his game, it was 50:50 and now its the same. We have the second leg at home, but its 50:50. We are going to have to work like we did today.It is a Champions League semi-final so nothing is eas

TORONTO - Sunday afternoons track meet with the fleet-footed Suns left the Raptors in a daze, but one player was feeling it more than the others. Milwaukee Bucks Pro Shop . With just over 90 seconds remaining, down by nine in a game Toronto would go on to lose 121-113, Kyle Lowry - the Raptors most irreplaceable player - clutched his head, as he remained sprawled out on the court across from the teams bench. Scrambling for a loose ball moments earlier, Lowry took two inadvertent knees to the head from Suns 235-pound forward P.J. Tucker. Assisted by his teammates and the medical staff, the Raptors point guard walked gingerly to the bench where he was examined briefly during the timeout but would ultimately stay in the game. "Hes fine," Dwane Casey said after the game, but Lowrys assessment was a little less comforting. "I got kneed in the head, bad," he told reporters. "Ive got a headache right now. These (television) lights are killing me right now. But Im alright, though." Has he suffered a concussion before? Was he concerned that he may have suffered one that afternoon? Lowry balked at those questions. "No, Im tough," he said with a laugh, as if that could shield him from possible head injury. For those familiar with Lowry, one thing was for certain. He was not coming out of that game voluntarily. Sure enough, he shook it off and played the final 1:36, badly missing his next shot, a three coming out of the timeout. After a slow start, Lowry scored all but two of his team-high 28 points during the Raptors second half push. Ultimately he and his club could not overcome Phoenixs dynamic backcourt and devastating team speed. "Their speed and quickness was the biggest factor," Casey said after his team surrendered 121 points, most since they lost a Jan. 25 shootout to the Clippers. "Speed does that," he continued. "Speed kills. Thats the whole bottom line. We wont see a faster team than that the rest of the year. It caused a lot of breakdowns." With the tandem of Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe setting the tone for Phoenix, the Raptors were forced out of their comfort zone, playing at a tempo that suited the Suns high-octane attack. "Thats their type of game," Lowry admitted. "We dont want to have no type of game like that. We want to hold teams under 100, under 90, preferably." The Raptors, who had not lost a game by more than five points in over a month, were holding their previous nine opponents at home to 91.3 in regulation. For the first time over that stretch, they seemed to let their own frustration get the better of them. Usually a calm, cool and collected bunch, the Raptors got caught up arguing with the officials during a third quarter in which the Suns shot 23 free throws, including 10 from Bledsoe alone. The afternoon mercifully came to an end with reserve forward Steve Novak confronting a teammate on Torontos bench as Jonas Valanciunas played peacemaker and held him back. Novak would not say he was shouting at, or why and insisted, its a non-issue. Despite a bit of understandable post-game tension in the teams locker room, there was an underlying feeling of calmness, stemming from their unflappable head coach. "Its not a systemic problem," Casey insisted. "Its not a situation where (we should) panic. Its one game. We knew we werent going to go undefeated the rest of the way. That team right there, theyre fighting for their playoff lives like we are." Of course, that wasnt the case back in December when Toronto last visited the Suns. In the midst of a Western road trip, the Raptors dropped their fifth straight and fell six games below the .500 mark for the only time this season. It was an undeniable low point for the squad before their fortunes turned two days later, as Rudy Gay was traded. Even after Sundays loss, they are 31-16 since that game in Phoenix. In a couple losses to the Suns - the Western Conferences feel-good story - this season, the Raptors have been out-rebounded by 36, grabbing a season-low 26 on Sunday, allowing a total of 227 points. Missing Patterson Without Patrick Patterson, missing his fourth straight game with an elbow ligament sprain, the Raptors undermanned second unit was thoroughly outplayed Sunday. The Suns finished with a 59-11 advantage in bench scoring, led by the 28 points of Gerald Green - a starter until Bledsoe returned from injury - and the Morris twins, who Patterson likely would have guarded. "Once Patrick gets back we have offence coming off the bench, which is huge, everybody kind of gets back