Der Fremde » e stat The Raptors will finish the year with a 16-1

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. Byron Buxton Jersey . 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." Harmon Killebrew Jersey . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. Custom Minnesota Twins Jerseys . The 31-year-old, a two-time CFL lineman of the year, was among the most coveted free agents on the market. The Windsor, Ont., native will be especially important to a team that has lost veteran quarterback Anthony Calvillo to retirement and is expected to go with the less experienced Troy Smith and Tanner Marsh this season. http://www.twinssale.com/twins-kent-hrbek-jersey/ . Josh Bailey had a goal and an assist as the New York Islanders earned a 2-1 win over Ottawa Wednesday, leaving the Senators five points out of a playoff spot with just five games to play and four teams ahead of them.ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Jared Spurgeon spent a month watching the Minnesota Wild from the press box. When he returned to action Tuesday night, he didnt waste any time making an impact. Spurgeon had two assists in his return from injury, Darcy Kuemper made 34 saves and the Wild defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1. One of Minnesotas top defencemen, Spurgeon was placed on injured reserve Jan. 4 after he hurt his left foot against Buffalo. While the Wild went 8-4-2 in his absence, they were eager to get him back in the lineup -- and he was eager to get back into the flow. "I think theres lots of adrenaline that helps you," Spurgeon said. "At the start I was a little nervous being off for a month, but they threw me right out there for the opening shift and that helped me really calm down and get my feet wet for that first one." Spurgeon got started early, setting up Nino Niederreiter for his fifth goal of the season 9 seconds into a power play in the first period. Early in the third, Spurgeon helped the Wild double their lead when he fed Dany Heatley in the slot for his 11th. Spurgeon ended up playing 21:12, third-most among Minnesota defencemen. "Hes taken really good care of himself while hes been out," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "To be able to come in and play at the level that he did tonight just shows you how smart of a player he is." The Lightning pulled within a goal with just more than 6 minutes to play when Valtteri Filppula tipped in Martin St. Louis pass at the goalmouth for his 20th of the season. Tampa Bay buzzed around the net the rest of the way, but Kuemper stopped Alex Killorn and St. Louis from in close, and Tyler Johnsons shot hit the post in the final 40 seconds. Lightning coach Jon Cooper was hoping to see a little more fire out of his club at the end of a 1-3 road trip. "I dont know how much courage we had going to the net tonight, until the end," Cooper said. "Hence, its shocking wherre our goal was scored, standing right in front of the net. Miguel Sano Jersey. " While the Lightning are still clinging to second place in the Atlantic Division, goalie Ben Bishop said theyll welcome a return home for two games before the Olympic break. "I dont know if you want to say were tired, but its been a long road trip," Bishop said. "We dont want to make excuses, but weve got to be better." Bishop, who finished with 24 saves, was tested often throughout the first two periods, stopping Zach Parise on a breakaway with 5 minutes to play in the first period and stoning Mikael Granlund on a point-blank backhand early in the second. Bishop was shaken up midway through the second when Parise fired a slap shot that hit the goalie in the head, but he remained in the game. Meanwhile, Kuemper made a nifty glove save to stop Johnson on a breakaway late in the second and stood tall all night in his 11th straight start, a franchise record for rookie goalies. The Wild are 6-3-2 in that span, but Yeo was impressed with how Kuemper rebounded from his last two starts, a loss at Colorado in which he was pulled and an overtime defeat at Calgary. "How do you come back to the rink the next day and be mentally tough enough to come in and perform at the level that you need to? Thats what was very impressive about him tonight," Yeo said. "I liked his game an awful lot." While the Wild got Spurgeon back, they had another setback on the blue line 2 minutes into the game when defenceman Marco Scandella got tangled up with Johnson. Scandella skated off the ice with assistance, favouring his right leg, and did not return. Yeo labeled him "doubtful" for Minnesotas pre-Olympics finale Thursday against Nashville. NOTES: Filppula returned after missing Saturdays game at Montreal with a lower-body injury. ... St. Louis assist gave him 966 points, moving him past former Canadiens great Maurice Richard into 85th place on the NHLs career list. 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