Registrierung » nged starting QBs five times.Coach is tryin

TORONTO - Although no one cared to admit it, on either side, at the outset of the evening, Mondays divisional grudge match in Brooklyn meant more to the Raptors than the game that preceded it or the one to follow. The stakes were higher, the competition more fierce and the atmosphere was that of a playoff game - something the young, upstart Raptors have five weeks to better prepare themselves for or the result will be eerily similar. If they looked out of place in that environment, its probably because they were. Torontos starting five features a fifth-year star that has yet to make a playoff appearance. Theyre the only team currently in a playoff position that starts two sophomores and its been five years since either their point guard or power forward has experienced postseason basketball. Combined that lineup accounts for 24 games of postseason experience. Staring them down in the final minute of a one-possession, high stakes game was a Nets unit that has collectively participated in 268 playoff contests. Paul Pierce alone is responsible for 136 of them while Kevin Garnett and Andrei Kirilenko - both out with injuries - would have added another 176. The Nets took a five-point advantage into the fourth quarter and, for all their hardships this season, they had only lost one of 30 games in which they held the lead after 36 minutes. Thats the difference experience makes. The Raptors, despite a valiant effort, showed up to a knife fight armed with plastic forks. "This team here in Brooklyn is a championship-caliber team," Dwane Casey said following his teams 101-97 loss. "They know the plays to make to win games. Weve still got to learn that. Were on our way but we still have some learning to do." Although the Raptors remain the NBAs best fourth-quarter team, outscoring opponents by 158 points in the final frame this season, their late-game execution continues to be a work in progress. When ahead or behind by five points or less in the final three minutes, Toronto shoots 37 per cent, the ninth-lowest mark in the league. Theyre 15-18 in games that come down to that scenario. On Monday, Pierce hit what may have been the biggest shot of the night - a cold-blooded three to break a tie with just over a minute left and the shot clock ticking down - while the Raptors wilted in the moment. Down one, 30 seconds later, Toronto got the stop it needed, leading to a five-on-four break the other way. In the midst of a brilliant second half, Kyle Lowry found DeMar DeRozan in transition, believing he would continue to go hard to the bucket. Met by Pierce in the lane, DeRozan lateraled back to Lowry, who wasnt expecting the pass and turned down the shot. John Salmons, receiving the ball from Lowry, also hesitated on an open look from the elbow, which ultimately led to Terrence Ross fumbling the ball as he looked to salvage the broken play. It was a possession mired in indecision and it sealed Torontos fate. The Nets - 10-for-14 from three-point range after the first quarter - hit big shots and made winning plays. They looked like the desperate team, and rightfully so. Had they won, the Raptors would be sitting pretty in the Atlantic Division, five games up on Brooklyn with the season-series tiebreaker in hand. Instead, Brooklyn has pulled within three games of the division lead. "[The atmosphere] was definitely a notch higher because of what was at stake," DeRozan admitted after the game. "Theyre chasing us and were leading in the division. It was just a big game overall. Theyve been playing well, trying to make a playoff push and were trying to sustain our position so it definitely was a big game." While the loss stings, the Raptors are still in the drivers seat, controlling their own destiny with 20 games to go. "It was a disappointing loss in the fact that theyre a team thats battling us for the division," Casey said. "Theres still a lot of basketball left to play. Weve got to stay positive. Its not the end of the world. We werent going to go undefeated the rest of the way. We knew that." Should Toronto and Brooklyn share the same record atop the Atlantic when its all said and done, with the season series now even, the tiebreaker would go to the team with the most wins within the division. The Raptors are currently 8-3 with five games left to be played against Atlantic opponents while the Nets are 7-5 with four remaining. Each of those games could be crucial - including two meetings with New York in the final week of the season - for the Raptors who are hoping to win their second division title in franchise history. Sink or swim, that will be determined by what theyre able to take out of Mondays squandered opportunity. "Its a learning experience," DeRozan said. "It was a heck of a game that we can learn from and possibly could be a team we could see in the playoffs." Discount Nike NFL Jerseys . -- Green Bay wide receiver Greg Jennings will be on the sideline as the Packers make their push for a perfect regular season. Cheap Jerseys Online . Anything less than gold for either nation is considered a