ine. Just ahead of him on the list is Derrick Colter with 1 | Forum
miaowang123
Jan 12 '18
TORONTO - On the eve of the All-Star starters announcement, just before the leagues coaches begin to fill out their ballots for the reserves, DeMar DeRozan made his case a little bit more compelling. Charlotte Hornets Jerseys . A career performance, just when his team needed it most, may be enough to sway a vote or two and send the Raptors fifth-year guard to New Orleans. "Oh man, hes definitely been playing well, All-Star level," said Amir Johnson, shortly after watching his teammate go off for a career-high 40 points in the Raptors come-from-behind win, 93-85 over the Mavericks on Wednesday. "Hes a big reason why weve been so successful." Coming into the game, the Raptors had dropped three of four, all to losing teams missing their best player. The 25-win Mavericks were a different animal, though they too were without leading scorer Dirk Nowitzki, and after 12 minutes this had disaster written all over it. "I thought it was going to be a blow out," Dwane Casey admitted, his team down by 19 going into the second quarter, trailing by as many as 21 in the first. DeRozan kept his team afloat in the first half. He scored 12 of their 15 first-quarter points, accounting for four of their five field goals. He was playing well, having the sort of outing that winds up forcing its way into the bottom of a somber game story, a footnote at the end of another horrific defeat. Then he took his game, and most importantly his team, to another level, a ridiculous level. "He got in the flow of the game," Casey said of DeRozan, who scored 15 points in the third quarter, then another nine in the fourth, missing just two shots in the second half. "He was running the pick-and-roll, they started blitzing him, he did a good job of finding [his teammates] and then the ball found him back and that was good. It was a growth on his part from being double teamed but being patient enough to get the ball back and be able to score." The Raptors guard was remarkable coming out of the break, knocking down off balance jumpers, getting to the rim at will but most importantly, he was efficient and he got to the free throw line. DeRozan needed just 22 shots to become the seventh player in franchise history to record 40 points, connecting on nine of 14 attempts from the stripe and knocking down his only three-pointer. He matched his previous career-high - 37, set three times - with a nifty spin and reverse layup, solidifying a new personal best on the subsequent free throw with 3:38 remaining. For him, the accomplishment was gravy. Despite his recent fourth-quarter struggles, DeRozan came through for his team in the clutch. That three-point play broke the tie and gave the Raptors a lead they would go on to hold for the duration of the night. "This loss would have hurt," DeRozan said. "We didnt want to lose three in a row. I just told myself, just try to do as much as I can to win, try to pull this one off and keep my team in it." DeRozan was saddled with more of the offensive burden on Wednesday, as fellow All-Star candidate Kyle Lowry battled a stomach flu that had the Raptors point guard running to the locker room, back and forth throughout the evening. Lowry scored just three points, misfiring on all 10 of his field goal attempts in 35 hard-fought minutes. "Once I [saw] Kyle go back [to the locker room] and he came back, he had his head down and holding his stomach, I could tell he wasnt feeling too well," DeRozan said. "He didnt stop playing," Casey said, crediting Lowry. "He dove on the floor, got his hands on loose balls, he affected the game without scoring." Casey continues to contact his fellow coaches, campaigning for both guards to get the nod and represent the Raptors as reserves in next months All-Star game, set to take place in New Orleans on Feb. 16. The starters for both East and West teams will be announced live on TNT on Thursday and the reserves, to be voted in by the coaches, will be revealed a week later, also on TNT. With representatives from Miami and Indiana expected to monopolize the Eastern Conference roster, its unlikely Toronto will have more than one All-Star. Of the two, DeRozans bid has been gaining some traction, according to league sources. Entering Wednesdays games, DeRozan ranked 12th in the NBA in scoring, fifth in the East and has tallied 20 or more points in nine of 12 contests during the month of January. Returning to Toronto for the second time since last seasons trade, Jose Calderon - beloved Raptors alum - was genuinely proud of Lowry and long-time teammate DeRozan. "Theyre just playing better, they just have that confidence and theyre playing at a very high level every game," Calderon said of the Raptors backcourt duo prior to Wednesdays game. "I really enjoy watching them and its great. Hopefully they get that call and they can be in New Orleans. Its always great to see your [former] teammates being successful and Im really happy for them." Like his first return, as a member of the Pistons last year, Calderon was greeted by a standing ovation during pre-game introductions at the Air Canada Centre. Another former Raptor, Vince Carter, received a mixed