I.E.U. Datenbank » doing it every night, every shift, not only for every

Former Raptors big man Andrea Bargnani faces his former teammates tonight when the New York Knicks host Toronto at Madison Square Garden tonight. Bargnani was selected first overall by the Raptors in the 2006 NBA Draft and played seven seasons with Toronto before he was traded to the Knicks in the offseason. You can watch the game on TSN2 at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Raptors are in the midst of playing eight of 10 games on the road and will wrap up a four-game trek tonight. They had won two in a row and four of five games until a 112-99 loss against the San Antonio Spurs. Kyle Lowry and Terrence Ross scored 23 points apiece, while DeMar DeRozan added 13 points and seven boards. "Theyre a really good team," Lowry said of the Spurs. "Their players are hall-of-famers, they have a hall-of-fame coach." Lowry has scored 20-plus points in three straight games. Toronto has a 7-7 mark as the guest and its next 11 games will be against Eastern Conference foes. It has won four of five on the road. The banged-up New York Knicks can make up some ground in the weak Atlantic Division when they begin a home-and-home set against Raptors tonight. The Knicks are just three games behind the division-leading Raptors with a woeful 9-19 mark and head coach Mike Woodson is looking forward to the possibility of moving up in the Atlantic. "Were sitting here at three games out, and in our last 12 were 6-6, so we are playing a little bit better basketball based on all the injuries that weve had," Woodson said Thursday. "But tomorrows game is an important game because they (Raptors) sit at the top of the division." Woodson is hoping to have star Carmelo Anthony, the second-leading scorer in the league with 26.3 points per game, in uniform versus Toronto. Anthony is nursing an ankle injury and is day-to-day, according to Woodson. Woodson said Thursday he will see where Anthony is at treatment wise and go from there. "If he says hes ready to go, then well put him in uniform and play him," Woodson noted. Anthony, who suffered the injury in the third quarter of Mondays win against the Orlando Magic. missed a 123-94 drubbing at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder on Christmas Day. Amare Stoudemire led the Knicks with 22 points, Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 21 points and J.R. Smith tallied 20 for New York, which lost every quarter and gave up 67 points to Kevin Durant (29), Russell Westbrook (14) and Serge Ibaka (24). Knicks point guard Raymond Felton did not play due to a right groin strain and is expected miss Fridays game. Forward Metta World Peace (knee) is questionable versus the Raptors. New York is 4-11 at MSG this season. The Raptors and Knicks split four games last season and the past 16 meetings between the teams. Bryan Trottier Jersey .com) - A top-10 showdown is on tap in at the McKale Center on Saturday, as the 10th-ranked Arizona Wildcats play host to the eighth-ranked Utah Utes in a key Pac-12 matchup. Custom New York Islanders Jerseys . Siddikur, who led on all four days and took a four-stroke lead going into the final day, bogeyed four out of six holes starting at the sixth and continued a forgettable last round in which he returned a three-over 75 to finish with a 14-under 274. http://www.islanderssale.com/authentic-c...landers-jersey/. After missing 20 games as a rookie a year ago, Valanciunas - like the Raptors as a whole - has been fortunate to be in good health this season. As he spoke about it, the Raptors sophomore centre scanned the room for wood to knock on. "It is disappointing because we lost today so thats the worst part of the day," said Valanciunas, who left Tuesdays game with a lower-back sprain in the third quarter, missing the rest of Torontos 118-113 overtime defeat at the hands of the Hawks. Pat LaFontaine Jersey . A-Rod is also disqualified from any post-season play. So at the tender age of 38, he will miss all of next season. As a result of missing the coming season, hes also out $25 million (which coincidentally is my hourly rate). Matt Martin Jersey . With timely hitting and good pitching, the Marlins are one win away from sweeping the slumping Houston Astros.WASHINGTON D.C. – Randy Carlyle, for one, would like to know where such an effort was hiding. Though they dropped their fourth consecutive game in the U.S. capital on Friday night – and 21st in 32 games since the start of November – the Maple Leafs finally played with the fight that had been mysteriously missing in recent days and, really, for the better part of a disappointing season. "Weve been begging, pleading, kicking, kissing, whatever we can do to try and find a way that we can play with some confidence," said Carlyle after a 3-2 loss to the Capitals. "This might be one of the better games weve played in a month. We showed desperation. We showed that we care [and] when we put our effort and our heart into it that there is more in that room than whats been displayed and thats whats been frustrating everybody – and theyre frustrated also." Still embarrassed from their second blowout loss in the past three games – a 6-1 pounding in Carolina just a night earlier – the Leafs at last competed with the necessary gumption and fire that was noticeably absent all week. Why it took so long to materialize and where it had been hiding was a "mind-boggling" and befuddling point for the Leafs head coach. His team was cleaner, crisper and a considerable contrast to the apparent mess that materialized against the Rangers and Hurricanes. A few mistakes and two unlucky bounces – both the Capitals game-tying and game-winning goals deflected off Toronto skates – ultimately saw a third period lead unravel, but there was, nonetheless, an air of cautious optimism afterward. "I think we played harder," said Dion Phaneuf, leading the team with 24 minutes. "No one likes to be embarrassed the way that we were." "We knew we needed it," David