disappointment. Yet for Switzerland, advancing to the semifinal might be a victory in itself. http://www.jerseyscheapsale.com/. Inter moved five points behind fourth-place Fiorentina and eight points behind third-place Napoli, which visits relegation-threatened Sassuolo on Sunday. Wholesale Jerseys China . Dallas (2-0-1) sits atop the Western Conference with an MLS-best seven points. Castillo opened the scoring in the 71st minute off a Mauro Diaz set piece, and Watson outran defender Tony Lochhead on a long ball and then juked goalkeeper Ian Kennedy for the eventual game-winner in the 78th minute. NFL Jerseys Sale . This has become the Raptors mantra as they embark on a new era with a new regime and, in the not-so-distant future, a new image.ASHBURN, Va. - Chris Cooley has been all about the Washington Redskins and no other team in his NFL life. He played nine seasons, went to a couple of Pro Bowls, made his home in the D.C. area and now breaks down game film on the team-affiliated radio station.And hes doing it during a historically bad time for the once-proud franchise.I hate my role right now, because of that, Cooley said. I want to be honest with our fans, and I dont want to be negative towards our players or coaches or ownership, but I have a hard time being anything besides being honest. It would be so much fun if they would win. Its not fun. Its frustrating.The Redskins (3-11) are lousy. No other way to say it. Theyve lost 19 of 22 games, a run of futility unmatched in team lore since the early 1960s. They ended last year with an eight-game losing streak and are on pace to do the same this year. Back-to-back 3-13 seasons would compare only to the 1960-61 years, when they went 1-9-2 and 1-12-1.In January 2010, not long after Bruce Allen was hired as general manager, he said: The status quo has to end. We have to change the way weve been doing some business. ... Last place two years in a row is not Redskins football.Apparently, it is. Under Allen, the Redskins claimed the cellar of the NFC East in the 2010 and 2011 seasons, and again in 2013 and 2014. Their last-place slot this year was secured with Sundays loss to the New York Giants.When Dan Snyder first emerged as a potential buyer for the team in 1999, he told The Washington Post: I miss winning. It was a fair assessment from a lifelong fan because there had been some lean years since the last of the three Super Bowl trophies was won in the early 1990s.Snyder bought the team later that year. Hes since overseen eight last-place finishes and a 107-147 record, tied for the fifth worst record in the NFL during that span. It would be fair to conclude that he still misses winning.Some fans, at least the ones who still come to the games, are starting to wear bags on their heads, and they are quick to point out that Snyder is the one constant amid all the losing. There have been isolated moments of success in the last decade — playoffs in 20055, 2007 and 2012 — but expectations arent what they used to be.ddddddddddddI think this fan base would be fine with a competitive 7-9, 8-8 team, Cooley said. My first couple of years here, it was always like 10, 11. Now its Aw, we can win seven or eight.The cumulative effect has worn on the usually even-keeled Santana Moss, the teams longest tenured player. Moss was ejected from Sundays game when he argued a decision that overturned a touchdown after a replay review. His tirade represented a decade of going-nowhere frustration.It feels like every time we do something good, something bad comes out of it, and its only been happening to us, Moss said after the game. Its been 10 years of this, so I just got carried away.Moss cited entitlement and inconsistency as two persistent Redskins themes. He said hes seen too many teammates over the years that played ahead of others who probably were more worthy — a comment that reinforces the Redskins-Snyder reputation of coddling to marquee names.Moss has played for four coaches since he arrived in 2005, and with 10 starting quarterbacks. This year, first-year coach Jay Gruden has changed starting QBs five times.Coach is trying to win, but it hurts when you dont have a solid guy, and Ive been through that all my career, Moss said. Whenever you have to have that many changes, regardless of what youre trying to do and what you have out there, theres always going to be a hiccup, theres always going to be a crutch because you cant be successful with that many changes all the time.Cooley said the culture of change has to, well, change.One thing that I think would be great moving forward is just at least for the team to believe in what we have, to have consistently and continuity, and give fans pieces that they can know will be here, and coaches that they know will be here, Cooley said. And get away from this idea that were going to fire a guy after one year, or trade a guy or cut a guy after one year, and start building from what we are — which is one of the worst teams in the league.___AP NFL websites: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL___Follow Joseph White on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP ' ' '