reception, which was verging on positive for the first time since his messy divorce with the franchise nearly nine years ago. Thanks to another admirable performance from the Raptors bench, who helped turn things around in the second quarter, and some late-game heroics from the slumping Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas, DeRozans career night was not wasted. Greivis Vasquez scored a season-high 17 to go along with seven assists, also picking up the slack for the flu-ridden Lowry. Meanwhile, Casey entrusted both Johnson and Valanciunas with crucial fourth-quarter playing time despite subpar starts, the frontcourt duo combining for 10 points in that final period. The Raptors 21-point comeback victory was their largest of the year, besting last months win in Dallas, where they overcame a 19-point deficit. Toronto sweeps the season series with the Mavs for the second time in franchise history and first since 1996-97, wrapping up the first half of the campaign with a winning record. "Were ahead of schedule," Casey said, assessing his teams progress 41 games in. "Were winning some games in our building and were happy with that." "But were still not a finished product. [We] have a lot of work to do." Larry Johnson Jersey . CEO Steve Koonin on Tuesday told the Hawks flagship radio station that he made the decision to discipline Ferry but allowed him to keep his job managing the team. He did not say what the punishment was, but noted that he relied on a law firms three-month investigation of Ferry and him describing Deng as someone who has a little African in him. Custom Charlotte Hornets Jerseys . -- San Francisco 49ers offensive co-ordinator Greg Roman is a finalist to replace Joe Paterno at Penn State, his agent said Monday.Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Playing the second of three straight games on the road, the 17th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth Rams clash with the Duquesne Dukes at CONSOL Energy Center in Atlantic 10 Conference action on Saturday afternoon. Along with Dayton, the Rams have yet to be defeated by an A-10 opponent through four games and have matched the Flyers in overall wins in the league with 14. Since losing to in-state rival Virginia, one of only two teams still undefeated at the Division I level, the other being top-ranked Kentucky, the Rams have rattled off nine consecutive victories. The majority of the wins during the current streak for VCU have come by double figures, but that isnt how the meeting with Rhode Island could be described four days ago when VCU captured a 65-60 win against the other Rams in the A-10. The Dukes, who typically play home games at the Palumbo Center, have a total of just six wins in 15 opportunities this season and the first two triumphs came against Bluefield State and Abilene Christian, another being logged versus UMass-Lowell. Clearly this is a Duquesne program that has taken a few steps backwards as it tries to bounce back from a 78-69 loss at Saint Louis three days ago. VCU won the previous two meetings between the programs, the latest being an 80-65 victory at home last season. The teams played in this facility around this time in 2013, with the Rams picking up a comfortable 90-63 win. The trip to Rhode Island was anything but routine for VCU as the visitors fell behind by nine points in the first half and had to scramble after the break to pull out the narrow win. Virginia Commonwealth shot a woeful 9-of-21 at the free--throw line, 8-of-24 behind the 3-point line and lost the battle on the boards, 44-32, yet still found a way to come out on top. Alonzo Mourning Jersey. Treveon Graham carried the load with a game-high 26 points, converting 4-of-8 shots out on the perimeter and 10-of-17 from the floor overall, in addition to adding eight rebounds, while Mo Alie-Cox responded with 10 points and Melvin Johnson nine, the latter hitting just 3-of-12 from the floor. Graham is scoring 16.5 ppg to lead the Rams, hitting an impressive 45.1 percent of his 3-point tries while also clearing out some space in the paint in order to capture a team-best 6.8 rpg as well. Johnson, who has a team-high 42 triples, adds another 14.2 ppg to the attack and even though the scoring drops off considerably after that, VCU is still coming up with an impressive 76.8 ppg. Duquesne led by as many as seven points in the first half against Saint Louis in the latest outing, but based on the fact that the Dukes made good on a horrendous 13-of-34 at the free-throw line, the visitors didnt deserve to even be in the same neighborhood with the Billikens. Micah Mason was the only player to score in double figures for Duquesne with 12 points, while Dominique McKoy came within a point of a double-double as he tallied a game-high 12 rebounds. The leading scorer for the Dukes in two straight outings and five of the last seven, Mason is one of two putting up double digits on a consistent basis for the program with 10.7 ppg, thanks to his 41.8 percent shooting behind the 3- point line. Just ahead of him on the list is Derrick Colter with 12.4 ppg as he too exceeds expectations beyond the arc with 53.5 percent accuracy.Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
Share:
