The Spurs lost by 23 at the Los Angeles Clippers

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TORONTO -- DeMar DeRozan leaned over Kyle Lowry after the final buzzer sounded to end the Toronto Raptors season -- Lowry was laying distraught on the floor, his face in his hands. Vancouver Canucks Jerseys . DeRozan was above him, speaking with urgency. It was a moment that said volumes about this young Raptors squad: their unexpected record-breaking season and their thrilling run through the playoffs, and the bonds they built along the way. "Thats my man," Lowry said of DeRozan. "He said, If anybody is taking that shot, Im living and dying with you taking that shot, or trying to attempt to get that shot off. It was a great brotherly moment." Lowry, who led the Raptors with 28 points Sunday, had just been blocked on a shot at the buzzer, giving the Brooklyn Nets a 104-103 Game 7 victory and ending the Raptors first playoff run in six seasons. "The play was to get me the ball, but they did a good job of trapping me, and I didnt get that shot off that I wanted to get off," said Lowry. Amir Johnson had a playoff-high 20 points plus 10 rebounds before fouling out of the game with 7:53 to play. DeRozan added 18 points for the Raptors, who were hoping to see the second round of the playoffs for just the second time in the franchises 19-year history. Patrick Patterson finished with 16 points, while Terrence Ross had 11. "Im proud of our guys," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said afterward. "Nobody gave them a snowballs chance in you-know-where to be here. Each game (in the series), a young player grew and learned something. "This group has a lot of stuff in front of them, a lot of basketball in front of them. This organizations in a great spot. Theyre going to be good." Still, it was a heartbreaking ending to a season that began with low expectations but ended with such high hopes, the remarkable turnaround coming after the seven-player trade in December that sent Rudy Gay to Sacramento. The Raptors went on to record a franchise-high 48 wins, claim the Atlantic Division title and earn the No. 3 seed in the East. "Its definitely tough to take this loss, but we had a helluva fight, man," said DeRozan, holding his infant daughter Diar, clad in a tiny No. 10 jersey with a big red bow in her hair. "Nobody picked us to make it this far, to win these many games." A one-point game was a fitting ending to a season-long battle between these two teams. The total scores were identical -- 1070-1070 -- over the 10 games played. Toronto, desperate to keep its season going, played like it was feeling the pressure for much of the afternoon, trailing by as much as 12 points in the third quarter in front of an Air Canada Centre crowd that was hungry for a playoff series win. They trailed 81-73 going into the fourth, but a Toronto team that has been so strong down the stretch all season long pulled within five on a basket by Lowry with 7:20 to play. With the fans on their feet for the final couple of minutes left, the Raptors kept their foot on the pedal and it was a three-point game with 22 seconds left. Lowry drove to the hoop for a basket to cut the deficit to a point, but Shaun Livingston made two free throws to put Brooklyn back up by three with 13 seconds to play. Ross answered with a basket, and then stole the ball off Livingston with six seconds left. Lowry drove to the rim on the Raptors final possession, but three Nets players clogged the lane, and it was game over. "I just told him, Dont worry about it," said DeRozan, who ran to Lowry after buzzer. "I can sleep at night knowing he took that shot. I can live with that. Dont be down on yourself, thats what I was telling him. I told him without him we wouldnt even be in that situation." The capacity crowd of 20,457 chanted "Lets go Raptors!" as the dejected players left the court. Joe Johnson scored 26 points to lead the Nets, who will face the two-time defending champion Heat beginning Tuesday in Miami. Marcus Thornton finished with 17. Deron Williams had 13 points, Kevin Garnett had 12 and Paul Pierce 10. "It feels so much better when you do it on the road because you know you earned it," said Pierce, who was acquired along with Garnett in the off-season in the Nets plan to win an NBA title. "Everybody is against you. I cant say some of the things they were calling me out there. You were against not only 15,000 in the building, you were against the 15,000 outside. Nobody is with you." Lowry lingered long at his locker after the game. He arrived at the press conference still dressed in her jersey, his two-year-old son Karter at his side. Asked what was going through his mind he said: "Whats not? Its a lot of things that could have been done differently, but this season has been a great season. Ive had the best core group of teammates that Ive ever had in my life, in my career. . . its just a lot. "Mad, frustrated. But understanding that this is only a stepping stone for my growth." The Air Canada Centre and its fans resembled a massive Maple Leaf -- fans in the end sections wore red "We The North" shirts, while fans in the middle sections wore white. Drake, former Raptor Charles Oakley, and Toronto Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf and his wife Elisha Cuthbert sat courtside. Coach Casey was forced to take the subway to the game. He got stuck in traffic due to road closures for the Toronto Marathon, and did a U-turn and headed for the subway. Pictures of Casey -- dressed in a black Canada Goose bomber jacket with black Raptors T-shirt -- surfaced on Twitter soon after. Casey, whose contract expires after this season, said his players will draw inspiration from the series, saying theyll be in the gym on warm summer nights thinking about how close they came. "We would have loved to have been there. We put ourselves in a position, one shot, one free throw, one offensive rebound here or there. That close," Casey said, holding up two fingers. "Thats what I told the team. We were right there." Lowry becomes a free agent on July 1, but when asked about his future, he said his mind was still on the series and its ending. DeRozan said he hasnt talked to Lowry about his future. "I dont need to say nothing to him," DeRozan said. "Im not worried about that, the relationship Kyle and I have, he knows. I dont have to say much. Why would he leave? Thats my opinion, thats how I look at it." Raptors versus Nets made for a spirited first-round series since before the first