Neues » Balboa kept his head to

TORONTO - Sunday afternoons track meet with the fleet-footed Suns left the Raptors in a daze, but one player was feeling it more than the others. Mark Borowiecki Jersey . With just over 90 seconds remaining, down by nine in a game Toronto would go on to lose 121-113, Kyle Lowry - the Raptors most irreplaceable player - clutched his head, as he remained sprawled out on the court across from the teams bench. Scrambling for a loose ball moments earlier, Lowry took two inadvertent knees to the head from Suns 235-pound forward P.J. Tucker. Assisted by his teammates and the medical staff, the Raptors point guard walked gingerly to the bench where he was examined briefly during the timeout but would ultimately stay in the game. "Hes fine," Dwane Casey said after the game, but Lowrys assessment was a little less comforting. "I got kneed in the head, bad," he told reporters. "Ive got a headache right now. These (television) lights are killing me right now. But Im alright, though." Has he suffered a concussion before? Was he concerned that he may have suffered one that afternoon? Lowry balked at those questions. "No, Im tough," he said with a laugh, as if that could shield him from possible head injury. For those familiar with Lowry, one thing was for certain. He was not coming out of that game voluntarily. Sure enough, he shook it off and played the final 1:36, badly missing his next shot, a three coming out of the timeout. After a slow start, Lowry scored all but two of his team-high 28 points during the Raptors second half push. Ultimately he and his club could not overcome Phoenixs dynamic backcourt and devastating team speed. "Their speed and quickness was the biggest factor," Casey said after his team surrendered 121 points, most since they lost a Jan. 25 shootout to the Clippers. "Speed does that," he continued. "Speed kills. Thats the whole bottom line. We wont see a faster team than that the rest of the year. It caused a lot of breakdowns." With the tandem of Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe setting the tone for Phoenix, the Raptors were forced out of their comfort zone, playing at a tempo that suited the Suns high-octane attack. "Thats their type of game," Lowry admitted. "We dont want to have no type of game like that. We want to hold teams under 100, under 90, preferably." The Raptors, who had not lost a game by more than five points in over a month, were holding their previous nine opponents at home to 91.3 in regulation. For the first time over that stretch, they seemed to let their own frustration get the better of them. Usually a calm, cool and collected bunch, the Raptors got caught up arguing with the officials during a third quarter in which the Suns shot 23 free throws, including 10 from Bledsoe alone. The afternoon mercifully came to an end with reserve forward Steve Novak confronting a teammate on Torontos bench as Jonas Valanciunas played peacemaker and held him back. Novak would not say he was shouting at, or why and insisted, its a non-issue. Despite a bit of understandable post-game tension in the teams locker room, there was an underlying feeling of calmness, stemming from their unflappable head coach. "Its not a systemic problem," Casey insisted. "Its not a situation where (we should) panic. Its one game. We knew we werent going to go undefeated the rest of the way. That team right there, theyre fighting for their playoff lives like we are." Of course, that wasnt the case back in December when Toronto last visited the Suns. In the midst of a Western road trip, the Raptors dropped their fifth straight and fell six games below the .500 mark for the only time this season. It was an undeniable low point for the squad before their fortunes turned two days later, as Rudy Gay was traded. Even after Sundays loss, they are 31-16 since that game in Phoenix. In a couple losses to the Suns - the Western Conferences feel-good story - this season, the Raptors have been out-rebounded by 36, grabbing a season-low 26 on Sunday, allowing a total of 227 points. Missing Patterson Without Patrick Patterson, missing his fourth straight game with an elbow ligament sprain, the Raptors undermanned second unit was thoroughly outplayed Sunday. The Suns finished with a 59-11 advantage in bench scoring, led by the 28 points of Gerald Green - a starter until Bledsoe returned from injury - and the Morris twins, who Patterson likely would have guarded. "Once Patrick gets back we have offence coming off the bench, which is huge, everybody kind of gets back in their place," said Casey, who wasnt concerned about long-term ramifications of the benchs underwhelming performance. "Again, no time to panic. Weve showed that weve played against quality teams without Pat. Weve got to continue to do that." Patterson will be re-evaluated Monday and the team hopes to have him back in the lineup sometime this coming week. Johnson climbs franchise block list With his swat