DENVER -- Toronto coach Dwane Casey wasnt ready to celebrate after the Raptors ended a decade-long drought in Denver.
Wholesale NFL Jerseys . He was too upset about his teams lacklustre finish. DeMar DeRozan scored 19 points, Terrence Ross had 18 and Toronto, after opening a 25-point lead, settled for a 100-90 victory over the Nuggets on Friday night. "We will take the W, but it was not a quality finish," Casey said. "I let the players know I was disappointed in the close. You cant come in and feel like you have the game won with a 20-point lead. You have to continue to execute, be strong with the ball and continue to execute defensively if you want to be serious about winning in this league." Jonas Valanciunas and Kyle Lowry added 13 points apiece for the Raptors, who snapped a nine-game losing streak in the Mile High City dating to 2003. Still, Caseys postgame critique on his teams fourth-quarter play -- the Raptors were outscored 20-14 in the period -- outweighed any sense of relief over the end of the streak. "We have to finish a lot better," Lowry said. "This is the NBA. Teams are going to make a run. Were not going to be negative. We won the game. But we have to finish better than that." The Nuggets were dealing with their own problems. They announced during the game that guard Nate Robinson had season-ending surgery earlier Friday to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Robinson was injured in a spill underneath the Nuggets basket during the first quarter of Wednesday nights loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. The Nuggets also were without leading scorer Ty Lawson, who missed his second consecutive game Friday with a left rotator cuff strain. "We dont want anybody to feel sorry for us and we wont feel sorry for ourselves," Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. "We just have to continue to fight, stay positive, keep working and just be more fundamentally sound." J.J. Hickson and Evan Fournier led the Nuggets with 18 points apiece. Hickson also had 13 rebounds. Randy Foye, normally a shooting guard switched to the point in the absence of Lawson and Robinson, had 10 points and a career-high 16 assists. But he also committed eight of the Nuggets 26 turnovers, which led to 29 points for Toronto. "Randy played 43 minutes, Evan 38 minutes, and theyre not accustomed to playing that many minutes as well," Shaw said. "They started getting tired, then we started losing our fundamentals and throwing the ball all over the place. That was our biggest thing tonight." Hickson said it is also going to take some time for players to adjust to new, sometimes unfamiliar roles thrust on them by the backcourt injuries. "Its going to be a process," Hickson said. "I cant say its going to be a long process, because we dont have much time. It has to be a quick process. But I think once guys get adjusted and settled in, well be good." Toronto moved to a season high four games above .500 (25-21) and tied a franchise record with its 11th win in January. The Raptors also won 11 games in January 2002. Leading by seven at halftime, the Raptors put together an 11-2 run late in the third quarter to go up 84-68 with 2:46 left in the period. DeRozan ignited the surge by driving through traffic and putting in a reverse layup off the glass and helped keep it going by knocking down a pair of jumpers. By the start of the fourth quarter, the Raptors led by 16 points and 50 seconds later, Valanciunas dunked to stretch Torontos advantage to 90-70. After Timofey Mozgov scored on a turnaround jumper for Denver, Toronto reeled off seven straight points, including a 3-pointer by John Salmons for a 97-72 lead with 8:47 left. The Nuggets made a late push with a 14-2 run cutting it to 99-86 on a dunk by Kenneth Faried with 3:32 remaining. But Ross then blocked Fourniers driving layup attempt and after Valanciunas made one of two free throws, the Nuggets lost another possession on a turnover by Foye, failing to get the deficit under double digits. The Raptors turned a steal into a breakaway dunk by Ross for a 60-53 lead at halftime. The rim-rattling jam brought the Raptors bench to its feet. NOTES: Foye had 11 assists in the first half, most by a Nuggets player in a half since Steve Blake had 11 on Feb. 14, 2007. ... Toronto won for the first time in Denver since an 81-74 victory on Dec. 30, 2003. ... Hickson has had a double-double in 12 of his last 23 games.