Clarkson added of the improved effort. "Weve got to find ways to compete like that every night. Compete. Compete. Win our battles and well be okay." It was the smallest of steps – they still lost for one thing – but a needed step no less for a team thats been light on optimism in the past two months. An unpredictable animal all year, what remains in question is how the Leafs respond when they host the Devils on Sunday night. Inconsistency has been the defining identity of the club so far. One good effort has only rarely translated into two. In fact, Toronto has won back-to-back games in regulation just once since the start of November. The reality of such a lengthy slide has seen them fall out of a playoff position for the first time all season in recent days, now 10th in the East with 47 points. "We need to start to churn some points for our hockey club to feel good about ourselves," said Carlyle, who felt his team was harder to play against, more physical and tighter defensively against the Capitals. "Theres not a lot of easy breathing taking place around our group right now. Thats the reality of it. But thats what happens when you dont have success." "Its not great when youre losing," Clarkson said. "But this is the part [of the season] that were going to have to rally together. Were going to have to find ways to get wins. I think if we play like we did tonight against every single team, I think well be fine." Five Points 1. Source of Trouble Carl Gunnarsson pointed to the Leafs inconsistency, night to night, period to period, shift to shift, as the source of a troubling first half. "Some nights the forecheck has been great and the day after, its been not as good," he said moments before Fridays game. "Its been just inconsistent all over. The only thing thats been good throughout the year, I think the goaltending has been great from both guys back there. They saved us in a bunch of games." Gunnarsson said the team could work well within its respective system, but failed to do so with any semblance of consistency. "When we do it well it works," he said. "So its just a matter of doing it every night, every shift, not only for every other night or 20, 40 minutes per game, its not enough. Its got to be every night and for 60 minutes." 2. The More Consistent Option in Goal Making his seventh start in the past eight games, Jonathan Bernier returned to the form that saw him gripping hoold of the crease before a pair of losses earlier this week.dddddddddddd The 25-year-old stopped 32 of 35 shots in defeat. Though he and his counterpart, James Reimer, have been equals for the better part of the season, Bernier has certainly proven the more consistent of the two, though Reimer has been dealt his fair share of bad hands, including Thursdays lackluster effort in Carolina. As the table below indicates, Berniers performance has fluctuated only slightly all season. Goaltender Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Bernier .933 .923 .932 .896 Reimer .949 .916 .909 .852 3. Gardiner Sitting for just the second time all season on Thursday night, Jake Gardiner was back in the Toronto lineup against the Capitals, paired with 19-year-old Morgan Rielly for the third time this season. "I thought that was one of Jakes best performances," Carlyle said of Gardiner, who played just under 20 minutes. "He moved the puck, he skated, he didnt turn it over, he made a lot of good plays. Thats what were looking for from him every night." Carlyle hadnt been happy with the 23-year-olds performance against the Rangers and Islanders, pulling him from the lineup in Carolina. "Thats the trials and tribulations of a young player," Carlyle continued. "We know Jake Gardiner has NHL-quality skills, but we believe that theres something there that takes him out of that after four or five games. Whatever that is weve got to find a way to correct that." Of note, Carlyle had Gardiner on the third pairing alongside Rielly, rather than the second grouping with Cody Franson where hes played the better part of the season with inconsistent success. 4. Opting for Optimism Rather than inflame the misery of a perilous slide on Friday morning, Carlyle opted to point out the positives of losses to the Hurricanes and Islanders. "[We] tried to focus on some of the things that were doing well in [Thursday] nights game and some of the games [recently]," said Carlyle after Fridays game. 5. End of a Cold Spell? James van Riemsdyk had his first multi-point outing in more than a month on Friday. Scoring for just the third time in the past 16 games, his 16th this season, while adding a helper on Phil Kessels 21st goal of the season, van Riemsdyk had a pair of points in the same game for the first time since Dec. 7. He sits second on the team in scoring with 33 points in 44 games. "Theres always going to be challenges throughout the year," the 24-year-old said, speaking generally about the team. "Its about how you respond to that. Theres going to be no sulking done by us, throwing a pity party or feeling sorry for ourselves. We know what we need to do. I think the effort tonight was a good response with how we kind of laid an egg [Thursday] night." Stats-Pack 4 – Goals in the past 19 games for James van Riemsdyk, who scored his 16th this season on Friday. 19:33 – Ice-time for Jake Gardiner against Washington. 11-16-5 – Leafs record since the start of November. 22 – Points in the past 32 games for Phil Kessel, who had 18 points in October alone. 6 – Fights this season for Colton Orr, who dueled with John Erskine on Friday. 12 – Points in the past 10 games for Tyler Bozak, who has 18 points in 22 games this season. Special Teams Capsule PP: 1-3 Season: 21.7% (5th) PK: 4-4 Season: 77.5% (27th) Quote of the Night "Weve been begging, pleading, kicking, kissing, whatever we can do to try and find a way that we can play with some confidence." -Randy Carlyle, following the 3-2 defeat in Washington. Up Next The Leafs host the Devils in yet another Sunday night affair at the ACC. ' ' '