The Brothers' Workshop forum

yyys123 · Joined: 08 Jul 2019 Posts: 855

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - A whopping 59 turnovers in three post-season games. Thereve been times the Toronto Raptors playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets has resembled a kick-ball tournament, with balls bouncing wildly off feet. The Nets lead the best-of-seven playoff series 2-1 heading into Sundays Game 4 at Barclays Center, and the Raptors know they desperately need to clean up their act to avoid heading back to Toronto trailing 3-1. You can catch the game live NOW on TSN and TSN GO with pre-game coverage. TSN.cas coverage includes live streaming of the fan festivities at Maple Leaf Square during the game, in-game highlights and live streaming of the post-game news conferences. "If we can get it down to 13, 12, somewhere in that area we are happy with that," said Raptors coach Dwane Casey. "Some of the no-look passes, passes where we think our teammates are going to be, are things we can correct. "You are not going to turn some of our guys into Magic Johnson overnight but we can make better decisions of things we control in our turnovers." Giveaways have been a theme of all three games, and each time, the Raptors have come away vowing to do a better job of protecting the ball. Yet the kick balls and the crazy passes continue. They coughed it up 19 times in Game 1, 21 times in Game 2, and 19 times in Friday nights Game 3, a 102-98 loss. The Raptors practised at Pace University on Saturday, just across the bridge from Brooklyn. It was a long morning of making adjustments on both the offensive and defensive end, said Casey, ahead of Game 4. The Raptors are looking for their first playoff victory on the road since a win over Philadelphia way back in 2001. At least for part of the practice, Casey addressed turnovers. He said aggression has something to do with it — players are getting bumped and giving up the ball. He spoke of working on players "dispositions," which goes for both their aggression in holding onto the ball, and playing with aggression period. The Raptors were manhandled by the Nets for the better part of four quarters Friday, finally fighting back late in the game to come within a point. But disposition isnt an easy thing to coach with just a day or two between easy games. "Well, you have to appeal to the guys pride, their ego and intelligence and we have some intelligent players on this team," the coach said. "Again, its playoff basketball. If you cant get a disposition in the right order at this time of year, this is what we play for. "Our franchise hasnt been there for a while so if we cant get excited now about being tough, physical and fighting through the screens, not complaining about it but fighting through the screens and not letting them hold you and getting to your spot, all those things are disposition plays." DeMar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas have been Torontos best two players this series, but theyve also turned the ball over more than anyone. Valanciunas has turned it over 13 times, one more than DeRozan. The Nets have turned the ball over 31 times combined over the three games, and the discrepancy in giveaways is the one glaring statistic in a series that is otherwise so even. The Raptors have outscored the Nets by just a single point — 678-677 — in the seven meetings between these two teams this season. "Man weve just got to be strong with the ball," said Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry. "Theyre definitely physical when we drive the lane but weve got to be a little bit stronger. Its playoff time. Weve got to be stronger with the ball when were driving." Casey said the previous night that Lowry looked like hed been through a "15-round bout," and the gritty point guard looked similarly the worse for wear Saturday morning. Parked on a bench before addressing the media, the teams medical staff inspected his right knee and his busted lip that required a stitch to close Friday night. Lowrys knee was sore from a knee-on-knee collision. "Im going to get treatment around the clock to get healthy. Ice, stim (muscle stimulator). . . weve got a great training staff. We did some work this morning, well do some work when I get back. Get to as close to 100 per cent as possible right now," Lowry said. "Right now its very sore but I have no doubt that Im going to play." DeRozan — who scored 30 points on Friday to become the first player in Raptors history to record 30-plus points in back-to-back playoff games — likes the quick turnaround between games. "I cant wait to play (Sunday)," the Raptors all-star said. "Honestly, get back out there and get a game." "(One day between games) is a lot better," DeRozan added. "I think we could use that to our advantage too, with the quick turnaround. Just come out with high energy knowing we need to get at least one game in their place before we go back home." While the Raptors expected a hostile crowd in Brooklyns Barclays Center — especially after GM Masai Ujiris now famous F-bomb when mentioning the city — it was a pretty docile crowd that awaited them Friday. "It felt like another game to me, like a regular-season game," DeRozan said. "When you talk about atmosphere, honestly, it didnt have nothing on Toronto at all. Thats just our fans though, so it was a lot different. Playing out there felt like another game. I felt comfortable out there. We just have to clean up some things." The Raptors have to hope for better from starters Terrence Ross and Amir Johnson. Ross, who scored 51 points in a game earlier this season to tie Vince Carters franchise record, has struggled mightily. He has yet to score anywhere near double figures, finishing with five points on Friday. Johnson, while given the tough assignment of guarding perennial all-star Paul Pierce, has been hit or miss. He had seven points and four rebounds on Friday. Their teammates continue to be supportive of the two who were key in the Raptors getting to the playoffs this season. "Hes still the