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Geregistreerd op: 05 Jul 2019
Berichten: 435
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 Geplaatst: 19-07-2019 07:22:29 Onderwerp: s addition of Jhonny Peral |
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| LOS ANGELES - For the Raptors, Saturday mornings flight back to Toronto couldnt come soon enough. Its that time of the year. Players are tired, or hurting, or both. Some are looking ahead to the events theyll be participating in during All-Star Weekend, others are looking forward to their midseason vacation time. Its been nine days since the Raptors set out on a five-game West Coast trip and the fatigue was evident as they backed into a 2-3 record on the excursion. "We cant use that as an excuse," Dwane Casey said after his team suffered their third loss in the last four games, falling 118-105 to the Clippers in LA Friday. "We knew that coming in, that were getting ready for the all-star break, mental fatigue is setting in, everybody is preparing for the break but its not here yet, we have games to go and business to take care of." After taking care of business in two of their first three games on the trip, Caseys team lost themselves in a pair of losses to the Kings - a bottom dweller in the West - and the Clippers, one of the conferences elite. The Raptors fell behind early, giving up 67 points in the first half of each game, committing a total of 70 fouls and putting their opponent on the line 105 times over the course of three days. The commonality, according to Casey, was a lack of mental and physical toughness against the likes of DeMarcus Cousins Wednesday and the duo of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan two days later. "The guys are down because they know that we physically didnt take care of business," he said. "The physicality of the game is something we have to get ready for, especially if were thinking about the playoffs because its a physical game in the paint, setting screens, rebounding, going to the basket. All those things are there if youre serious about making the playoffs." Overall, a 2-3 record on the trip is hardly disappointing, its probably on par with what was expected of them going in, realistically. However, they should lose some sleep over the way they ended the road swing. No one expected them to win on Wednesday, not against a scorned Clipper team coming off a tough loss at home to the defending champion Heat. After coming out flat again, Casey was forced to get creative midway through the third quarter, opting to deploy the hack-a-Jordan strategy, a maneuver designed to extend the game by putting a poor free throw shooter - this case, DeAndre Jordan - on the line. Jordan, a 44 per cent free throw shooter, made just 10 of his 22 tries from the line, 14 of those attempts were gift wrapped and delivered to him from Casey. The move was not popular amongst the hometown crowd but for a coach on the verge of defeat, why not take a shot? Although it shaved just two points off the Clippers 20-point lead, directly, it slowed the game down and took the home team out of their rhythm. "We had to do something," Casey said. "Physically they were just manhandling us in the paint. I thought that changed the game a little bit." Toronto would cut its deficit to nine going into the fourth quarter. By that point the Raptors had run out of gas, understandably so. Less than a week before All-Star Weekend, the Raptors are a beat up team. Kyle Lowry is battling a knee injury while both DeMar DeRozan and the slumping Amir Johnson are playing on sprained ankles. DeRozan was the one Raptor who looked at home in LA, in actuality he was. The Compton-born guard scored 36 points, the most hes ever had in nine career games at Staples Center, knocking down a career-high 17 free throws. After averaging 10.0 points on 31 per cent shooting in his first five career games back home, DeRozan has scored 28.5 on 52 per cent over his last four contests in LA. Its yet another sign of DeRozans growth on and off the floor in his fifth season. "Its always good to come home and see the family, or whatever, but I dont put as much pressure on myself as I did my first year or even my second year," said the first-time all-star. "I dont try to come out here and prove a point that Im from here or whatever, I just come here and play." Johnson spent most of Friday night chasing down Blake Griffin, who scored 36 points on 13-of-18 shooting in 28 minutes. It was an impossible task for a player that has been slowed by the injury for a week and a half. The nine-year vet is used to playing through pain and plans to continue doing so but he couldnt hide his frustration after the loss. "That nagging pain is just bothering me," said Johnson, who had eight points in 24 minutes against the Clippers. "I want to but there are just some plays I really cant get to the ball or make a play because my ankle just holds me back." "I feel like I can do a lot better. Im trying to baby it but at the same time Im trying to go hard out there. Once the schedule turns and I can rest it a little bit, Ill definitely come through. Lucky for Johnson