Allgemein » grenade, coach Ted Nolan said. And then all of a sudden in t

DENVER - Less than a week removed from a 51-point coming out party, Terrence Ross was at it again. Ross had 16 points midway through Fridays game in Denver, connecting on six of his seven field goal attempts, none more memorable than his final bucket of the half. The Raptors guard picked off a pass from Kenneth Faried - one of the Nuggets 26 turnovers - and proceeded to go the length of the floor before throwing down one of the more emphatic one-handed dunks youll ever see directly over the defending Manimal. "I remember I had the ball, (Faried) had sprinted all the way down into the paint," Ross recalled. "So I knew he was kind of at a disadvantage and couldnt jump as high. Im coming full speed (and) he still jumped pretty high but at the same time I had enough room to still finish." The Raptors bench said it all. Jonas Valanciunas had to use most of his seven-foot-four wingspan to hold half his teammates from running on the floor. Ross had gotten their attention. "Man, its got to be a nomination for dunk of the year so far, especially on a guy like that," said All-Star DeMar DeRozan, who was returning from a two-game absence with an ankle injury. "That was big. I damn sure wouldnt have done it." Ross was 11-years-old the last time the Raptors had won in Denver. It was December 30, 2003, over a decade ago. Since then Toronto had dropped nine straight in the Mile High City by an average of 17.8 points per loss. The Raptors snapped that skid on Friday. In fact, it was the third time this season that theyve broken a road losing streak of eight or more games to a specific opponent (winning in Milwaukee for the first time in nine visits and snapping a 10-game slide to the Lakers in Los Angeles). They defeated the Nuggets by double digits and tied a franchise mark for most wins in January with 11. You wouldnt know it after the game. "Well take the W but I was disappointed and I let the players know about it," Dwane Casey said following a 100-90 victory over the depleted Nuggets. "I was disappointed in the close." Toronto led by as many as 25 early in the fourth before the visitors went ice cold. They went six minutes without scoring and didnt register a field goal over the final 7:44 of the game. "You cant come in and feel like youve got the game won with a 20-point lead," said the Raptors coach, infuriated after the victory. "Youve got to continue to execute, continue to be strong with the ball, continue to execute defensively if you want to be serious about winning in this league and until you grow up and do that, youre going to end up on the short end more times than not." "We cant be satisfied with the way we played in the fourth quarter." Times have changed and so too have the expectations. The bar has been raised, evident in Caseys post-game rant. "You have to respect that," said DeRozan, who tallied 14 of his 19 points in the third quarter. "Its not acceptable how we finished that game off with the turnovers. We have to learn to keep leads and close out games." Caseys team was excellent through three quarters, and to begin the fourth. When it was all said and done they were fortunate to be facing an undermanned Nuggets squad, missing leading scorer Ty Lawson, along with Nate Robinson and Andre Miller. Without a true point guard in the lineup, the Nuggets turned the ball over more than any Raptors opponent this season, resulting in 29 Toronto points. Still, Denver out-rebounded the Raptors by nine and bested them 50-38 in the paint. "They kicked our behinds in the paint and that was one of our focuses going into the game," Casey said. "We were soft going to the ball, slow reacting to the ball." In the end, the Raptors opened a five-game trip with a win, got off the schneid in Denver and welcomed DeRozan back to the lineup 24 hours after he was named a first-time All-Star. "Well take the win," Casey said. "Were happy with the win but we cant be satisfied. Adeiny Hechavarria Mets Jersey . JOHNS, N. Yoenis Cespedes Jersey . -- Byron Scott is taking over the Los Angeles Lakers with the vocal support of his fellow Showtime greats. http://www.metsbaseballauthentic.com/juan-lagares-mets-jersey/ .com) - The fading Ottawa Senators have a chance to make up some ground in the playoff race on Tuesday night as they play host to the New York Rangers. Tug McGraw Mets Jersey . The attacking midfielder arrives on a free transfer from Spains Malaga. The 28-year-old joins Scottish striker Kenny Miller and Argentine midfielder Matias Laba as designated players on the Whitecaps roster. Carlos Gomez Mets Jersey . Coach Randy Carlyle didnt know the severity of Bozaks injury. Bozak left the bench and went down the tunnel early in the second period, returned to play a handful of shifts and then did play in the third.A visit to Buffalo might provide the Montreal Canadiens with an ideal opportunity to bounce back from a loss in which they were shut out again. The Canadiens can do so with a seventh consecutive victory over the lowly Sabres on Friday night in the opener of a home-and-home set. You can listen to all the action on TSN Radio 690 Montreal starting at 5:30pm et/2:30pm pt. The Habs might try out a new look on the power play for the game, using just one defenceman and four forwards. Montreal experimented with the idea Thursday at practice, hoping it would improve their 25th (12.7 per cent) ranked power play. The 1-3-1 format would have one forward placed behind the net and the other three positioned midway between the blue line and the lone player behind the net. The defenceman would man the middle of the blue line. Montreal (16-6-1) leads the Eastern Conference by a point over Pittsburgh, the New York Islanders and Tampa Bay, so its understandable that Michel Therriens team isnt too concerned about losing for the second time in 10 games, 5-0 to the New York Rangers on Sunday. A game like this leaves you scratching your head, defenseman P.K. Subban said. We will be fine. Were still a very positive group. We have to generate more. We just didnt play our game. The Canadiens, who outscored St. Louis and Boston 6-1 to win their previous two contests, have been blanked in their last three losses and four times this season. Dustin Tokarski made 29 saves while stepping in for Carey Price, who faced 65 shots over the previous two games and recorded his second shutout in Saturdays hard-fought 2-0 win over the Bruins. I dont think we want to use (being tired) as an excuse, Subban told the NHLs official website. Montreal has hardly neeeded to justify its play while outscoring the Sabres 17-5 in the last six meetings.dddddddddddd. P.A. Parenteau had a goal and also scored in the shootout as the Canadiens recorded their fourth straight victory at Buffalo, 2-1 on Nov. 5. Parenteau has one point in his last five games, but three goals and eight assists in his last 12 against the Sabres. Price, who watched Tokarski stop 31 shots Nov. 5, has a 1.00 goals-against average with one shutout during his three-game winning streak against the Sabres (6-14-2). Buffalo scored 12 goals during a three-game winning streak that ended with Wednesdays 2-1 home loss to Winnipeg. Curtis Stewart scored in the third period, but the Sabres allowed the Jets to score on the power play and short-handed. The first period or first period-and-a-half or so, I thought our hands were handling the puck like a grenade, coach Ted Nolan said. And then all of a sudden in the third period, we played the way we have to play in order to be successful. I think the biggest message here, we have to play like that for 60 minutes. Buffalo failed to convert any of its four power-play chances, including a five-minute opportunity in the second period during which the Jets scored the decisive goal. The Sabres are last in the league at 6.3 percent (4 of 64) with the man advantage. They are 1 for 14 in their last six against Montreal, though that goal was Drew Staffords tying tally in the third earlier this month. Stafford is second on the team with 12 points, but has none in three games. Buffalo could be without defenseman Tyler Myers for a second straight game due to a lower-body injury. He was feeling good and then all of a sudden the injury just kind of went south on him, Nolan said. ' ' '