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TORONTO - Kyle Lowry laid flat in the centre of the key, hands on his head as he stared straight up at the top of the Air Canada Centre, likely seeing nothing at all, having just missed the biggest shot of his eight-year career. Although, technically it was not a shot. With their season on the line, the ball was in Lowrys hands, deservedly so. The clock showed 6.2 seconds as the Raptors inbounded, trailing by only one in the dying moments of a deciding Game 7. Jason Kidd and his Nets team had little doubt the ball would find Lowry. The star point guard caught the pass, with Deron Williams draped all over him, and went straight toward the rim as Kevin Garnett came over to trap. Lowry split the two defenders and floated a shot up at the basket just as Paul Pierce entered the fray in time to block it. As the buzzer sounded, putting an end to Torontos magical season, Lowry - the teams heart and soul - fell to the court. What was going through his head? \"Whats not?\" he shot back. DeMar DeRozan was the first one to come over. Crouching over the sprawled out Lowry, DeRozan offered up some words of encouragement. \"He said, If anyone is taking that shot, Im living and dying with you taking it and trying to get that shot off,\" Lowry recounted after the Raptors heartbreaking 104-103 Game 7 loss. \"It was one of those things, a brotherly moment.\" DeRozan helped the point guard up and the Raptors two best players walked off the court - Lowry with his jersey over his face - to a rousing ovation from their appreciative fans. \"It was big time,\" Amir Johnson said of the scene. \"Just them showing their appreciation, how well we did this season and how hard we worked. So it was a sad moment but bittersweet, I guess.\" The Raptors couldnt hide their disappointment after falling just short of advancing to the Conference Semifinals Sunday afternoon, it was written all over their faces, but they have no reason to hang their heads. The sellout ACC crowd stood and chanted in salute of their team, the game - however frustrating - served as a good reminder of why. With five minutes left, the Raptors appeared dead in the water. Frustrated and coming undone in the moment, down 10, their season was on life support but, like hes done so many times before, Dr. Lowry refused to let them die. Lowry scored 13 of his game-high 28 points in the final quarter and the Raptors came storming back. That resiliency has been their most admirable quality all year. They had led the NBA in fourth-quarter scoring differential, earning 11 comeback wins, eight more than the season prior. \"Were going to fight until our last breath,\" said DeRozan after scoring 18 points, playing with the flu, as Casey revealed following the game. \"Were going to leave it out there, every single thing we have there on the court.\" \"We battled,\" added Johnson, who recorded his first playoff double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out early in the fourth quarter. \"I would go to war with these guys any day and they showed a lot of pride and a lot of heart tonight. We just ran out of time.\" Lowry and his unwavering resolve have a lot to do with the teams late-game tenacity and so, with their season in the balance, they had no qualms with letting him decide their fate. \"That young man did everything he could to get to the basket,\" Casey said of Lowry on the final possession. It was what they had drew up, Lowry going to the rim, though it was a slight variation of what was intended, with poor spacing that ultimately led to the blocked shot. \"He tried to will his way to get that extra point.\" One point separated the teams Sunday and after 11 meetings - in the regular season and playoffs - Toronto and Brooklyn each scored 1,070 points. The series was as close as they come. \"We were right there,\" Casey pointed out, and if a few calls from another highly critiqued officiating crew went their way they may have pulled it out. But in the end, the Nets were the better team Sunday and that was the case, more often than not, throughout the series. Joe Johnson - the best player on either side over the seven-game span - proved un-guardable again, scoring half of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, while the Raptors youth and inexperience continued to rear its head. Although Terrence Ross turned in his best game of the series, securing the steal that made Torontos final possession possible, the bar had been set low. Fellow sophomore Jonas Valanciunas scored just three points to go along with five rebounds in one of the quietest outings of his brief career. As a team, the Raptors wanted to go further, they believed they were ready and came just one play short of proving it. Even after the loss, with their season now over, the progress theyve made does not go to waste. Three of their starters had never appeared in a playoff game. Only four players on their roster had ever experienced a Game 7, no one has emerged victorious from one. This experience is invaluable and can only serve them well, both individually and as a collective, going forward. \"Im proud of our guys,\" Casey said. \"Nobody gave them a snowballs chance in you know where to be here. They competed all year. This group has a lot of stuff in front of them, a lot of basketball in front of them. The organization is in a great spot.