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TORONTO - The Raptors knocked down 10 of their first 12 shots, two days after missing 10 of their first 12 attempts. They reached the 100-point plateau for the fourth time in five games, bested the visiting Trail Blazers by 34 in the paint and scored 19 of the final 25 points in regulation. Despite all the aforementioned improvements over Fridays embarrassing defeat to the Bulls, they still picked up their seventh loss in 11 games to begin the season. The culprit of their demise on Sunday afternoon was the three-point shot. "Its tough when theyre knocking down shots like that," said Rudy Gay, after the Blazers went 15-for-32 from three-point range in their 118-110 overtime victory. "No matter how much we rotated, moved around and switched, its tough to [beat] that, when a team has it going like that." Portland entered the game fifth in three-point shooting at 41 per cent and its shooters were red-hot from start to finish. Four Blazers hit three or more treys and they outscored the Raptors, who shot 3-of-17, by 36 from beyond the arc. As a result, Portland extended its lead to as many as 17 before the home team cracked down on defence and Gay took over. Gay, who scored 30 points to go along with 10 rebounds in the game, engineered a 19-6 Raptors run to close out the fourth quarter. Gay had 10 points in that stretch, including the buzzer-beating lay-up that tied the game at 102 and forced overtime. It was his sixth go-ahead or game-tying basket in the final 10 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime in the past four seasons, passing Carmelo Anthony for most in the league. "It was go-time," Gay said of the comeback that ultimately fell short in extra time. "Of course, the whole game you have to play like its go-time but when youre backs against the wall, you have to pick it up and find a way to get the win." In overtime, the three broke Torontos back again as Portland hit three of five attempts and held the Raptors to 2-of-12 shooting overall. Ball movement, or lack thereof Gay and DeMar DeRozan attempted 54 of Torontos 94 field goals - 27 each - but they combined for just three assists. Despite his game-high 30 points, Gay was held without an assist and despite Kyle Lowrys 10 dimes - to go along with 10 points - only three Raptors registered a helper. "We definitely want there to be movement," Casey acknowledged after the game. "We have out limitations from that standpoint but we want to move the ball, set screens [and] move the ball from side-to-side. Again, weve got to do a better job of that; thats where weve got to find ourselves offensively." Treading water A year ago, the Raptors dug themselves an insurmountable hole after a tumultuous early-season schedule got the best of them. By the time the schedule eased up and their fortunes began to turn, it was too late. Now, as they navigate through a similarly challenging start to the campaign, they thrive to avoid making that same mistake. "We want to make sure were at sea level when the schedule does balance out and not be so far behind that we cant catch up," Casey said Saturday following an afternoon practice. "We want to make sure were treading water and not get so far behind the eight ball while were trying to find out who we are." Fortunately for the Raptors, theyre not the only ones trying to find their identity early in the season. Heading into Sundays action, only four teams in the East (Indiana, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta) boasted records above .500, and at 4-7, Toronto finds itself in the thick of the Eastern Conference and just one game out of first in its division, where the Nets and Knicks are also struggling. "The league hasnt gone anywhere and thats what I tell our players," said Casey. "We still want to have a sense a urgency of finding out who we are offensively and defensively and make sure we find out pretty quick." Vincent Jackson Buccaneers Jersey . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. Donovan Smith Jersey . Its 1987 and a Brazilian playmaker, known as Mirandinha, is being paraded around St James Park to the passionate Newcastle fans. http://www.authenticbuccaneersprostore.com/Youth-W...te-Jers ey/ . "No difference at all," chirped U.S. roommate and linemate James van Riemsdyk. "Its still the same cranky Phil. Keith Tandy Jersey . 4 Villanova with a 96-68 drubbing on Monday. Wragge hit 9-of-14 from behind the arc, matching Kyle Korvers school record for 3-pointers in a game set in 2003, as Creighton (16-3, 6-1 Big East broke a conference record with 21 treys in the rout. Roberto Aguayo Buccaneers Jersey . -- Former San Diego Chargers safety Paul Oliver was found dead at his Atlanta-area home Tuesday night, and a medical examiner said Wednesday that the ex-player committed suicide. CALGARY -- Steve Yzerman still remembers what it was like in Nagano in 1998, the first Olympics with NHL players and an example of Canadian failure on the bigger, international-sized ice surface. The time-honoured strategy of dumping the puck in and forechecking didnt work. "You can spend a lot of time skating places and getting