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. [url=http://www.soccerusateamonline.com/Matt-Besler-Copa-America-Jersey/ ]Matt Besler Jersey[/

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. Matt Besler Jersey . 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." Tim Howard Jersey .ca. Kerry, I hope you address Ron MacLeans comment during the second intermission of Game 4 in Montreal-Tampa series. Basically, he suggested that the NHL should not have used a referee from Quebec, following the Game 3 disputed non-goal, because the referee could be biased towards Montreal. Michael Bradley Jersey . Patrik Bartosak turned away 50-of-52 shots for the Rebels (28-26-4), who halted their losing streak at seven games. Trailing 2-1 after 40 minutes of play, Feser forced overtime with his second goal of the game at 5:35 of the third period. http://www.soccerusateamonline.com/David-Bingham-America-Jersey/ .C. - NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick headlines this years electees into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Mr. Fraser, In the PIT/NYR Round 2 series, there have been two separate occasions where Marc Staal has taken blatant shots to the head of Pittsburghs Sidney Crosby. In Game 3, Staal hit Crosby with a viscous crosscheck to the back of the head. I was shocked that a penalty wasnt even called on the ice! The league then came out the following day and said that no punishment would be handed down for the hit. The following night, in Game 4, Staal again went after Crosbys head. This time it was a blatant elbow. Again, it was from behind, to the back of the head, nearly knocking the helmet off Crosbys head. Again, there was no call on the ice, and no action taken by the league. Can you explain to me how the league and officials, in this era of "no tolerance" for hits to the head, can allow this kind of thing to go on? How can there be no call on the ice? Obviously, since there was no action for the league, or penalty called, in Game 3, Staal figured he was cleared to do it again in Game 4. I mean, if the NHL doesnt care about the well-being of its marquee players, why should Staal? Thanks for listening. Any light you can shed on this subject would be great! John Waclo John: The cross-check that Marc Staal delivered on Sidney Crosby was well beyond just a minor infraction (Video link) and worthy of at least a five-minute major and game misconduct. This aggressive cross-check delivered to the head area could not be considered an effort by a defensive player to contain, engage in a battle in battle or to clear an opponent from the front of the net. The blow did not start at the name plate on the back of the jersey and thhen rode up to the neck and back of the helmet. Jordan Morris Jersey. This forceful, full-arm extension cross-check went directly to the back of the neck/head of Crosby and should be considered an attempt to injure and worthy of a match penalty under rule 59.4. For the sake of argument lets reverse the body position of Crosby where he and Staal are face-to-face. If that same force is delivered to the neck and chin of Sid he will most likely be spitting blood, chicklets and perhaps even incur another broken jaw. I would sincerely hope that a match penalty would be assessed in that case and a player would be suspended for cross-checking an opponent in the face! I see a deliberate and forceful cross-check to the back of a players neck and head to be similarly dangerous regardless of the fact it was delivered on a player with a well-documented history of concussions. If you want to see an "old school" hit take a look at the major and game misconduct I assessed to Darian Hatcher in a game in Dallas just prior to the playoffs, when he delivered an elbow to the face of Jeremy Roenick. Roenicks jaw was dislocated, broken in three places and he had eight teeth cracked or broken. Roenick approached me on the ice spitting blood and teeth with his jaw wagging in the breeze as he attempted to say, "He broke my f----n jaw!" Hatcher was suspended for seven games (including the Stars first five playoff games) by Colin Campbell for the illegal hit. See it here. John, you ask how these types of plays can be missed. The answer is there are too many "puck watchers" wearing stripes in these playoffs. Player safety is placed in jeopardy when these aggressive fouls are allowed to go un-penalized. This isnt "old school" officiating; just a lack of awareness. ' ' '