\" \"This playoff run is nothing but positive for these young men and anyone that thinks any different doesnt know basketball.\" Evgeni Nabokov Stanley Cup Jersey .com) - Devils president and general manager Lou Lamoriello has come up with a unique solution to fix the teams coaching situation. Ryan Callahan Stanley Cup Jersey . But even after pouring in a game-high 33 points in a convincing win over the Orlando Magic, Lowry was managing expectations ahead of Thursdays announcement of the reserves for next months game. http://www.lightninghockeyonline.com/Lightning-Ondrej-Palat-Stanley-Cup-Jersey/. The 23-year-old Edinburgh winger replaced the injured Tommy Seymour on the right flank, who has not recovered from an ankle injury. Max Evans came in for Sean Lamont on the opposite wing. Jason Garrison Stanley Cup Jersey . -- Brooke Henderson won a Canadian Womens Tour event Wednesday, three days after the 16-year-old star tied for 10th in the U. Victor Hedman Lightning Jersey . General manager David Poile called signing Ribeiro a great opportunity to add a talented, experienced and creative centre Tuesday when he introduced the veteran at a news conference. Ribeiros contract is worth $1.05 million after being bought out of the final three years of a $22 million contract by the Coyotes recently.EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The NFL and personnel at MetLife Stadium had a Super Bowl pop quiz on snow removal less than two weeks before the title game between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks. The league and stadium officials decided to use a winter storm that dumped a foot or more of snow in the New York City metropolitan area Tuesday as somewhat of a dress rehearsal to see how quickly they could clean the 80,000-seat facility that will hold the first outdoor Super Bowl in cold weather. NFL executive vice-president Eric Grubman said Wednesday an 18-hour time limit was set for removing the snow from the stadium, surrounding parking lots and access roads in the Meadowlands sports complex, where the game will be played Feb. 2. Grubman refused to speculate whether the storm that snarled roads, closed schools and had states of emergency in New Jersey, New York City and some surrounding areas would have caused the Super Bowl to be postponed. He said that would be a decision made by state authorities. Grubman, however, said the league has several contingency plans for the game, including moving it up to Friday or Saturday, pushing it back to Monday or adjusting the scheduled start on Sunday deal with the weather. The game is scheduled to start at 6:25 p.m. EST. \"Based on the long-range forecast, all that I would even hazard to guess is that it is probably going to be cold. I doubt we are going to have an unusual warm spell,\" Grubman said at the news conference originally called to showcase how the stadium was preparing for the Super Bowl. The snowstorm on Tuesday was a fortuitous coincidence for the cold-weather Super Bowl. MetLife spokeswoman Nicole Fountain said the stadium and its contractors had 1,300 workers removing the 13 inches of snow that fell in and around the stadium. The crews started removal at around 8 a.m. and had sections of the stadium and most of the tarp-covered field cleared by noon. During this past season, the crews removed six inches of wet, iced-packed snow in roughly 12 hours before a Seahawks-Giants game on Dec. 15, Ron VanDeVeen,, the stadiums senior vice-president of events said Wednesday.dddddddddddd The snow being removed Wednesday was not as heavy, he said. Grubman said the league is prepared to play the game even if there is still some snow in the stands. \"Games are played with snow all the time,\" he said. \"Its not just MetLife Stadium. I think the crowd will be an exceptional crowd and they will enjoy the game. I dont think they will be fazed by a little bit of snow on their seats, if thats what comes to pass. We aim to not have that happen, but if it happens, its sort of what happens in NFL stadiums all the time.\" Grubman also displayed warm welcome kits that fans will receive entering the stadium on game day. Cushions hold the kit items which included ear and hand muffs, mittens, a hat, neck warmers, lip balm and other items. \"The warm welcome kit was designed to make fans comfortable,\" he said, \"and to have those last-minute items that they may not think about.\" Grubman also advised fans to dress in layers for the game. He said there will be warming areas in the stadium should anyone need them. The storm that hit the area Tuesday stretched from Kentucky to New England. \"If you are going to have one, and you are going to have it 10 days out, were going to make use of it,\" Grubman said of the storm. \"The silver lining is we are running ourselves through a rigorous dress rehearsal.\" Grubman said the league was gathering information from law enforcement authorities about how the emergency conditions might have affected the game had it been played Tuesday. The two groups will go over the information soon. Whatever happens, the league is ready to deal with all scenarios, Grubman said. \"Some people will say perfection will be a nice little dusting of snow in the third quarter,\" Grubman said. \"Other people will say perfection will be 40 degrees in early February with the sun shining until sundown at 5:35 or 5:45 or 6:20 on Sunday, the second. \"I think it is really up to the individual.\" Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China ' ' '