and the rest of the ailing Raptors, theyll be en route back to Toronto Saturday after spending one more night on the road. There, theyll host the Pelicans and the Hawks before going their separate ways for the weekend, NBA all-star festivities. The schedule eases up the rest of the way. The Raptors - who have played 28 games on the road, most in the East - only have 13 more to go away from the Air Canada Centre. Fridays contest against the Clippers marked their last road game against a winning Western Conference team. "We want to compete every time we walk out but the main thing is were building and were getting better in some areas and some areas were not," said Casey. "The physicality department, thats going to take some more time for guys to figure that out. My thing is competing, you go out and compete and fight physically and then you let the chips fall where they may and there were some situations where I didnt think we competed physically." Swell Drink Bottle Australia . - First-timer Chris Harris Jr. Swell Bottle Australia . The right-hander said he threw about 30 pitches in a routine bullpen session Sunday at Yankee Stadium, his final hurdle before starting Tuesday night at Tampa Bay. http://www.swellbottlesaleaustralia.com/ . -- Andrew Wiggins is from Canada, Wayne Selden from Massachusetts and Joel Embiid from the African nation of Cameroon. Swell Teakwood Bottle . There were no real chances until Augsburg broke the deadlock through Raul Bobadilla in the 33rd minute. Frankfurt failed to clear a cross and Bobadilla slotted home from close range at the far post. Swell Bottle Sale . Freddie Roach said if the Rios fight "does not go well, we will seriously talk about his retirement," but that Pacquiao was training as well as ever for the Nov.The St. Louis Cardinals had a major need at shortstop and signed a veteran free agent who, while having PED issues, has been a potent hitter throughout his career. Numbers Game looks at the Cardinals addition of Jhonny Peralta. The Cardinals Get: SS Jhonny Peralta. Peralta, 31, has been one of the more productive shortstops in baseball since sticking as a regular in 2005. From that point, Peralta has slugged 152 home runs, behind only Hanley Ramirez, J.J. Hardy and Troy Tulowitzki in that span, and Peraltas cumulative fWAR of 23.0 ranks seventh at the position since 2005. More recently, Peralta has a fWAR of 11.0 over the last three seasons, which ranks fourth among shortstops. So, weve established that Peralta can hit the ball, but he deserves credit for fielding too. Earlier in his career, with Cleveland, Peralta typically had a negative Defensive Runs Saved and negative Ultimate Zone Rating, indications that his glovework -- and especially his range -- werent necessarily up to snuff. However, while Peralta isnt a Gold Glove candidate, hes fared significantly better in Detroit and does have a strong arm, so he doesnt pose an immediate problem in the field. He is on the north side of 30, though, so it shouldnt come as a surprise if his range becomes an issue. The main concern with Peralta is how his 2013 season was sideswiped by a 50-game suspension for use of performance-enhancing drugs. He did hit a career-high .303 in 2013, before getting suspended, with an .815 OPS that was the third-highest of his career (following a .689 OPS in 2012, his lowest in a full MLB season), so its fair to wonder whether Peralta will be as productive if hes clean. It would probably be reasonable to assume that he wont be aas productive.dddddddddddd Nevertheless, even if Peralta isnt likely to duplicate his 2013 season for the next four years, he should be an upgrade on punchless Pete Kozma at shortstop for the Cardinals. St. Louis shortstops had an OPS of .583 last season, ranking 28th, so anything resembling competent offensive play would represent an upgrade. Peralta has fared well against the National League throughout his career, hitting .301 with an .856 OPS in 156 career Inter-League games. The Tigers reacted quickly when Peralta was suspended last summer, dealing for slick-fielding Jose Iglesias, who doesnt have Peraltas bat, but is much better in the field. Peralta is signed for four years and $52-million, significant money even for a starting shortstop, particularly because of the risk that, by the end of this deal, Peralta either may not be able to play shortstop or he may simply be a liability in the field. If his bat happens to slow down at the same time, the Cardinals could really regret the length of the contract, but its easy to see the appeal in adding a middle infielder who has pop in his bat, particularly when contrasted with the relative lack of offence that the Cardinals received from their shortstops last season. If Peralta happens to hit 12-15 home runs per season and turns out to be worth 8-10 wins total over the next four years, then hes probably fulfilled his side of the deal. If hes not capable of doing that clean, then the Cardinals are going to regret rolling the dice on a player caught using performance-enhancing drugs in 2013. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' ' |
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