The Raptors nearly shocked everyone with their second

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TORONTO - The Raptors nearly shocked everyone with their second-half comeback in an eventual defeat to the two-time defending champs. Emre Can Liverpool Jersey . Everyone except the champs themselves, that is. "We get the best of each team we play," the Heats Dwyane Wade recognized shortly before his team handed the division-leading Raptors their ninth loss in 15 games to begin the season. "We dont even look at records, it doesnt matter." "Teams come out and theyre ready to play us, and rightfully so. Weve earned it." But the home team did not come out ready to play, not like their coach had hoped and expected them to following a similarly slow start in a defeat three days prior. "Our defence, pressure on the basketball, tags and our rotations were a step slow in the first half," Dwane Casey said after Torontos 90-83 loss to Miami. A well-oiled machine, Miamis offence steamrolled over the Raptors in the first half. Toronto fell behind by 14 at the break and trailed by as much as 20 midway through the third quarter before the alarm clock finally went off. Torontos defence woke up, holding the Heat to one field goal in the final five minutes of the third quarter and cutting the deficit to two late in the fourth. Still, as it was against Brooklyn on Tuesday and has been so often in the past, it wasnt enough to save the Raptors from suffering an inevitable loss to a team that feasts on those who lose their focus. "Right now were a one-half team," Casey said. "Weve got to get two solid halves put together." Easier said than done. "Whats it going to take," Tyler Hansbrough asked, rhetorically. "Thats a good question. Its a mindset. On the road weve had games where weve put it together and played pretty well, weve just got to do it at home." "I dont know the answer to be honest with you," he continued. "Were a hell of a team when we fight back but we cant let it get to that," said DeRozan, who again was exceptional in defeat; scoring 25 points on 10-of-20 shooting. "Weve got to be a team that plays a full, two halves of basketball." Even after showing up late, the Raptors had their opportunities thanks in large part to a renewed defensive focus that stymied Miamis free-flowing offence late in the game. Alas, Toronto turned the ball over 21 times - leading to 26 Heat points - and missed eight of ten fourth-quarter free throws. DeRozan and Gay, both 80 per cent free throw shooters on the season prior to Fridays game, connected on five of their 14 attempts from the stripe. "Thats everything," Gay said of the missed free throws. "To finish a game youve got to hit free throws and finish at the rim. It was tough for us to do either." Coming off a 3-for-12 performance on Tuesday - one that prompted a late-night shooting session - Gay was moderately better, scoring 21 points, however he needed 21 shots to do so. His inefficiency from the painted area persisted, especially late in the game, and his pair of missed free throws with a minute and a half left were crucial in defeat. The Raptors are still searching for an answer to Caseys conundrum. How do they put it all together? The Heat are and will continue to be the NBAs bench mark. Theyre more than an enormously talented team. On top of their talent they have developed an identity and chemistry as a team that is a joy to watch and almost impossible to stop. No matter how talented the team, the Heat know that what theyve been able to achieve does not come easy for anybody. "You cant cheat it," Wade preached. "I think the first year when we were together we tried to cheat it, we tried to say, lets do it right now and we got to the championship but when we got there we realized that the continuity that we really needed, when we really needed it, wasnt there." "We didnt have enough time to build it. So it takes time to build." Toronto has dropped 12 straight games to the Heat since LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined forces with Wade and 13 straight contests to Miami overall. Up next The Raptors will conclude a season-long four game homestand on Sunday afternoon playing host to the Denver Nuggets, a game you can catch on TSN 1050 Radio beginning at 1:00pm et. Liverpool Jersey . So on Friday, they went to work. The two-time Eastern Conference runner-ups announced they had signed three free agents -- backup big man Lavoy Allen, swingman C. Suso Shirts . -- While much of the nation is buried in snow, glazed by ice or just plain shivering in the cold, its time to play ball in the desert.SAN DIEGO -- Tiger Woods was right. The South Course at Torrey Pines is playing about as tough as it did for the U.S. Open in 2008. But thats the only similarity. Woods won that U.S. Open. He wont even have a tee time in the final round at the Farmers Insurance Open. Gary Woodland used power to his advantage Saturday -- oddly enough, everywhere but on the par 5s -- to pick up five birdies in his round of 2-under 70 that gave him a one-shot lead over Jordan Spieth and Marc Leishman going into a final day that wont include Woods. Instead of getting back into the tournament, the defending champion and eight-time winner at Torrey Pines delivered a shocking performance. Woods went seven straight holes making bogey or worse and wound up with a 79, matching his worst score on American soil. Woods left town without speaking to reporters and with an "MDF" next to his name, which probably should have been "OMG." Thats the PGA Tours acronym for "made the cut, did not finish." Because more than 78 players advanced to the weekend, there was a 54-hole cut for top 70 and ties. Only one other player, club pro Michael Block, had a worse score than Woods. "You get going south on this golf course, you can definitely put up some numbers in a hurry," Woodland said when he heard about Woods score. "I dont think hes too concerned about it." Theres plenty for everyone to be concerned about at Torrey Pines -- a beast of a course, thick rough, rock-hard greens, and nearly two dozen players so close to the lead that Sunday could be wide open. Woodland was at 8-under 208. It was the highest 54-hole score to lead this tournament since Dave Rummells at 4-under 212 in 1993. Spieth had a one-shot lead to start the third round and it was gone quickly. He missed a 30-inch par putt on the opening hole and took a double bogey on No. 5. His biggest putt might have been a 6-footer for par on the 14th, and Spieth looked confident the rest of the way to salvage a 75. Leishman had a relatively boring round of 72 on a gorgeous day along the Pacific -- one birdie, one bogey, 16 pars. That might be what it takes on this monster of a course that features rough that might even make the USGA blush. "If you let bogeys worry you on that golf course, its going to be a pretty long day," Leishman said. "You dont have to do a whole lot wrong to have a bogey." The average score on the South through three rounds was 74.24, compared with 74.97 during the U.S. Open. And keep in mind, the field for the Farmers Insurance Open is almost entirely PGA Tour or European Tour players. San Diego native Pat Perez, who used to work the practice range as a teenager during this event, salvaged a 72 and was two shots behind with Morgan Hoffman (72). Adam Lallana Shirts. Ryo Ishikawa had a 69 and was in a large group at 5-under 211 that included Nicolas Colsaerts (75) and Andres Romero of Argentina, whose 67 was the best score of the day. "When you play with Gary, who hits it 40 yards farther than I do, it doesnt look that hard," Perez said. "Where he hits it is unbelievable. But it was a lot harder today." Twenty-two players were separated by four shots going into Sunday. Ottawas Brad Fritsch shot a 72, and is three back at 211. Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., carded a 69, and is four back. Everything was in place for a good show except for the tours two biggest stars. In the first network telecast of the year -- and the first Sunday in golf without going against the NFL playoffs -- Woods was out of the tournament and Phil Mickelson pulled out Friday night after making the cut because of muscle pain in his back. Woodland has been heading north since winning the Reno-Tahoe Open last year. He contended at The Barclays, lost in a playoff in Malaysia and now feels confident about whos in charge at San Diego. Yes, the South is a beast. But the Kansas native hits it a long way. Then again, he made par on all of them, including a three-putt pars on the sixth and 18th holes. That was OK, for Woodland had nothing more than a wedge in on No. 1, and he collected a pair of birdies on the par 3s. His only lapse was a double bogey on No. 17 from a bad lie in the bunker and a three-putt. "If I drive the ball in play, Im playing a little different golf course than most guys are playing," Woodland said. Spieth, with a chance to move into the top 10 in the world with a win, hits the ball plenty far. He just wasnt very straight. The Texan pulled his opening tee shot and struggled to find fairways the rest of the day. He hit only five of them. The steady finish left him confident about collecting his second PGA Tour win. "Only one shot back and a bunched leaderboard," Spieth said. "Its going to take a good score tomorrow. ... Im excited about tomorrow. I had some great saves down the stretch today, so take that momentum." Woods thought he had some momentum, coming off a birdie on the 17th hole and in the fairway on the par-5 18th with a shot at the green. He went into the water and made double bogey, then made another double bogey on the first hole with a three-putt. It was his first time with back-to-back double bogeys since the 2011 PGA Championship. And it only got worse from there. cheap jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '