Raptors work their magic on Wizards, setting franchise record with 140 points - Toronto Sun | Canada News Media
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Raptors work their magic on Wizards, setting franchise record with 140 points – Toronto Sun

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It was a tough call post- game.

What was more warm and fuzzy? The feeling the Raptors had blowing away the Washington Wizards? Or the camouflage Canada Goose jackets waiting at every locker as the team heads to snow-locked Minnesota.

We’ll go with the new coats only because those can last. There’s little chance the Raptors run into another defence as indifferent as the Wizards … at least until they face them later in the year.

Washington’s defensive intensity was non-existent in this one and, combined with the Raptors ratcheting up their own turnover game, creating 28 Washington giveaways, resulted in the lopsided 140-111 win that transpired.

Not surprisingly, those 140 points tied the franchise record for most in any game but set the mark for the most in reguation time.

The only other time a Raptors squad scored 140 on an opponent was last season in a double-overtime win over this same Wizards franchise.

It was the type of game where you could make a case for just about any Raptor as player of the game as seven found their way to double-digit scoring totals.

Norm Powell had his third consecutive game of 20 or more points since returning from an 11-game injury absence. He had 28 in just less than 30 minutes for the game high.

Marc Gasol, himself just back in his second game since a 12-game absence had a season-best 20 points, including a career-high six three pointers in seven attempts.

According to head coach Nick Nurse, Gasol put a lot of time in working on his shot while he was nursing his hamstring injury.

“Marc went to work on his shooting mechanics and stuff while he was out,” Nurse said. “He did a lot of standstill, form shooting, but he did go to work on it, spent a lot of time doing it. It was an opportunity for him to try to do that with all time off, so give him credit. He’s reaping some of the rewards of that, I think.”
Gasol wasn’t much more forthcoming about the changes he made. He did suggest that looking at the basket played into it, but it was hard to tell if he was kidding.

Regardless, through two games since his return, Gasol is 9-for-11 from behind the arc and, if he sustains that, they will be putting him into the Basketball Hall of Fame at the end of the season whether he’s retired or not.

Powell, who had a shoulder injury keeping him out, couldn’t work on that, but he has a bounce in his step right now that is going to make him a regular on the nightly highlight reel until he stops feeling as fresh as he looks.

Meanwhile, OG Anunoby put together another contender for his best game of the year, holding Bradley Beal to just 14 points while scoring 18 of his own. After a bit of a dry spell from three, Anunoby is 5-for-12 in the past two games.

The game marked the official halfway point of the season for the Raptors who are only two games worse this year than they were a year ago when they were on their way to a championship.

“Do we know who we are?” Nurse said pre-game, taking over the question-asking for the assembled media. “Yeah, I think so. I think we’ve got a good team out there, man. We’ve got some guys who play to win and have some experience. If we can continue to be versatile, we’ll continue to improve and keep heading in this direction a little bit.”
Nurse said he’d like to use the remaining 41 games to work on that versatility.

For the second game in a row, he started a huge lineup with Kyle Lowry and four bigs around him. He liked the fact that they proved in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night that they can get back and set up defensively against a smaller and faster lineup. They did it a again against Washington, leading Nurse to hint that he may just stick with this starting lineup for a while longer.

But taking anything away from Friday night’s rout against an injury-ravaged Wizards team that doesn’t play defence would be foolhardy.

The Raptors right now just need to worry about themselves and staying consistent.

There’s not much in the way of elite-level competition on the schedule coming up, but there’s still plenty to work on.

“Being versatile, mixing lineups — small and big — continuing to develop some confidence in some of our younger guys, possibly trying to control minutes a little bit more here as we go. I wouldn’t say quite yet but maybe the last third or quarter of the season,” Nurse said of his plan for the remaining schedule.

“I think if we’re healthy now we’re able to do that (control minutes) in a matter that we can live with and get everybody not pushing up towards 40 (minutes), more like pushing down towards 30 (minutes)for most of the guys, with the odd game here and there depending on how the game’s going. And then lots of tweaking.”

It all continues tonight in Minnesota.

mganter@postmedia.com

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Ravens win fifth straight game by beating Bucs 41-31

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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Lamar Jackson threw for 281 yards and five touchdowns, helping the Baltimore Ravens overcome an early double-digit deficit and extend their National Football League winning streak to five games with a 41-31 victory Monday night over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who lost their top two receivers to injuries.