there just a second late, taking yourself out of the play," said Yzerman, now Canadas general manager. "It is a different game." It was a different game at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, too, when Canada finished seventh thanks to a lack of offence and speed and the wrong mix of talent for the 200-by-100-foot rink. San Jose Sharks defenceman Dan Boyle watched from the stands as his teammates struggled. "It was tough to watch, it was frustrating," Boyle said. "Even though every player on that team deserved to be there and was great, sometimes you need certain things and thats where different guys come into play. I just thought we lacked some things." Eight years removed from that debacle and four years after winning Olympic gold in Vancouver on NHL-sized 200-by-85-foot ice, Hockey Canada is determined to learn from what went wrong without abandoning its style. "One of the critical things is to continue to play the Canadian game and not adjust to some of the spaces that suddenly arise," coaching consultant and former Edmonton Oilers coach Ralph Krueger said. "But you need to make sure that you dont change your game or make too many adjustments that will weaken what makes Canada strong." What makes Canada strong, Yzerman and the coaching staff hope, is speed and agility. Perhaps thats part of what the 2006 group was lacking. Judging by the comments of those in charge of making up the 2014 roster, it doesnt sound like thatll be a problem this time around, even if its at the expense of some players who won gold four years ago. "The biggest lesson is foot speed, for all players. You have to be able to skate and you have to be able to move the puck," Oilers president of hockey operations Kevin Lowe said. "The team will be made up of players who can skate, think and move the puck. There could be a number of changes form the gold medal team in Vancouver." From the standpoint of piecing the team together, Canada learned from its folly in Turin that bringing back the majority of a team that just won gold -- in that case the 2004 world championship -- doesnt always work. Turnover is to be expected because Yzerman wants a team built for big ice. Of course its not as simple as picking 22 burners. "Were not just going to take the 14 fastest forwards and the eight fastest defencemen," Yzerman said. "Hockey sense is probably the most important aspect a guy can have, particularly plaaying at a really high level, playing with good players around you.dddddddddddd" If it were all about speed, Taylor Hall of the Oilers, Marty St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Kris Letang of the Pittsburgh Penguins would be locks. "I think Id be a great player on big ice," Hall said. "Ive always felt that the big ice would certainly be good for my kind of game. Hopefully they see that, too. I think theyre going to really determine their team on what its like to play on big ice." Boyle, who played in Sweden during the 2004-05 lockout, knows its about more than just racing up and down the ice. "Youve got to be able to skate, but your angles are a little bit different," he said. "Whether youre a forward or defenceman I think the angling out there is a little bit different." Thats where hockey sense comes in. Because of the high cost of insurance, coach Mike Babcock had to get creative, putting players through ball-hockey walkthroughs on a boarded-up international-sized rink at Canada Olympic Park. What that exercise allowed players to see was the amount of space theyll have to work with. But assistant coach Ken Hitchcock also wants players not to feel like the bigger ice gives them room to play slower. "I think the sucker play is you have more space, you have more time, so the tendency is to take more time," the St. Louis Blues coach said. "Its the big mistake. When we play well as Canadians, we play fast defensively and even faster offensively. Its the sucker play if you make that mistake on big ice, you end up being slow and you get covered over quickly, defensively." Having experience on big ice could be valuable, especially for defencemen. Marc Methot of the Ottawa Senators represented Canada at the world championships in 2012 and 10 players from the 2013 team are at camp. "The games completely different," Methot said. "Showing that you can keep up and defend properly on that big ice surface is huge. Its an advantage I have, and Im hoping that itll help me out." Of course its no prerequisite that players have a wealth of experience on the big ice. The key is more about having players who are willing to adjust after playing the first part of the NHL season on smaller rinks. Like Gene Hackman in "Hoosiers," Hitchcock could use a tape measure from end to end and show that its still a 200-foot rink. "The commitment to play at both ends of the rink is critical," he said. "I think weve learned over time that there are so many good teams with so many good players and, especially over there, they know how to play on that ice. I think having players that can play that 200-foot game is more important than the position they happen to play." 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