Fanshops » Though the 26-year-old said he was able

TORONTO - By the end of Thursdays three hour-and 32-minute, triple-overtime marathon, the longest game in franchise history, the Toronto Raptors had run out of gas while nearly running out of active bodies. Two of the Raptors starters, along with their sixth man, had fouled out after gutting out a couple of extra periods playing hurt. One starter was absent, having left for the locker room earlier in the game with an injury and another was mired in one of the worst games in his professional career. "I feel like if we would have had everybody in the game, we probably would have come up with the win," said Amir Johnson, who - playing on a couple of sore ankles - picked up his sixth foul late in the first overtime, as his team went on to fall 132-129 to the Washington Wizards at home. Patrick Patterson was whistled for his sixth minutes earlier, while Kyle Lowry - hobbling on an ankle he tweaked going in for a potential game-winning drive at the end of regulation - fouled out two minutes before the night came to a merciful end. Terrence Ross, who scored a team-high 11 points in the first half, did not return for the second after he, too, suffered an ankle injury. As a team, the Raptors, until very late in the fourth, were outworked in a game that seemed to mean more to the visiting Wizards, losers of three straight to Toronto this season, than it did to the home team. Overall, Washington grabbed 18 offensive rebounds, registered 80 points in the paint, bested the Raptors 21-6 in second-chance points and held a 10-point edge in fast break scoring. Still, the Raptors were right there with a chance to steal a victory they probably didnt deserve at the end of regulation and as the clock expired to close the first OT period. "I like the way we battled," said coach Dwane Casey, "even through the foul trouble and also with injuries." "Coach told us before the game its going to be a playoff-atmosphere game," said DeMar DeRozan, the lone starter on the floor when the Wizards finally began to pull away in the third OT. "Thats what it was. We fought to the end, we just couldnt get no stops in overtime." DeRozan led the Raptors with 34 points in 57 minutes. Lowry logged 54 minutes, 13 in extra time, despite coming down awkwardly on his ankle after just missing the go-ahead layup ahead of the fourth-quarter buzzer. Again, the ball was in the hands of the Raptors point guard in a similar situation five minutes later when the trailing John Wall blocked his runner in the lane. "He stayed in the game, but he turned his ankle real bad on that play," Casey said. "I thought Kyle still battled on defence and I thought he was huge for us." How was his ankle feeling after the game? "Its great," Lowry said with a smirk on his face, withholding - not surprisingly - any pain from the hoard of media. "A game like this, the bumps and bruises hurt a little bit more," said Johnson, who had 16 points and nine rebounds in 42 minutes, "especially when you come up short and there were so many times we could have ended the game and won the game. It was a tough loss." “We wanted to win the game," Lowry added after just missing out on a triple-double with 18 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. "At the end of the day, we go out there and try to win every single night. We dont try to just go out there and compete and say, ‘Oh, we gave it our best shot. We go out there and try to win every single game." Three-point shooting kept Toronto in striking distance as the Raptors knocked down 12 of their 30 attempts from long range, including four from Greivis Vasquez, who stepped up in Rosss stead. Vasquez recorded a season-high 26 points to go along with eight assists in 38 minutes off the bench, his most productive game since coming over in the December trade from Sacramento. With the win, the fifth-place Wizards avoided the season-series sweep with Toronto and pulled within two games of the Raptors for the third seed in the East. Although it was a long night for everyone involved - Casey ended up using all 13 players available to him - it couldnt have ended soon enough for Jonas Valanciunas, who had a game to forget. Once Patterson and Johnson fouled out in OT, Casey reluctantly went back to Valanciunas, though he had been sitting on the bench since late in the third quarter. Understandably, the 21-year-old was out of rhythm and lacking in the confidence department. It showed. The sophomore had difficulty keeping up with Marcin Gortat - who scored a career-best 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, seven of them offensive - and negated one of his own teams buckets on an offensive goaltending call. Casey rotated in the likes of Tyler Hansbrough and Chuck Hayes, Steve Novak and Landry Fields - the three had not played