The two-time NFL MVP improved to 23-1 against NFC teams, the best mark by a quarterback against an opposing conference in NFL history. He’s 3-0 against the Bucs (4-3), who faded after taking a 10-0 lead with help from the 100th TD reception of Mike Evans’ career.

Evans departed with a hamstring injury after Baker Mayfield tried to connect with him in the end zone again, and late in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach, leading Bucs receiver Chris Godwin was carted off the field with a left ankle injury. ESPN declined to show replays of Godwin’s injury, which appeared to be severe.

Jackson completed 17 of 22 passes without an interception, including TD throws of nine and four yards to Mark Andrews. He also tossed scoring passes of 49 yards to Rashod Bateman, 18 yards to Justice Hill and 11 yards to Derrick Henry, who rushed for 169 yards on 15 carries. Bateman had four catches for 121 yards.

The Ravens (5-2) rebounded from a slow start on defence, with cornerback Marlon Humphrey turning the game around with a pair of second-quarter interceptions — one of them in the Baltimore end zone. Jackson led a four-play, 80-yard TD drive after the first pick, and the second interception set up Justin Tucker’s 28-yard field goal for a 17-10 halftime lead.

Elsewhere in the NFL:

CARDINALS 17 CHARGERS 15

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Kyler Murray ran for a 44-yard touchdown and led the Cardinals on a drive that set up Chad Ryland’s 32-yard field goal as time expired, and Arizona rallied for a win over Los Angeles.

Cameron Dicker kicked his fifth field goal of the night — this one from 40 yards — to give the Chargers a 15-14 lead with 1:54 left. But the Cardinals (3-4) quickly moved into field goal range, aided by an unnecessary roughness call on Cam Hart that cost Los Angeles (3-3) 15 yards.

Arizona followed that with a bruising 33-yard run by James Conner, who finished with 101 yards on the ground. That eventually set up Ryland’s short field goal and a Cardinals celebration.

It was a frustrating night for the Chargers’ offence, which gained 395 yards but couldn’t find the end zone. Justin Herbert completed 27 of 39 passes for 349 yards.

Dicker booted field goals of 59, 50, 28, 47 and 40 yards, the first of which tied a franchise record for distance.

Murray ran for a spectacular touchdown early in the fourth quarter, rolling to his left before turning on the jets, beating safety Junior Colston to the sideline and then coasting into the end zone for a 14-9 lead.

It was Murray’s second long touchdown run in three weeks after he scored on a 50-yard sprint against San Francisco. It was also Murray’s 20th career game with a touchdown pass and run.

Murray completed 14 of 26 passes for 145 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Struggling Whitecaps, Timbers set to meet in MLS wild-card matchup

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VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps have been here before — literally and figuratively.

With the season hanging in the balance, the ‘Caps were dealt a blow last week when the club learned it wouldn’t be able to play a post-season wild-card game in its home stadium, B.C. Place, due to a scheduling conflict.

The Whitecaps ceded home field advantage to their regional rival, the Portland Timbers. The two clubs will battle for the final playoff spot in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference in Oregon on Wednesday.

The winner will face No. 1-seed Los Angeles FC in a best-of-three first-round series, starting Sunday.

An unforeseen hurdle like a change of venues is nothing new for the ‘Caps, said defender Ranko Veselinovic, who was part of the team that was forced to relocate first to Portland, then Utah during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It feels that always something happens for us, but it is what it is. So far, we’ve managed to always find solutions for those situations,” said the Serbian centre back. “But I hope this team can find it one more time, because we need it this time. And it will be a really nice feeling in those circumstances to go in, win and go face L.A. in the next round.”

Vancouver (13-13-8) heads into the post-season winless in its last seven MLS games and with losses in four straight after dropping a 2-1 road decision to Real Salt Lake on Saturday.

The skid followed a run that saw the club go 4-1-3 across all competitions between late August and late September.

There’s just one way to return to that level, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini.

“The work is the only way to do it. Try to put the work in and try to put the team in a way that they’re going to regain the form and the way that they were in the past,” he said.

Despite the final score, Sartini has seen positives in the way his team played in its two most recent losses.

“I think already we turned the corner,” he said. “And we start from there to build and build and build.”

Facing challenges together can help a team build, whether it’s a winless skid or an unexpected hurdle, said Vancouver’s captain Ryan Gauld.

“When you’re going through adversity, that’s when people start to raise their voice a little bit. You get good when the problems arise, you get a lot of people coming together to make sure we get out of it,” said the Scottish attacking midfielder.

“And we’ve had a tough time the last few games, but everyone’s aware of the fact that we’re a much better team than we’ve shown, and we need to find a way to get back to doing what we’re good at.”

The ‘Caps face a familiar foe in the Timbers (12-11-11).

The two sides have already met three times this season, with each coming out of the series with a win, a loss and a draw.

Portland has also struggled in recent weeks and are winless in their last five MLS outings (0-1-4).

The Timbers boast one of the league’s top offensive units, though, with threats such as Evander. The Brazilian midfielder notched 15 goals and 19 assists during the regular season.

To earn a win on Wednesday, the Whitecaps must be solid defensively, Gauld said.

“They must be one of the best attacks in the league. They have a lot of good players, and they can hurt you if you switch off,” he said. “So just being concentrated from the first whistle, and just being hard to beat, being stuffy. Just being on it for the full 90 minutes.”

A victory in the wild-card match would guarantee Vancouver at least one home playoff game, a factor that Sartini said would be a big reward for his group.

The entire team relished the experience of playing post-season soccer in front of more than 30,000 fans last year, the coach said, and the desire to repeat the feat is high as the club heads to Portland.

“Everyone is happy to be in the playoffs. So we don’t have to be moody to be in the playoff. And we go in there, we’re play one of our rivals. So it’s gonna be a nice game to show up and to play our best game possible.”

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS (13-13-8) AT PORTLAND TIMBERS (12-11-11)

Wednesday, Providence Park

HISTORY BOOKS: This will mark the seventh all-time post-season meeting between the Timbers and ‘Caps, dating back to 1975. The last time the two clubs squared off in a playoff game was during the Western Conference semifinal in 2015. Portland won the two-game aggregate series and went on to hoist the MLS Cup.

ROAD WARRIORS: The ‘Caps boasted a 7-6-4 record on the road during regular-season play — better than the 6-7-4 showing they posted at B.C. Place.

POST-SEASON PARTY: Wednesday will mark the first time the Timbers have hosted a post-season game since 2021.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.

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No rugby, field hockey, badminton, triathlon or cricket at leaner 2026 Commonwealth Games

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GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Scotland conceived rugby sevens in the 1880s yet it will not feature in the scaled-back 2026 Commonwealth Games hosted by Glasgow.

Other sports that have also been dropped include field hockey, triathlon, badminton, Twenty20 cricket, squash, and diving.

The Games will have a 10-sport program in four venues. Athletics and swimming are compulsory while there will also be track cycling, gymnastics, netball, weightlifting, boxing, judo, bowls and 3×3 basketball.

There will also be integrated para events in six of those sports: Athletics, swimming, track cycling, weightlifting, bowls and basketball.

The Games will take place from July 23-Aug. 2 after Glasgow stepped in when the Australian state of Victoria withdrew last year because of rising costs.

It was not easy to decide which sports to include, Commonwealth Games Scotland chairman Ian Reid told the BBC on Tuesday.

“I think everybody recognises that these events need to be more affordable, lighter and we would have loved to have all of our sports and all of our athletes competing but unfortunately it’s just not deliverable or affordable for this time frame,” Reid said.

Athletes and support staff will be housed in hotels. Around 3,000 athletes are expected to compete from up to 74 Commonwealth nations and territories representing a combined total of 2.5 billion people, a third of the world’s entire population.

More than 500,000 tickets made available for spectators.

The Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive Katie Sadleir said: “The 2026 Games will be a bridge to the Commonwealth Games of tomorrow, an exciting first step in our journey to reset and redefine the Games as a truly collaborative, flexible and sustainable model for the future that minimises costs, reduces the environmental footprint, and enhances social impact. In doing so, increasing the scope of countries capable of hosting.”

Glasgow hosted the event in 2014 at a cost of more than 540 million pounds.

___

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