TORONTO - As over 20,000 shell-shocked Raptors fans finally exhaled, juggling their emotions after a bizarre evening at the Air Canada Centre, Dwane Casey laced into his team in a nearby locker room. His post-game pep talk will "remain in-house", which usually means it was R-rated in nature. Did this feel like a win, Amir Johnson was asked after it was all said and done. "Of course," he exclaimed, taking issue with the question. "What? Yes! Did I check the box score wrong? We definitely won." "Does it feel like a win? What?" The box score read 115-113, a pivotal win for the Raptors, who took a 3-2 series lead Wednesday and now sit on the cusp of advancing to the Conference Semifinals, but you wouldnt know if from taking in the head coachs post-game discourse. "You wouldnt want to hear it," Casey said, asked about his emotions as his team squandered a 26-point lead in allowing the Nets to score 44 during a fourth-quarter collapse that was very nearly fatal. "We just didnt play smart. They are a very veteran team, they are going to take advantage of the mistakes you make. We wrote the book on the mistakes in the fourth quarter." "Every mistake that you could think about, we made in the fourth quarter." Just about. The Raptors lead was 22 going into the final frame before their previously spotless performance began to unravel in a hurry. With a lineup of Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and reserves Andray Blatche, Mirza Teletovic and Alan Anderson for all but eight seconds in the quarter, the Nets hit 13 of their 21 shots, including five of nine attempts from three-point range. They got into the paint and to the line at will, putting on a clinic offensively. Veterans Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett did not play a second. With just over three minutes remaining, Torontos nightmare became reality. The sellout crowd that had rocked the building all night, the mob of white-shirted Raptor zealots that shouted "Broooook-lyn" minutes earlier - mimicking a chant made famous at Nets home games - they went dead silent. The Nets Johnson drained a three to tie the game and Toronto was on the ropes. Visions of their franchise-worst 27-point collapse in a December loss to Golden State flashed through everyones mind. Infamous Raptors losses of the oh-so-painful past, the beloved Maple Leafs and their tragic Game 7 demise. The city has seen it all. So how would this team let them down? Toronto led by five with nine seconds left, a semi-comfortable scenario provided they refrain from doing something uncommonly foolish. Just dont give up a three or commit a foul. Naturally, they did both. As Williams swung the ball to Anderson in the corner, the Raptors Johnson lunged at him, committing his sixth foul and surrendering the rare four-point play, Brooklyns second of the quarter. With six second to go, the Raptors now up by three, Casey opted to play it safe and send Blatche to the line for two shots. The right call. Intentionally missing the second free throw, Blatche was able to secure his own rebound before letting the Raptors off the hook in tossing the ball away. "We cant live that way," said an irate Casey after the game. "We cant make this many mental mistakes." Buzzer sounds and the Raptors win. The Raptors win? They had mucked it up in just about every way you could imagine, like a greatest hits of Raptor blunders, but they pulled it out. If that seems out of character with what weve come to expect from this franchise, so be it. Isnt that just the perfect representation of a season, an improbably playoff run that defies all semblance of logic? "We made some boneheaded mistakes," Johnson admitted, "but we finished off the game and thats all that really matters." This is a different team producing different results and a point guard who has a lot to do with that change in fortune. "Honestly, hes a hell of player, man," DeMar DeRozan said of Kyle Lowry, who scored 36 points, a playoff career-high, also matching the most hes ever scored in an NBA game. "Hes just a dog. He makes you want to bring your A-game every single night because you know hes going to lay it out there with them." With DeRozan blanketed by multiple defenders all night, Lowry took over. Tied with a minute left, Lowry hit the biggest shot of the night, a step-back three-pointer, followed by another dagger from inside the paint on the subsequent possession. "Sometimes it calls for that situation," said the point guard. "Usually its [DeRozan] doing that but tonight the way they played him it gave me an opportunity to get to the basket and get some shots off down the stretch. Our teammates count on me and him to make the right decisions, make the big plays and tonight it was fortunate enough they were guarding him tightly and I got it going a little bit." Lowry wouldnt let his team lose, willing them to their most important victory of the campaign, and no one seems the least bit surprised, nor should they. "Every time hes out there on the floor Im going to give it my best effort," DeRozan added, "because I know hes going to do the same." "We know theres not going to be no big blowouts either way because both teams are going to fight until the end," he continued. "It just shows you how much weve matured over the season and understanding what we have to do to stay in games and closeout games." DeRozan became the first Raptors player to reach the 20-point plateau in four straight playoff games since Vince Carter in 2001, scoring 23 on Wednesday thanks in large part to another impressive showing from the free throw line, where he was 12-for-13. For the first time in nearly 13 years that Raptors have taken the advantage in a playoff series, now they look to close it out in Brooklyn on Friday. "Were happy we won today but weve got to do a better job Friday," said Jonas Valanciunas, who had 16 points and six rebounds Wednesday. "Were here, were excited about being in the playofffs, somewhere we havent been before, a young team, expecting mistakes," Casey said. "Weve got to crack the whip and learn from it. This is a hell of a time to start learning, going into Game 6 of the playoffs." Cheap Barcelona Jersey .com) - Wimbledon runner-up Eugenie Bouchard notched a win, while second-seeded two-time champion Ana Ivanovic, third- seeded Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova and fifth seed Sabine Lisicki all exited the draw at the Generali Ladies Linz tennis event. 