on Tucker midway through the first quarter, Amir Johnson passed Antonio Davis for third on the Raptors all-time block list. Johnson, who leads Toronto with 73 blocked shots this season, has recorded 406 since being acquired by the Raptors ahead of the 2009-10 campaign. He is now 9 blocks away from tying Vince Carter for second-most in franchise history. Chris Bosh is the Raptors all-time leader with 600. The Stat DeMar DeRozan, who scored 17, has been held under 20 points in consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 20-23. The Raptors all-star guard tallied 16 points on Friday in a challenging matchup against the Grizzlies Tayshaun Prince and Tony Allen before facing Tucker and the Suns Sunday. The Quote "Its just tough when you go out there playing hard and sometimes we dont get a call that were fighting or dying for, that we may need at a critical time," said DeRozan, who was whistled for a technical, along with Casey, after voicing his disapproval of a no-call on a drive to the basket in the third quarter. "Its definitely tough but its something we can learn from." Chris Tierney Senators Jersey Jean-Gabriel Pageau Senators Jersey . -- The Denver Broncos locked up a shutdown cornerback, only his name wasnt Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. http://www.senatorssale.com/authentic-thomas-chabot-senators-jersey/ . -- The Atlanta Braves are facing the possibility of losing another pitcher for the season after general manager Frank Wren said Saturday that Cory Gearrin has a serious injury to his right elbow.BATA, Equatorial Guinea - Host Equatorial Guinea benefited from a hotly disputed penalty in the last minute of normal time to go on and beat a furious Tunisian team 2-1 in extra time of a chaotic African Cup quarterfinal on Saturday.Mauritian referee Rajindraparsad Seechurn ruled that Ivan Bolado was fouled in the 90th minute with Equatorial Guinea trailing 1-0, and on the way out of its home tournament. It looked like a clear dive from Bolado with no contact made. It sparked fury from the Tunisians.Javier Balboa scored from the spot-kick deep into stoppage time, but only after players and coaching staff from both teams confronted each other in ugly scenes on the sidelines, with plastic bottles also thrown from the crowd at both dugouts. Riot police moved in to restore order during the game and then had to whisk Seechurn away at the end as he was chased by angry Tunisian players, who aimed punches and kicks at him as he sprinted toward the tunnel with his police escort.While Balboas penalty was highly contentious, he also curled in a brilliant free kick in the 12th minute of extra time to send Equatorial Guinea to the African Cup semifinals for the first time — and the 35,000-strong home crowd into crazed celebrations.The penalty was the turning point, though, and Seechurns decision caused the problems. The two camps clashed on more than one occasion in front of the dugouts after it was awarded, with substitute players and coaching staff pushing and grappling with each other and shouting insults. Both head coaches were involved.Its difficult to accept, Tunisia coach Georges Leekens said of the penalty, his voice rising in anger. In 30 years (in football), I have a lot of experiences ... Thomas Chabot Jersey. . but this I cant accept.Leekens called the decision by the referee that helped the home team out forced.Its a shame. Its a shame ... its an injustice, he said.Tunisian players also completely lost their control after the penalty by kicking, tripping and pushing Equatorial Guinea players, both in tackles and in off-the-ball incidents behind the referees back.They had been goaded when one of the Equatorial Guinea players did a little dance in the middle of the field after the penalty went in, and also by two fans who ran onto the field unchallenged to celebrate the equalizer.At the final whistle, there was more trouble. The Tunisians surrounded and pushed and shoved Seechurn, then chased him across the field and toward the tunnel as riot police and yellow-jacketed security tried desperately to protect the official.Tunisia silenced the stadium in the 70th minute when Ahmed Akaichi flicked in at the near post after a perfect first-time cross by Hamza Mathlouthi for a 1-0 lead.Mathlouthi was the Tunisian to give away the penalty at the death, though, when Seechurn decided he tripped Bolado.It was a normal penalty, Equatorial Guinea coach Esteban Becker said. In the last minute as in any other minute.Becker added: At this moment, Im the happiest man in the world.It took minutes to restore calm after the penalty was awarded, but Balboa kept his head to sweep the ball into the bottom left corner. He then curled his free kick brilliantly into the top right corner in extra time.I wish good luck for (Equatorial) Guinea but we dont deserve to go out, Leekens said. Not in this way.Equatorial Guinea will play the winner of Sundays quarterfinal between Ghana and Guinea. ' ' '