game even tipped off, beginning when the Nets sat their starters at the end of the regular season in order to drop to sixth in the East to face the Raptors -- whom they saw as easier prey than Chicago. Toronto general manager Masai Ujiri fired a shot back, dropping his famous F-bomb about Brooklyn when addressing the Maple Leaf Square crowd prior to Game 1. Sunday afternoon, some 10,000 fans packed the sunny Maple Leaf Square and spilled into roads leading into it to watch the game on the giant screen outside the ACC. Ujiri addressed the fans once again. This time he would only say: "You know how I feel." Tim Leiweke, the president of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, also addressed the crowd. "The other night the whole team, they put you in the locker-room before the game so we could understand what were playing for," Leiweke told the fans. "Tonight, today, we play for you. God bless you." Prime Minister Stephen Harper posted on Twitter: "Great effort (at)Raptors! Came up short but were all looking forward to next season. .WeTheNorth .NothernUprising .RTZ" Vince Carter led the Raptors past the New York Knicks and into the second round of the playoffs in 2001, where they lost the Philadelphia 4-3. Toronto missed its first three shots but then calmed down and a driving Greivis Vasquez jumper with two minutes to go in the first quarter gave the Raptors a six-point lead. They went into the second up 28-26. The Raptors allowed the Nets to shoot 67 per cent in the second, and Brooklyn went up by 10 on long pullup jumper by Livingston with 29 seconds left. The Nets led 61-53 at halftime. Toronto pulled to within six points on a driving layup by Lowry with 6:10 left in the third, but couldnt build any momentum, and the Nets were back up by 12 less than three minutes later. The Nets took an eight-point lead into the fourth. Daniel Sedin Canucks Jersey . -- David Ortiz saved his only hit for a key moment for the Boston Red Sox. Brandon Sutter Canucks Jersey Authentic . According to TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger, the Maple Leafs have trade offers on the table for the 26-year-old, but none have been deemed acceptable by the team. http://www.hockeycanucksauthority.com/trevor-linden-canucks-jersey-c-23/ ... maybe even more than that. Maybe all season I have to take a few blows. PHOENIX -- The San Antonio Spurs were worn out at the end of a nine-game road trip, and they prefer a slower pace even in the best of times. So their winter journey ended in Phoenix, against the NBAs top fast-break team with arguably the leagues fastest player in Ish Smith. The result was a 106-85 Suns victory. Smith scored a career-high 15 points, matched his career best of seven rebounds and triggered a decisive second-quarter run. "Im like Ricky Bobby (from the Will Ferrell ................... "Talladega Nights"), I want to go fast," Smith said. "The biggest thing with us is we want to play that pace. We want to constantly push the ball, push the ball. Thats what makes us really good." Markieff Morris scored 21 points and Channing Frye 17 for Phoenix. Gerald Green and Marcus Morris added 13 apiece. Danny Green had 15 points and Tim Duncan 13 for the Spurs, who finished a nine-game road trip, the teams annual sojourn while a rodeo is held back home. The Spurs went 6-3 on the swing. The Suns, 3-0 since the All-Star break, snapped San Antonios three-game winning streak and climbed to a season-high 12 games above .500. "You never know how you are going to get a team," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said. "They have been on the road for a long time, they were probably itching to get back home. They had an off night and we had a decent night. We will take it." The Spurs NBA-best road record dropped to 22-8. "They made shots, we didnt, and we turned it over," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "It wasnt bad. Our ninth road game in a row, they played hard and we couldnt stick it in the ...................... It happens. It was a great trip. Six and three on that trip under the circumstances of all the guys out and back and forth, I thought they were great." The Suns outscored San Antonio 28-12 in the second quarter to lead 47-35 at the break, the Spurs lowest scoring half of the season With a lineup of mostly bench players, the Suns scored 19 points in a row in what eventually became a 26-3 second-quarter run.. Erik Gudbranson Canucks Jersey. . San Antonio got the first basket of the quarter, then didnt score again until Duncans three-point play with 5:11 to play in the period. Frye responded with a 3-pointer, then Smith scored twice inside, the second on a nifty underhanded layup in traffic, and Phoenix had its biggest lead of the half, 45-28, with 3:06 to play. Smith, getting added court time because Leandro Barbosa was out with a sprained left big toe, was 5-for-5 shooting in the second quarter for 10 points with five rebounds, two assists and a steal. "(Russell) Westbrook is fast, but hes not like dash fast, first step," teammate Goran Dragic said. "Ish is special. Its harder because hes so small and when he goes low, its even harder to stay in front of him." Smith almost singlehandedly speeded up the game. "The game was kind of their pace," Hornacek said. "I think we were down 21-17 when he came in and he got the tempo going, really pushed the ball, got our guys in that running mode." San Antonios 12-point second quarter matched its lowest-scoring quarter of the season. The Suns outscored the Spurs 17-7 to open the second half, taking a 64-42 lead on Fryes 3-pointer with 5:39 left in the period. About that time, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich sat Duncan and Manu Ginobili for the night. Ginobili, a game-time decision because of a sore hamstring, played 13 minutes. For the Spurs, Patty Mills was 2 of 14 from the field and Marco Belinelli 1 for 8. San Antonio was 2 of 21 from 3-point range. The 21-point loss was the second-worst of the season for San Antonio. The Spurs lost by 23 at the Los Angeles Clippers Dec. 16. NOTES: Phoenix snapped a five-game losing streak against the Spurs. ... Tony Parker missed his fourth game in a row for what Popovich labeled an assortment of ailments. ... Popovich drew a technical seven minutes into the game and the Suns P.J. Tucker got one in the second quarter. ... The Spurs have five days off before playing their first home game since Feb. 1, against Detroit next Wednesday. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '