving Gay found Amir Johnson open in the left corner. "The look was for Rudy," Casey maintained after Johnsons three hit the side of the rim, sealing Torontos 102-100 loss to the struggling and undermanned Brooklyn Nets. "They did a good job of double teaming, getting the ball out of his hands." Once the whistle was blown and DeMar DeRozan inbounded the ball, the power shifts from Casey to Gay, who was given full autonomy to make a decision on the fly in that situation. Facing the Nets double team and shooting just 3-of-12 on the night, Gay made his decision and it was one the Raptors can live with. "Rudy could have had a shot, didnt take it and Amir had a clean look," Casey continued. "It was straight, right on line and he works on that shot every day in practice. He had other options but he made that decision and weve got to live with it." "I trust Rudy in that situation." Although Gay has far more shot-making experience in end-of-game situations, the Nets forced his hand leaving Johnson in the corner. Given the coverage on the play, Johnson had the best look and his teammates remain confident in his ability to knock it down. "[Gay] made the right decision," said DeRozan, who led the Raptors with 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting. "Amir was open and thats a three he can make. We will leave it at that. It was a good look, if he hits it we win." "[Gay] is one of our stars and he made a decision," Kyle Lowry reiterated. "They pushed him left and he hit Amir. Everyone has seen that Amir can hit that corner three, he was open and he [took] a good shot. He just happened to miss it." After beginning the season 5-for-14 from beyond the arch, Johnson had missed his last five attempts, going seven games without hitting a three. Johnson already has five triples this season, matching his career-best total from last year. Its a shot he works on every day. Still, as Casey would point out - and he did - the game shouldnt have come down to that final possession. Under-manned and with just three wins in their first 13 games, the disappointing Nets came to play on Tuesday, catching the division-leading Raptors off guard from the get go. Without Deron Williams (ankle), Brook Lopez (ankle), Jason Terry (knee) and Andrei Kirilenko (back) in the lineup, Brooklyn got off to a quick start and out-muscled the hosting Raptors for most of the night, while Toronto relied mostly on the long ball. "They had us on our heels on both ends of the floor," Casey said, his team outscored by 20 in the paint and allowing the Nets to shoot 51 per cent from the field. "It started on the defensive end. They had us on our heels, they were in attack mode, they made shots and we shouldnt be surprised by that. They have Hall-of-Famers on their team and against those types of teams youve got to throw the first punch. You cant wait to get hit like we did tonight." "They just out-toughed us a little bit," Lowry said. "They are experienced inside and they roughed us up. We fought hard and we have to do a better job at getting their field goal percentage down." Lowry, who had 24 points and six assists, sparked the fourth-quarter rally with his opportunistic defence and play making in transition. Gay knocked down a three - only his third field goal of the night - with 24 seconds left to cut Torontos deficit to one. But for Gay and the Raptors it was too little, too late. Battling the flu for the bulk of the last week, Gay added seven turnovers to his team-leading total of 48, to go along with just nine points in 32 minutes. Along with Gay and Tyler Hansbrough, Johnson had also been getting over a bout of the flu. The forward finished 2-of-7 with six points and give rebounds also in 32 minutes of action. Up Next The Raptors have a league-mandated off-day Wednesday before returning to practice Thursday, where they will prepare for Fridays home game against the defending champion Miami Heat. Cheap Ultra Boost Australia . Still, Encarnacion felt a sense of relief. He felt a pop just before crumpling to the ground after running out a groundball in the first inning of Saturdays game. It could have been worse. “Its going to take maybe two weeks,” said Encarnacion. “It depends how Im going to be and how Im going to be day after day, feeling better or not. Ultra Boost Sale Australia . The move - the latest twist in Greeces nearly three-year financial freefall -- is the first such action by any of the countrys major sports bodies. It immediately halts all domestic track and field competitions, including track meets May 12-13 in several Greek cities. http://www.wholesaleultraboostaustralia.com/. 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. Cheap Ultra Boost Shoes . The Extreme Heat Policy was enacted at Melbourne Park just before 2 p.m. Thursday, suspending all matches on outer courts until the early evening and requiring the closure of the retractable roofs at Rod Laver and Hisense arenas before play could continue on the show courts. Adidas Ultra Boost Australia Womens . Although the deal cannot be made official until the free agent moratorium period is lifted on July 10, Patterson has agreed to a three-year, $18 million extension to remain in Toronto, sources confirm to TSN.With the NHL Draft coming up on June 27 and free agency opening on July 1, discussions between NHL general managers are heating up towards a busy off-season. Each day, TSN.ca provides the latest rumours, reports and speculation from around the NHL beat. Fifth Business Despite not having a first-rounder in 2015 after dealing the pick for Thomas Vanek, New York Islanders GM Garth Snow is not guarding his 2014 first-rounder too closely. The Islanders - who hold the fifth overall pick in Fridays Draft - are apparently open for business on the pick, according to Newsdays Arthur Staple. "Were open to trading the pick for someone we think can come in and help us right away," Staple quoted Snow as saying. So whats the cost of doing business? Staple speculates that the Islanders largest need is either a top-pair defenseman or a top-line left winger to complement John Tavares and Kyle Okposo. Blues Festival The St. Louis Blues could be on many teams watch list for potential free agents targets. With the team locking up Jay Bouwmeester and Alexander Steen prior to free aggency, the team could be posied to flood the market with veteran talent on July 1, according to Jeremy Rutherford of the St.dddddddddddd Louis Post-Dispatch. Rutherford reports that the likes of Steve Ott, Brenden Morrow, Derek Roy, and Ryan Miller likely will not be signed prior to Canada Day to give Blues GM Doug Armstrong flexibility at this coming Friday. "I want to make sure we have the ability to make player acquisitions at the Draft," Armstrong told Rutherford. Dogs Day The soon-to-be-Arizona Coyotes have some cash to play with as July 1 approaches. However, as AZCentral Sports Sarah McLellan points out, they might be wise not to spend it all at once. While the likes of Marian Gaborik, Ales Hemsky, Jussi Jokinen or Mike Cammalleri could be had, McLellan believes the Yotes should think smaller and deeper. She suggests the likes of Brenden Morrow and Daniel Winnik would provide a better complement to the current Coyotes crop, that could also get an internal boost if 2013 first-rounder Max Domi makes the jump to the NHL. ' ' '