in their place," said Casey, who wasnt concerned about long-term ramifications of the benchs underwhelming performance. "Again, no time to panic. Weve showed that weve played against quality teams without Pat. Weve got to continue to do that." Patterson will be re-evaluated Monday and the team hopes to have him back in the lineup sometime this coming week. Johnson climbs franchise block list With his swat on Tucker midway through the first quarter, Amir Johnson passed Antonio Davis for third on the Raptors all-time block list. Johnson, who leads Toronto with 73 blocked shots this season, has recorded 406 since being acquired by the Raptors ahead of the 2009-10 campaign. He is now 9 blocks away from tying Vince Carter for second-most in franchise history. Chris Bosh is the Raptors all-time leader with 600. The Stat DeMar DeRozan, who scored 17, has been held under 20 points in consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 20-23. The Raptors all-star guard tallied 16 points on Friday in a challenging matchup against the Grizzlies Tayshaun Prince and Tony Allen before facing Tucker and the Suns Sunday. The Quote "Its just tough when you go out there playing hard and sometimes we dont get a call that were fighting or dying for, that we may need at a critical time," said DeRozan, who was whistled for a technical, along with Casey, after voicing his disapproval of a no-call on a drive to the basket in the third quarter. "Its definitely tough but its something we can learn from." Toronto Raptors Pro Shop . Philbin said Thursday he wants players to treat one another with civility and he wont tolerate anything less. In taking questions for the first time since Ted Wells released his report into the bullying scandal that rocked the league, Philbin made it clear things would be cleaned up. Phoenix Suns Pro Shop . Kuper, a fifth-round pick in Denvers 2006 draft, started 79 games at guard over eight seasons. He dislocated his left ankle in the last game of the 2011 regular season, and though he started another seven games after that, he never returned to his previous level. http://www.nbaofficial.net/ .com) - Devan Dubnyk stopped all 30 shots fired his way and made several big saves down the stretch for his third shutout of the season as the Minnesota Wild beat the Calgary Flames 1-0 on Tuesday.Zinedine Zidane is hopeful both Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema will be fit for Real Madrids Champions League semi-final second leg at home to Manchester City. Ronaldo missed the weekends La Liga win over Rayo Vallecano with a thigh injury and did not feature in the goalless semi-final first leg at the Etihad on Tuesday night, despite training the day before.Benzema, meanwhile, was withdrawn at half-time against City, leaving his participation for the return leg at the Bernabeu on May 4 in doubt. Zidanes Real Madrid side claimed a 0-0 draw against City at the Etihad on Tuesday night We hope that they can both be fit for the second leg, thats the idea, said Real head coach Zidane. But we cant say right now. We have to see. We have to take it day by day and see how they are.Cristiano felt something after that last training session. Thatss why he didnt play. Houston Rockets Pro Shop. Karim, it was a little bit different. But at the end of the day, little by little, he felt a little bit worse in himself. We dont want to gamble with his fitness. We know how important both players are for us.Real had the better chances in a tight contest, with Benzemas replacement Jese heading against the bar in the second half and Pepe firing a close-range shot at Joe Hart. Man City also suffered an injury setback as David Silva went off late in the first half I am happy with the game, said Zidane. It was not easy but in the end, we defended really well. We had the ball more in the second half and we had more chances after the break. It was a tough game but I am happy with the result.Before this game, it was 50:50 and now its the same. We have the second leg at home, but its 50:50. We are going to have to work like we did today.It is a Champions League semi-final so nothing is easy, but I am happy with the result and the work the players did.City did not have a shot on target until injury-time when Kevin De Bruynes free-kick needed to be tipped over by Keylor Navas.Defensively, we played really well, said Zidane. We know (Sergio) Aguero is a good player so we didnt give him much space. The idea was to defend together. We managed to achieve what we wanted. Watch highlights of Real Madrids La Liga clash away to Real Sociedad on Saturday on Sky Sports 3 HD from 9.30pm. Also See: Man City 0-0 Real Madrid As it happened Real Madrid fixtures Get a ￡10 free bet! ' ' '