more than a few seconds until OT - when it became apparent the Raptors starting centre was causing more harm than good. Although Casey wouldnt point the finger at the young seven-footer, given the length of time he spent on the bench before re-entering, "it wasnt fair to Jonas," he said, Valanciunas was far more critical of himself after the loss. "I feel really sad," he said with his head down. "Weve got to learn from [our] mistakes. I feel really bad right now. I could do a much better job than what I did. Im going to watch the film, learn from it to not repeat it next game." Luckily, the Raptors will have a couple of days off to rest, recuperate and regroup before hosting the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, their only game in the next seven days. "We just go over the mistakes we made on film [and] clean them up," Johnson said. "It just makes you realize how much talent we have on this team, what we can do." "[Were] going to go over film, rest our bodies [and] come back strong." Balenciaga Shoes Discount . Price also posted the longest shutout sequence since 1960 at 164:19 minutes. He stopped a combined 55 shots in Canadas final two games and 70 of 71 shots in Canadas three elimination games, allowing only a breakaway goal to Lauris Darzins of Latvia. For his efforts, Price was named best goalkeeper by the tournament directorate. Prices outstanding play is marred only by the extremely strong defensive play of Canadas top six defencemen; Shea Weber, Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester. Air Max 270 Cheap Online . The Twins announced Thursday the 28-year-old Albers cleared waivers. He will join the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization. http://www.brandshoescheaponline.com/who...rance-sale.html. Espanyol midfielder Sanchez intercepted Bilbao goalkeeper Gorka Iraizozs clearance and, having spotted a gap, risked using his less-favoured left foot to fire a beautifully precise long-range shot that bounced in from high up the near post in the 24th minute. Nike Air Max 90 China Wholesale Paypal . -- Falcons running back Steven Jackson, who has missed the last four games with a hamstring injury, is expected to practice on Wednesday. Air Max 270 Discount . Though the 26-year-old said he was able to participate, coach Dwane Casey kept Johnson out as a precaution.CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Paul Millsap scored 28 points, and the Atlanta Hawks snapped the Charlotte Bobcats eight-game home winning with a 97-83 victory Monday night. It was Atlantas 11th straight win over Charlotte. The Hawks have won four straight, pulling within 1 1/2 games of the Bobcats for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Pero Antic had 11 points and 10 rebounds and DeMarre Carroll scored all nine of his points in the fourth quarter to help the Hawks open an 18-point lead. Kemba Walker led the Bobcats with 20 points. Al Jefferson, who was selected the Eastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday, had 16 points and 12 rebounds for his 30th double-double of the season but was just 6 of 15 from the field. The Bobcats led by six at halftime, but went cold in the second half shooting 29 per cent (11 of 38) from the field. Charlotte shot 35 per cent for the game. The Bobcats shot just 4 of 19 from the field in the third quarter and watched a six-point halftime lead turn into an eight-point deficit to start the fourth quarter and they could never mount a serious threat after that point. Carroll made sure there was no comeback, with a pair of dunks and a 3-pointer. Antic came inn averaging 13 points in four straight starts and hit a pair of 3-pointers early on to help set the tone.dddddddddddd. The Hawks were 13 of 34 from 3-point range and showed good ball movement throughout the game, repeatedly getting open looks at the basket. For the second straight game, the Bobcats struggled on offence, looking out of sync and taking poor shots. The Bobcats (33-35) were looking to tie a franchise record with their ninth straight win at home and pull even at .500, but failed to put up much of a fight in a sluggish second half. It was a second straight game the Bobcats had poor ball movement on offence, although they were able to pull out a win over the weekend at Milwaukee. The Hawks continue to have Charlottes number. They have defeated the Bobcats three times this season, including a 118-116 home overtime victory on Dec. 28. Millsap also led all scorers in that outing with 33 points and 13 rebounds. The Bobcats have been thriving in the paint this season, but were limited to just 24 on Monday night. The Hawks scored 38 points inside the paint. NOTES: Millsap scored 20 or more points for the 24th time this season. ... Walker has scored in double figures 51 times this season for the Bobcats. ' ' '