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TORONTO - Kyle Lowry was the first player on the floor, shooting around before the game. It was just after 4:00pm, three full hours ahead of tip-off at the Air Canada Centre. Lowry has been the subject of trade speculation for the better part of two days but the Raptors point guard, who shrugged off the rumours Friday morning, continued to lead his current team, a team that looked unrecognizable in a wire-to-wire win over the road-weary 76ers. "He was a leader out there on the floor and thats what we need from him, that leadership," Casey said of Lowry, who has now led Toronto in assists in 13 straight games. "He didnt get frustrated because he couldnt get some shots to go down. He still got the ball where it needed to go and that was huge." With his name linked to multiple trade reports, Lowry faced the rumours head-on when he met with the media Friday morning. Instead of sulking or worrying about where he might end up, Lowry smiled, cracked a few jokes and promised to go about his business here until hes told otherwise. In what may have been his last home game as a member of the Raptors, Lowry recorded a season-high 11 assists, committing just one turnover despite shooting just 2-of-9 from the floor. Once again Lowry set the tone and his teammates - three of them making their Raptors debut - followed his lead. Three nights after totalling 23 assists in a loss to the Spurs, the Raptors continued to play a team game in the aftermath of Mondays Rudy Gay trade. DeMar DeRozan - also scoring 27 points - added six assists, including five in a dominant first quarter. His first three set up Terrence Ross, who had a breakout performance scoring a season-high 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting. "Thats the way weve got to play," Casey said of Torontos ball movement. "Because were not going to beat anyone with stellar one-on-one play each and every night. Weve got to help each other with the screen and trust the pass." Averaging just 18 assists per contest this season, the Raptors have totalled 66 dimes in three games since Gay was traded. They opened the evening with 12 assists on 14 made field goals, outscoring Philadelphia 36-21 in the first quarter and would later seal the game on a play that embodied this teams new offence. With just under two minutes remaining, the scrappy 76ers down two, DeRozan caught the ball off a screen on a pass from Lowry. Once the double came, DeRozan swung it back to Lowry who hit Ross in the corner for a momentum shifting three-pointer. Amir Johnson scored seven of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, sending the 76ers away with their 10th straight loss on the road. In their Raptor debuts, Patrick Patterson, John Salmons and Greivis Vasquez were the first three players off Torontos bench. With all three on the floor at the same time to begin the second quarter, Philadelphia ripped off a 20-7 run, cutting Torontos lead to two. The learning curve was apparent. "Theyre learning," Casey acknowledged. "Theyre learning the system, were kind of learning to play with each other." "I like what I saw," he said. "Going forward I think they are going to mix in quite well." Patterson shot just 1-of-5, scoring five points in 18 minutes while Salmons scored three in just under 20 minutes of action. Vasquez was the most impressive of the three but not in the way he would have hoped. "Tonight I did not have that many assists," said the pass-first Vasquez, who recorded just two but hit five of his seven shots for 12 points in 17 minutes. "The thing that stood out for me was that we were moving the ball without me in the game. We were passing and getting shots and that is fun to watch." "If we keep doing what we did tonight we are going to be really hard to guard and we will win a lot of games." For the first time all season, Casey could comfortably rest Lowry without fearing the significant drop-off that would inevitably ensue at the point guard position. With Lowry on the block, Vasquezs role figures to expand. Up next The Raptors travel to Chicago to face the Bulls (9-12) in the second night of a back-to-back on Saturday. Chicago had lost five of six games before defeating the Bucks 91-90 in Milwaukee Friday night. The fourth Raptors newcomer, Chuck Hayes, will not be available to play or practice until he completes routine baseline cardiac tests at the Cleveland Clinic on Monday. Tress Way Redskins Jersey . A forerunning sled crashed into the worker Thursday at the Sanki Sliding Center. The unidentified worker broke both legs and was airlifted to a nearby hospital. Bashaud Breeland Redskins Jersey . Peter Gammons, an analyst for Major League Baseballs network and website, drew the ire of hockey fans on Sunday when he criticized the two NHL teams on Twitter for their physical game the night before. http://www.authenticredskinsfanatic.com/c-57-redsk...ersey.a spx . -- Bryant McKinnie came out of his stance and lowered his shoulder into a practice squad player, causing a crisp thud to reverberate in the Miami Dolphins practice bubble. Tress Way Jersey . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. Colt McCoy Jersey . The Swede became the first golfer to win the PGA Tours FedEx Cup and European Tours Race to Dubai in the same season. "It is still taking a little time to sink in what Ive achieved this week as was the case when I won the FedEx Cup but then it just kept getting better and better as the days went on and I am sure this will be the same," he said.MILAN, Italy -- Carlos Tevez scored his first hat trick for Juventus to help the Serie A leader crush Sassuolo 4-0 on Sunday and reinforce its bid for a third successive league title. Federico Peluso scored the other goal as Juventus bounced back from its midweek Champions League exit in emphatic fashion, with its eighth successive league win and clean sheet. "What emotion do I feel after the hat trick? The only emotion is that of winning a match which was very difficult after we were knocked out of the cup," Tevez said. "We are a very strong squad mentally and we showed that today. "We talked after the Galatasaray match. Weve paid for our mistakes against Copenhagen and in the first part of the Champions League. Now we have three other titles to go for: league, Italian Cup and Europa League. Well try to get all three." Juventus moved provisionally six points clear of Roma, which visits AC Milan on Monday. Napoli is two points further back after also getting over Champions League disappointment with an entertaining 4-2 win over 10-man Inter Milan. "Today was like a final for us, we wanted to win it and we did so," Gonzalo Higuain said. "It was a very important match, Im delighted with the victory. Inter is now seven points behind us, Fiorentina still has five points less and we are closer to Roma." Earlier, Fiorentina leapfrogged Inter into fourth spot after a comfortable 3-0 win over Bologna, while Lazio beat Livorno 2-0. Elsewhere, it was: Chievo Verona 0, Sampdoria 1; Genoa 1, Atalanta 1; Parma 0, Cagliari 0; and Udinese 0, Torino 2. Juventus had lost at Galatasaray on Wednesday in a game that was pushed back a day because of snow. Because of that the league match was moved to Sunday, with 9,000 children in attendance as one of the stands behind the goal was still closed to the ultras following anti-territorial chants. Tevez grabbed his first in the 15th minute, firing in the rebound after Arturo Vidals effort had been saved by Gianluca Pegolo. The Argentina striker turned provider in the 28th with a free kick which Peluso headed in for his first league goal for Juventus. Tevez doubled his tally on the stroke of halftime, pouncing on an error from Lino Marzorati before rounding the onrushing Pegolo and slotting into an empty net. And Tevez -- who scored a hat trick for Manchester City earlier this year -- completed his treble in the 69th minute, starting the move and finishing it when Mauricio Isla rolled the ball across for him to tap iin from six yards.dddddddddddd Tevez was substituted moments later to a standing ovation. In Naples, coaches Walter Mazzarri and Rafa Benitez both faced their former teams and it was the latter who emerged victorious. Higuain, who had scored in the ultimately meaningless 2-0 win over Arsenal midweek, opened the scoring for Napoli in the ninth minute with a delightful volley after Yuto Nagatomo headed a clearance straight at the Argentine. Esteban Cambiasso levelled in the 35th but Dries Mertens restored Napolis lead almost immediately before Blerim Dzemaili added a third three minutes later when Samir Handanovic could only get a hand to Mertens shot. Nagatomo atoned for his earlier error to reduce the deficit in first-half stoppage time but the match swung back Napolis way in the 72nd minute when Ricardo Alvarez was sent off following a second yellow card for handball. Jose Maria Callejon sealed the match nine minutes from time with a simple finish. Napoli almost scored a fifth but substitute Goran Pandev had a penalty saved by Handanovic after he was tripped by Andrea Ranocchia immediately after coming off the bench. It was Napoli second win in five league matches. Earlier, Josip Ilicic scored his first goal in eight months before Borja Valero and Serie As leading scorer Giuseppe Rossi sealed the win for Fiorentina. The American-born Rossi, who plays for the Italian national team, is the top scorer in Serie A with 13 goals, three more than Tevez. In Rome, Miroslav Klose netted twice in the Germans first start in a month for Lazio following a shoulder injury to help Lazio to its first league win since Oct. 27. Livorno remains a point off 17th-placed Sassuolo and safety, with Bologna a point further back. Chievo Verona had been in fantastic form and won its three games since firing coach Giuseppe Sannino and rehiring Eugenio Corini. However, Sampdoria had also turned things around since changing coaches and was unbeaten under Sinisa Mihajlovic. Eder heading a corner into the top right in the 16th minute. It was the first goal Chievo had conceded in five matches going back to Oct. 31. Samp moves above Chievo and level on points with Udinese after second-half goals from Alexander Farnerud and Ciro Immobile helped Torino to its first win in Udine in 29 years. Torino moved into seventh spot, two points above both Lazio and Genoa. Andrea Bertolaccis 72nd-minute strike looked to have given Genoa victory but Giuseppe De Luca levelled for Atalanta deep into stoppage time. Cheap China Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China China NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China ' ' '
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