. "I honestly thought he had a problem because he went bac

TORONTO - Once he got going, no one could calm Jonas Valanciunas down, despite Kyle Lowrys best efforts. As Valanciunas was whistled for a rare technical toward the end of the third quarter - a result of waving his hand at an official after being called for a foul - Lowry pulled the Raptors sophomore aside, corralling him by his jersey and patting him on the back. "Youve got to be smart in certain situations," Lowry told the young centre. "I just tried to say look, you cant waste your money." "Yeah, he was trying to calm me down," Valanciunas said of the conversation with his point guard, speaking with a mischievous look on his face following the Raptors 98-91 win over the Cavaliers. "That technical foul cost me, so I feel bad now." He shouldnt. The tech will cost Valanciunas a small fraction of his next paycheque but the unbridled emotion he played with in the second half of Fridays game was the driving force of Torontos rapid turnaround. Valanciunas, like the rest of his team, got off to an ugly start. The Raptors were fortunate to be down by only five going into the break, scoring just 39 points in the first half and shooting 33 per cent from the field. For the third straight game coming out of the All-Star break, Valanciunas got a quick hook in the first quarter. The seven-footer has been strangely quiet of late, averaging under six points in four games entering Fridays contest. His minutes have been down, as hes battled growing pains on the defensive end. After being sent to the bench midway through the opening quarter, he sat for around 12 minutes of game time before re-entering. Somewhere, somehow, someone lit a fire under the sophomore and not only did it spark him, it ignited the whole team. Valanciunas was a possessed man coming out of the halftime break. He was aggressive on defence, manic on the boards and dominant down low. He ran the floor with a purpose, worked to establish position, then demanded the ball. As he turned to face up Clevelands Tyler Zeller midway through the third, he pump faked - not once, but twice - took the contact and drained the jumper. Before completing the three-point play, he pumped his fist in the air and yelled out to the crowd, or the Cavs, or his teammates, or whoever was listening. His face was as red as the logo at centre court. He meant business. "Hes going to have ups and downs but tonight he was intense," Lowry said of Valanciunas, who had 10 points and four rebounds in the third quarter, finishing the game with 18 points and eight boards. "He really kind of carried us with his intensity and his passion and fire tonight." The 21-year-olds inspired play lifted the Raptors in what turned out to be a game-deciding third quarter. Toronto scored 37 points in the frame - two fewer than its first-half total - and shot 70 per cent, turning a five-point deficit at intermission into an 11-point advantage going into the fourth. "Hes our enforcer in the paint," said Amir Johnson, who returned to the starting lineup Friday after coming off the bench in his two previous outings, nursing an ankle injury. "When he gets going, everybody else plays good and that just gets everybody open shots when hes scoring in the paint." Johnson also came to life in the second half, the two bigs even hooked up on an alley-oop lob - from Johnson to Valanciunas - late in game. "We had to give our bigs a wakeup call," Dwane Casey said. "They turned it around in the second half. We reminded them, theres more to the game than the offensive end." "You can do a lot of different things other than make shots," he continued, "and I thought the second half, Amir Johnson and JV worked at it and got it done." Although Valanciunas helped turn the game, the best Raptor on the night - from start to finish - was fellow sophomore Terrence Ross, hands down. Ross scored a team-high 20 points, shooting 9-for-18, but his most important contribution was on the defensive end, where he went toe-to-toe with All-Star Game MVP Kyrie Irving. When the game began, Ross was assigned to check former Raptor Jarrett Jack while Lowry defended Irving. Early in the first quarter, there was a switch and Ross ended up on the Cavs point guard and leading scorer. It stuck for the rest of the evening, and Ross did not disappoint. The Raptors forward used his length and athleticism to frustrate Irving, forcing him to launch tough perimeter jumpers, keeping him out of the paint and holding him to 3-of-16 shooting. "He can score in a lot of different ways [and] get his teammates involved," Ross said of Irving, who ended up with 17 points and nine assists for Cleveland. "So if you slow him down, you slow the team down." "He had to chase [Irving] everywhere," Johnson said of Ross. "He chased him off screens, he didnt quit on plays and thats how you have to play a guy like that. [Irvings] so crafty and hes always moving so you just have to keep a body on him and stay in front of him. [Ross] did a great job." It was Canada Basketball Night at the Air Canada Centre Friday, as local product and first overall pick Anthony Bennett made his NBA debut in Toronto. Bennett, who continues to improve after a slow start to the season, knocked down his first two shots and finished with nine points in 15 minute of action while fellow Canadian Tristan Thompson scored 13 to go along with nine boards. In snapping Clevelands six-game winning streak, the Raptors picked up their 30th win of the campaign, doing so in just 55 games. It took them 78 contests to reach the 30-win mark a year ago. Air Max 1/97 Nz . Dougie Hamilton and Jordan Caron scored in the first period after the Red Wings had miscues on the ice and Tuukka Rask finished with a 23-save shutout, giving Boston a 3-0 win over the Red Wings and a 2-1 series lead in their first-round series. Nike Air Max 270 Flynit Nz . Huntington doesnt want to help run the club unless Hurdle is in the dugout. The combination thats returned the franchise to respectability will remain intact for years to come. http://www.airmaxnzwholeale.com/cheap-air-max-axis-nz.html . Klose has a bruised pelvic bone and abdominal muscle problems but team doctors are trying to get him fit in time for the match. Bender has a hamstring injury. Germany is already without half-dozen players, due to injury or bad form. Nike