same Terrence," DeRozan said, when asked about how Ross fared in practice Saturday. "We all understand everybodys not going to have their best nights. We all understand that. Our job is to keep everybodys confidence high. "Amir, Terrence, they understand whats at stake in this next game and theyre going to definitely come through for us." Troy Polamalu Youth Jersey . -- The Los Angeles Clippers chose not to speak publicly about owner Donald Sterling before they faced the Golden State Warriors for Game 4 of their first-round series Sunday. Zach Gentry Jersey . FIFA said in a statement Friday that "several racist and discriminatory incidents were apparently perpetrated by local supporters during the match, in particular by displaying neo-Nazi banners and by making monkey noises and gestures as well as Nazi salutes. http://www.steelersrookiestore.com/Steelers-Juju-Smith-Schuster-Jersey/ . The No. 23 seed at the first Grand Slam event of the tennis season has worked out all the details, from his training regime right down to where hes going to eat dinner. Hines Ward Youth Jersey . The roster changes have been constant and continuous since late last year, but even with their 46-man roster set for the start of the season, the banged-up Bombers will be kicking off Week 1 with a handful of fresh faces and back-ups in the starting lineup. Troy Polamalu Steelers Jersey .com) - SirDominic Pointer posted career highs of 24 points and seven steals to lead No.TSN Hockey Insiders Bob McKenzie and Darren Dreger have the latest on expanded video review, changes to overtime, face-off modifications and the NHL potentially allowing kicked-in goals. Are GMs any closer to a consensus on expanded video review that would include goaltender interference? Bob McKenzie: I wouldnt go as so far as to say that theyre reaching consensus, but they are having some scintillating conversations that we never heard before on goalie interference and that is this - in the breakout group that they had today, a couple of the general managers, Brian Burke and Bryan Murray amongst others, said that, if they want to go to review goaltender interference, they would like the referees to be able to it on the ice, in the penalty box with a monitor there, NFL-style. Thats never really been discussed before. The NHL has always been hesitant to do it. It will be interesting to see whether it gets any support from the larger group on Tuesday. Darren Dreger: Additonal video review is generally a hot-button topic at these meetings. Weve talked, seemingly, on an annual basis about the coachs challenge. Well again, that has legs. Theres some concern as to how you work out the details. The devil is in the details with the criteria. If the puck leaves the zone, does that nullify the coachs challenge? If theres a change in possession, does that nullify the challenge? I think you could see some real traction on additional video review for goaltender interference, but also the puck off the net that ends up in the goal and, perhaps, looking at offsides, like the Matt Duchene goal scored last year. That still haunts the NHL and video review could have stopped that. Could we see it expanded in time for the playoffs? Dreger: Very, very unlikely. I think its a long shot at best because theres a review process that the NHL has to go through that includes the competition committee and, ultimately, the Board of Governors would have to sign off on it during the Stanley Cup finals. Ken Hollands proposal for a three-on-three overtime, as they try to reduce the number of shootouts, seemed to be gaining momentum. Has it now hit a major roadblock? McKenzie: It certainly seeems as if that momentum has dissipated.dddddddddddd Everybody who was talking about it at the November general managers meetings in Toronto arent talking about it now. Glen Sather, New York Rangers general manager, called three-on-three overtime a pipe dream. Nobody seems to be talking that up too much, but what they are talking about is, potentially, doing a dry scrape of the ice before overtime instead of after, when they normally do it before the shootout, and going to the long change format, that is with the goaltender in the same position as he is in the second period, furthest away from the teams bench. A much harder change that usually results in more goal-scoring in the second period. Face-offs and Face-off markings were also under scrutiny on Monday. What options for change are there? Dreger: Doug Armstrong of the St. Louis Blues pitched a novel idea, stealing from the Olympic tournament, in how the alignment was used in the Olympics, with the spacing between the hashmarks. In the NHL, theres just a three-foot separation. In the Olympics, it was five feet and, should the NHL consider that, it would create more space and there would be less contact, so the forwards could have some more room to move. Another face-off idea, and I think its a long shot at best, is trying to get rid of wasted time in throwing the centremen out of the face-off circle when hes completed an illegal draw. Move that centre back one foot is an idea that was pitched on day one. Some are intrigued by it to the point that they want further discussion, but I dont see this one flying. Is the NHL seriously considering counting all goals kicked in with the skate on the ice? McKenzie: Well, they are certainly talking about it and its a big step forward. They are looking at a liberalized kicking-in of goals, but were going to wait to see. You just never know. Dreger: Im sure the Players Association will have some input on that and, certainly, any overtime modifications being made. We know that Mathieu Schneider, Joe Reekie and Rob Zamuner will attend Tuesdays meetings and the sense is that they have some thoughts of their own on some tweaks or changes that might help grow the game. Cheap Jerseys China NFL Jerseys Cheap NBA Jerseys Wholesale NHL Jerseys Wholesale MLB Jerseys Cheap Soccer Jerseys China Wholesale NCAA Jerseys Wholesale Football Jerseys Wholesale Basketball Jerseys Wholesale Baseball Jerseys ' ' '