Wholesale Jerseys . The World Group first round series will now continue Monday with Spain leading 1-0. Earlier Sunday, Czech Klara Zakopalova led the second singles match against Maria Torro-Flor 6-3, 2-0.
Cheap Jerseys . -- An accomplished veteran in open-wheel racing, Alex Tagliani probably could find a full-time ride in the IndyCar series if he wanted it badly enough.ROME -- England topped Italy 19-15 in falling snow at Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, gutsing out a second straight win from two matches in Six Nations rugby. England rallied from a 15-6 deficit soon after halftime with its only try to Charlie Hodgson and more flawless kicking from Owen Farrell, who added his third and fourth penalties. Two mistakes from England fullback Ben Foden conceded out-of-the-blue tries to Italy right before halftime, but after Kris Burton kicked Italy 15-6 ahead, his flyhalf replacement Tobias Botes missed two late kickable penalties. "We are delighted to get the win," England coach Stuart Lancaster said. "We put ourselves in a position in the first 20, we started well. Then we had a mad five minutes and came in down at halftime. The most pleasing thing from that point of view was there was no sense of panic. "We felt there were one or two areas to work on, particularly trying to move the ball, get the ball to the 10 early and get more intensity and tempo in the game. We were pleased to do that in the second half. I thought Italy played extremely well and put us under a lot of pressure. They were very difficult conditions to play in." Before the match, there was real feeling that Italy could follow its stunning win over France in Rome last year with a first victory against England in 18 matches. Jacques Brunel was making his home debut as Italy coach and the team was playing for the first time at the sold-out Olimpico, in front of an expectant crowd of 72,000 braving a subzero wind chill. Italy captain Sergio Parisse, named man of the match, admitted there was deep disappointment in the dressing room of missing a chance at history. "It annoys me to lose to a poor England side," he said. "We had the chances today to beat England as it wasnt at its best. We had a big chance, but now we have to move on and prepare for the next two away matches. "Im convinced that were on a good path and going forward." Key prop Martin Castrogiovanni faced a race against time to be fit to play Irelland on Feb.
Cheap Jerseys from china. 25 after he broke a rib in the first half and was replaced. Italy conceded decisive scrum penalties in his absence. Heavy snow had fallen in the Italian capital for the past week, with Rome experiencing its worst weather in nearly half a century. It finally stopped 90 minutes before the game but huge areas of the pitch were still covered in snow and ice. There was little to entertain the freezing crowd for much of the first half as both teams struggled to break clear and opted to kick. Farrell nailed his first penalty in the 26th minute, and the second when Castrogiovannis replacement Lorenzo Cittadini gave away a penalty in the scrum. Moments later, Italy shocked by scoring two tries in quick succession. First, an Italian grubberkick ricocheted off an England foot and Fodens chest and winger Giovanbattista Venditti was on hand to scoop up and score, then centre Tommaso Benvenuti took advantage of another mistake by Foden. His pass was intercepted by Benvenuti, who raced from near halfway to score between the posts. Burton converted the second -- after hooking the first wide -- and added a penalty at the start of the second half to extend Italys advantage still further. England reduced the deficit almost immediately when fullback Andrea Masis kick was blocked by Hodgson, who gathered and touched down just as he did for the only try in the Scotland match. Farrell converted and kicked England 16-15 ahead in the 55th with another penalty. Barritt almost scored another try on the hour for England but he was hauled down. Italy loosehead Andrea Lo Cicero brought down another scrum and there was little chance Farrell would miss the penalty from near the posts. Botes had chances to cut the deficit, but his first penalty kick from close to halfway was woefully short, and his attempt in the 74th was well right, leaving Italy second again. ------ England 19 (Charlie Hodgson try; Owen Farrell 4 penalties, conversion), Italy 15 (Giovanbattista Venditti, Tommaso Benvenuti tries; Kris Burton conversion, penalty). HT: 6-12
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