Das nette Diskus (sions) Forum für den Diskus (Liebhaber) und den Thamnophis (Freund)
»
Forenübersicht
»
Hilfe bei Krankheiten
»
He played one game in the playoffs
CLEVELAND -- The Raptors arent officially in the NBA playoffs. They dont look ready for them, either. Dion Waiters scored 24 points, Luol Deng added 19 and the Cleveland Cavaliers prevented Toronto from getting closer to a post-season spot with a 102-100 win over the sloppy Raptors on Tuesday night. Toronto fell behind by 21 points in the third quarter, and then battled back to take a 95-94 lead. But the Raptors fell apart in the final minutes. With their fourth loss in six games, the Raptors dropped one-half game behind Chicago for the No. 3 playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. "We gotta get back to who we are," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said in disgust. "Its easy to get up for OKC, Miami and Indiana, but the other teams are playing for something too, which is pride. That can be even more dangerous." Despite playing without All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, who missed his fifth straight game with a strained biceps tendon, the Cavs were able to hold on and snap a five-game losing streak at home. "It was a good win by our guys," coach Mike Brown said. "Thats a playoff team. They were playing good basketball. In a game like that, maybe earlier in the season we might have lost, especially coming down the stretch when a team makes a run against us. Our guys found a way to win." Kyle Lowry scored 22 and Terrence Ross had 16 for the Raptors, who had a chance to tie it in the final seconds but guard Greivis Vasquez lost his footing and committed a turnover with 1.9 seconds left. "I was trying to spin and I lost my balance," Vasquez said. "It was just a bad play for me. It was me going to my weak hand and I lost my balance, stepped kind of weird. I turned the ball over. Ill take responsibility. Im not going to run away. Im a man. I wish I could be in that position again so we have another opportunity tomorrow (at Boston)." Toronto took a 95-94 lead on Vasquezs 3-pointer with 6:45 remaining, but the Raptors went just 1 of 9 from the floor and scored five points the rest of the way. Tristan Thompson added 15 points and 13 rebounds and Jarret Jack had 13 points for Cleveland, which kept its faint playoff hopes alive. The Cavs trail idle Atlanta by 4 1/2 games for the No. 8 playoff slot. The Raptors may be closing in on their first post-season appearance since 2008, but the Atlantic Division leaders looked out of sorts at both ends. They fought back from a big deficit, but fell apart with the game on the line. Toronto missed three free throws in the final 4:26, but still had a chance to force overtime or possibly steal their 40th win after forcing a Cleveland turnover on an errant inbounds pass with 7.8 seconds to go. But Vasquez, who finished with 16 points, drove the left side and slipped about 10 feet from the basket. As he fell, Vasquez flung the ball in desperation and it was intercepted on the right side by Deng. Vasquez remained on the floor for a few seconds grabbing his ankle before he limped off the court. "It was a handoff to Greivis to turn the corner," Casey said. "I thought he turned it pretty well and his ankle went out on him. But one play was not when we lost that game. The game was decided with the way we played in the first quarter." However, Toronto didnt execute when it needed to and lost to a Cleveland team playing for nothing more than pride. At least the Cavs overcame their own mistakes, something theyve rarely done during this disappointing season. "We just stayed with it," Waiters said. "We didnt get rattled and made plays when we needed to." Clevelands offence was clicking early on. The Cavs recorded assists on eight of their first 10 buckets, opened a 14-point lead in the first quarter and pushed their advantage to 18 in the second. Toronto made three 3-pointers -- the Raptors had eight 3s in the first half -- in a span of 1:27 to climb within 49-40, but Cleveland regrouped and led 59-45 at halftime. NOTES: The Cavs are 12-11 since Feb. 7. ... Toronto was just 16 of 26 from the line. ... Irving rode a stationary bike on the side as the Cavs went through their morning shootaround. Afterward, Irving looked good doing some shooting drills. Brown said Irving is "closer" to returning, but its not guaranteed the third-year pro will play again this season. ... Raptors F Patrick Patterson (right ulnar collateral sprain) missed his 10th consecutive game. He was cleared to resume contact practices Monday. Wholesale Ultra Boost 2018 . -- Each time the Utah Jazz threatened Memphis lead, the Grizzlies responded with defensive stops. Cheap Ultra Boost 2018 China . As each game passes (each has played close with the exception of last night) it becomes clearer just how evenly matched these two teams are and how one mistake, or one bad inning, is likely to sway the result. http://www.cheapultraboostsale.com/.Then came December.Three straight losses, including a crushing 27-24 defeat to Washington (4-11) on Saturday, has the Eagles (9-6) on the brink of playoff elimination. Green Ultra Boost 2018 . Arsene Wenger reportedly wants to convert the player into an attacking force, much like he did with Robin Van Persie. White Ultra Boost 2018 . He says he will have the operation Wednesday and be ready in time for training camp in September. Bernier missed five games in March due to the injury.The New Jersey Devils signed unrestricted free-agent forward Mike Cammalleri to a contract reportedly worth $25 million over five years and signed forward Martin Havlat to a one-year, $1.5 million contract. Cammalleri spent the past two-and-a-half seasons with the Calgary Flames with prior stints in Los Angeles and Montreal. He is coming off a five-year contract that paid him an average annual value of $5 million. In 63 games with the Flames in 2013-14, Cammalleri scored 26 goals and 19 assists. The 32-year-old forward has 236 goals and 266 assists for 502 points over 669 career games in the NHL. Cammalleri, a native of Richmond Hill, Ont. was drafted in the second round (49th overall) of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. As for Havlat, the San Jose Sharks bought out the remaining year of the veteran forwards contract last week which had an average annuall value of $5 million.dddddddddddd He then became an unrestricted free-agent. Havlat scored 12 goals and added 10 assists with a plus-14 rating in 48 games with the Sharks this season. He played one game in the playoffs, but failed to record a point. Havlat signed a six-year, $30 million with the Minnesota Wild prior to the 2009-2010 season and was later traded to San Jose in 2011. In 748 games with the Sharks, Wild, Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators the 33-year-old has 236 goals and 343 assists for 579 points. The native of Czech Republic was drafted in the first round (26th overall) of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. The Devils also signed forward Steve Bernier to a one-year deal worth $600,000 and re-signed Stephen Gionta to a two-year contract. The club also signed goaltender Scott Clemmensen to a one-year, two-way contract. ' ' '