Air Max NZ Online . TSN 1290s Jordan Cieciwa, Big Marv and Toby are here to give their predictions on who will leave with the belt and who will take some of the other key bouts on the card. Johny Hendricks vs. Nike Air Max Tn Nz . - The Oakland Athletics say they are stopping negotiations to extend their lease at the Coliseum.LONG BEACH, Calif. - Tempers flared all around the streets of Long Beach, where drivers declared friendships over after a surprisingly physical race. Simon Pagenaud refused to accept a post-race apology from Will Power, and Justin Wilson was furious with Scott Dixon. James Hinchcliffe tried to be diplomatic but failed to hide his displeasure with teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay. The one team smiling at the end of Sundays race? Ed Carpenter Racing, which got an unexpected victory from Mike Conway. Conway, hired this year when team owner and oval specialist Carpenter decided to get out of the car on road and street courses, started 17th and overcame an early broken wing to win the Toyota Grand Prix for the second time in his career. The British driver was chasing Dixon over the final few laps, then got the lead when Dixon stopped for fuel two laps from the finish. "I didnt know whether he had the fuel to finish or not," Conway said. "The guys were telling me he was saving fuel and they werent sure that he could make it, but at the same time, you dont want to rely on that. I was kind of trying to make things happen and maybe get by him. But when I saw him pull in I was like, OK, the guys are right and just have to bring it home. "Second would have been good, but this is awesome." The race was shaping up to be a Hunter-Reay rout until he triggered a seven-car accident 24 laps from the finish. Hunter-Reay started from the pole and led 51 laps, and had Andretti Autosport teammate Hinchcliffe right behind him when the race took a bizarre turn. Josef Newgarden had raced off pit road in a successful bid to get back on the track in front of Hunter-Reay and Hinchcliffe, who had swept the front row in qualifying for Andretti. But on cold tires, Newgarden wasnt going to be able to hold off Hunter-Reay for long. Only Hunter-Reay decided not to wait and tried to pass Newgarden as they entered a tight Turn 4. The two cars collided, Newgarden was sent into the wall and Hunter-Reay bounced into Castroneves path. Hinchcliffe ran into the back of Newgarden — Will Power and Conway successfully squeezed through the wreckage — but three more cars were collected as they all ran into the crashed cars long after the accident began. Newgarden was polite when he returned to his pit stand. "I was on cold tires, its very hard to control the car, I knew Hunter-Reay was on hot, and at some point he was probably going to get me," Newgarden said. "But I didnt expect anyone to come up on the inside of four. Theres so little room there, you normally cant make a pass, even if something like that is going on ... the next thing I knew I was in the wall and I was just getting plowed into by everyone. "That shouldnt happen up front. It really shouldnt. You shouldnt have incidents like that when you are running up front." Team owner Sarah Fisher was composed when asked about the incident on television, but let her true feelings be known on Twitter shortly after: "It was our race to win and we got robbed by immaturity. Period,&qquot; she posted.dddddddddddd Michael Andretti seemed shell-shocked at two of his cars being wrecked, "you need to be a little more patient," he said, and Hinchcliffe didnt mince words for his teammate. "At the end of the day, patience is a virtue and someone wasnt very virtuous today. It was a rookie move," said Hinchcliffe, who suffered a sprained left thumb and will need to be re-examined before hes cleared to drive again. Hunter-Reay didnt exactly accept responsibility. "I went for it. I could have waited a little bit later, maybe thats my fault," he said. "Its down to me to make the pass, I guess, Im not sure. A lot of people say its my fault. I made the decision at that split second when he had some wheel spin to go for it, thats the type of driver I am. I go for it. "You dont know how down I am. Just very, very disappointed. Ill look at it again, but a racing driver, when hes in the moment and he sees a chance to go for it, I went for it because I want to win the race." The accident opened the door for Dixon to score his first career win at Long Beach, until he stopped for fuel as a precaution. "The last thing I wanted to do was run out of gas in front of the whole field and cause a big accident," Dixon said. He had to mend fences with Wilson, who was enraged over contact with Dixon "that is so deliberate and blatant," and angry IndyCar did not penalize Dixon. Pagenaud also was furious with Power, refusing to accept his apology, and angry that IndyCar did not penalize Power for contact between the two. "I think we had a car to win and he pretty much ruined our race, our chance," said Pagenaud, who did not accept an apology from Power. "We were friends until now. We wont be going on vacation together, I guess." Power insisted he thought Pagenaud had an issue with his car. "I honestly thought he had a problem because he went back really slowly and so I went up his inside and then realized he was just going to turn and try to back out. I got him. My bad," Power said. "I feel bad. I dont like to be raced like that and Im surprised I didnt get a penalty. But I honestly thought he had a flat tire or something because he was really slow and I didnt understand why." Pagenaud, who rallied to finish fifth, dismissed Powers claim. "Racing, green flag, and I slowed down? Good for him," Pagenaud said. Power finished second — his fourth consecutive race dating to last season that hes finished either first or second. Rookie Carlos Munoz finished third and Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth for his best showing — in a test, practice or qualifying session — in his return after seven seasons in NASCAR. Montoya climbed to fourth early in the race, but a penalty for pitting when pit lane was closed dropped him to 20th and he had to drive his way back. "I could have been a little more aggressive at the end, but I really wanted to make sure we didnt get in any trouble and got a decent finish," Montoya said. ' ' '