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Thats how the Ravens won when Ryan was their defensive co-ordinator from 2005-08, and that is precisely the formula Baltimore used to beat Ryans New York Jets on Sunday.BOSTON - There are cities which long for winners. Toronto would be one. There are cities which have perennial winners, yet to outsiders seem to take all those victories for granted. Atlanta, which didnt sell out some of those playoff games during the Braves heyday of the late 1990s and early 2000s, comes to mind. Then there are cities which have become accustomed to winning, regardless of the sport, enjoy the feeling and crave more. Fans get so involved, are so passionate, it becomes difficult to separate them from their team to the point they get credit for pushing their team to victory, even though their real effect is negligible. Boston, with your Red Sox and your Patriots and your Bruins and your Celtics, thats you. What cannot be denied, ever, is the unifying force a successful sports franchise has on an invested community. Standing on the lush green grass of Fenway Parks infield, minutes after the Red Sox had defeated the Tigers 5-2 in Game 6 to clinch the American League pennant and hours after the Dropkick Murphys had put their spin on the national anthem and belted out “Shipping Up To Boston,” it was hard to forget that only eight months earlier, Boston was a city in pain. It was April 15, Patriots Day, when the annual Boston Marathon was interrupted by two explosions near the finish line on Boylston Street in nearby Cambridge. Three people were killed and almost 300 others were hurt. A police officer was shot and killed in a gun battle with one of the suspects three days later. A city was wounded. The Red Sox, both overtly and covertly, have aided the city in its recovery from that horrific day. Saturday nights victory was their latest generous overture to their baseball-obsessed town. “It means so much to this city, so much to the guys on this team,” said catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. A lot went right for Boston in this series. To win, it must. Nobody will talk about how David Ortiz was held to only two hits in the series, one of them a bloop single in Game 5. Thats because the other hit was a monstrous grand slam, which erased a 5-1 deficit in Game 2 and catapulted the Red Sox back into the series. It would have been a difficult task, heading to Detroit down two games and with the prospect of facing Justin Verlander in enemy territory. On another day, two actually, Mike Napoli was a hero. In the deciding Game 6, it was Shane Victorino with the seventh inning grand slam that turned a 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 lead. Xander Bogaerts, the steel-eyed 21-year-old who carries himself as if hes a 10-year veteran, went 3-5 with two doubles and two walks after taking oveer third base from Will Middlebrooks late in Game 4.dddddddddddd He worked three full count plate appearances in the clincher, reached base each time and scored twice. Red Sox hitters struck out an ALCS record 73 times. Through four games, they were overwhelmed by the Tigers extraordinary starting rotation, a staff Detroit manager Jim Leyland referred to as the best hes had in his eight career postseasons. Yet, there was Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and John Lackey matching their opponents pitch for pitch, sometimes getting by with just enough. How about that Boston bullpen? Koji Uehara, with three saves and a win to show for his six innings, was named the MVP of the ALCS. Junichi Tazawa found another gear and in three head-to-head meetings with Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera, shut him down on a strikeout and two ground balls, one of which was a key, rally-killing double play in the seventh inning of Game 5. Left-hander Craig Breslow offered up 3 1/3 scoreless innings, often working in specialty situations against Detroits potent left-handed and switch-hitters. Honourable mention also goes to youngster Brandon Workman, who worked the long role and cleaned up others messes. “Its an unbelievable team over there, extremely well coached, well managed and a great group of players,” said Canadian Ryan Dempster, who selflessly didnt raise a stink when he was asked, or more like told, he would be moving from the starting rotation to the bullpen for the playoffs. “We were able to fight through some tough times and come away with the series win and win our American League pennant. Now weve got to go on and have a real tough challenge with St. Louis.” The Tigers will lament the leg injury which severely limited Cabreras offensive and defensive effectiveness, the poor performance of Prince Fielder and, likely most of all, the inability of the bullpen to work at anywhere near the level of the starting rotation. For Detroit, which has two recent unsuccessful World Series appearances – 2006 and 2012 – along with ALCS losses to New York in 2009 and now, to Boston, it represents more playoff disappointment. For Boston, a community thats overcoming is celebrating another sporting victory, anticipating that the best is yet to come. The Cardinals will arrive on Tuesday and the World Series will start, at Fenway Park, on Wednesday. Here, there is nothing to distinguish the bombing victims from the Dropkick Murphys, from the players, from the fans. Theyre all the same in one respect. Theyre Red Sox Nation. Right now, were all living in it. 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