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FIVE QUICK NBA THOUGHTS: 1. RAPTORS STRUGGLING: The bottom line is the true test in sports isnt just how you handle failure, but how you handle success. This team has gotten off track from the formula that it was using beautifully of late. The games against the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Mondays loss to the Charlotte Bobcats all had major stretches where this team looked like they acted as if they had already "arrived" and didnt have to do the dirty work anymore and just wanted to win pretty instead of grinding it out and laying it on the line with great effort and passion. I felt bad for coach Dwane Casey in Charlotte. Its a helpless feeling as a coach when you have a team that thinks that they can beat folks with talent and not have to do the work to win. He was scrambling, trying to mix and match combinations and burn timeouts to give wake up calls, yet in the end, a terrific desperate effort came up short. As you can tell, I havent even mentioned Xs and Os once and dont have to or plan to - thats not the issue here, nor is it talent. To sum it up, winning is really, really, really hard to do, but losing is really easy. Youre a 20-20 club. Do you want to be mediocre or average or do you want to accomplish something? Its gut-check time and theres a very simple solution to the problem: Respect your opponent, have top-notch attention to detail, compete with great passion and stay committed to the team concept. You do that and youll be fine. If you dont, there will be changes. The trade deadline is 30 days away. You dont want to get stuck in no mans land. You gave away three games in the past six days to teams that are banged up with slightly inferior talent levels and you have to wonder about the direction you want to take this. I love what general manager Masai Ujiri has done with this whole thing, being patient with the process. Its all on the players now. Its time to produce and, more importantly, learn from this experience and, if you do have success again, dont let these things happen again. You cant stay like this - either cross the line and be a consistently good team with great habits or make changes. The clock is ticking now. 2. HERE THEY COME: Hearing footsteps yet? Im sure youve all noticed that the Atlanta Hawks have gotten the third seed back in its possession and the Brooklyn Nets are now breathing right down the Raptors backs with Deron Williams back in the line-up, as well as a huge game on Monday between the Raptors and Nets in Brooklyn coming up. And dont sleep on the Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls, either. Theyre both 20-20 and not going away. The Raptors had a chance to make hay against weak competition and didnt do it. Things get tougher and tougher now. Can they still win the Atlantic? Sure. Can they get the #3 seed? Sure. If, and its a big if, they play the way theyre capable of playing. Excellence is a habit, not an act. This is a nice test coming up and well all find out in the next few weeks what theyre all about. I think they can do it. Its a good group of guys with enough talent that get more than a good share of the coaching and leadership they need to be successful. Theyve now put themselves into a "backs are against the wall" scenario and maybe thats what this team needs and I cant wait to find out. The middle part of the schedule is when the distancing starts to happen. Who will fight and contend and who will fade away and make plans for golf and the beach for mid-April? The Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat already know what their spring plans are, but the rest of the East is in complete flux. It is all starting to take shape now and the competition is on. 3. NICK YOUNG (Lakers): This guy can flat out score. He torched the Raptors on Sunday with some ridiculous shots and then drops 31 against a terrific Bulls defence on Monday. Hes one of those guys that will always have a job because its hard to find guys who can heat up like him and bring you back into a game. His defence and maturity are areas you wonder about sometimes, but he is a talented guy who has some high octane ability. He creates his own shot quite well and shoots it from distance effectively. Hes able to get to the foul line and has good creativity with his ball skills. He seems to wear out his welcome eventually, but while you have him, he gets you the numbers, thats for sure. 4. RICKY RUBIO (Timberwolves): Hes an exceptional defender and a wonderfully entertaining and creative passer and playmaker. With that said, for his game to truly get to the next level, he has to become a guy who is a consistent long range shooting threat in order to open up his impact in the screen and roll game and space the defence out, because youve got to come out and guard him rather than sag off him. Hes a point guard who can make all the plays with amazing vision and reflexes, yet for him to reach that upper tier, he needs to get his shot mechanics in order. He has great work habits, so Im sure hell pay the price. If he gets that together, he can make that next step. 5. JOAKIM NOAH (Bulls): You gotta love this guy. Hes already had three 20 and 15 games this season and had 17 and 21 against the Lakers last night in an OT win. Since the Bulls traded Luol Deng, hes been on a mission and hes playing angry and with amazing energy. Hes a winner in every sense and doesnt get enough credit for this, but hes a really good passer. Hes a smart player who makes the right play next in your offensive sequence. Hes got a bigger piece of the puzzle in the Bulls scheme now with Deng in Cleveland and hes responding. Noah is not a bad guy to bank on. And, by the way, Im happy for former Raptor DJ Augustin. Hes found a home with this Bulls team and playing pretty well. Hes a good guy who has the talent to help you win.Im glad its worked out for him. Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys For Sale . The team also announced Tuesday that the Braves will wear a commemorative patch on the right sleeve during the season. The patch, shaped like home plate, carries the number 715, Aarons autograph and a "40th Anniversary" banner. Clearance Nike NFL Jerseys .Gasol had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and the Bulls beat the winless Orlando Magic 98-90 on Tuesday night.Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with 21 points and Taj Gibson added 16 for Chicago, which finally pulled away in the final minutes of a game that was tied after three quarters. http://www.salejerseysnfl.com/. With Washington teammate Nene drawing double-teams coming off his big game against the Lakers, Gortat scored 25 points on 11-of-12 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Wizards to a 100-92 win in overtime over Milwaukee on Wednesday night. Wholesale NFL Jerseys China . The New York State Supreme Court only partially dismissed the lawsuit, meaning the case could be headed for trial. The tour announced a year ago that Singh would be suspended for saying in a Sports Illustrated story that he took deer antler spray, which was believed to contain the banned substance IGF-1. Stitched NFL Jerseys . Still, Inter moved one point ahead of Parma in the race for fifth place and the final Europa League spot. Udinese remained 14th, 11 points above the relegation zone. Inter was beaten 2-1 by Atalanta at home on Sunday and has won only seven of 16 matches at the San Siro this season, as the squad seems to still be searching for its identity under new owner Erick Thohir and first-year manager Walter Mazzarri. CALGARY -- Sean Monahan scores. Calgary Flames win. Repeat. In whats quickly becoming a familiar script, the 18-year-old rookie sensation was at it again Friday night scoring the game-winner with 2:43 left in the third period to lead Calgary to a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils. The sixth overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft, Monahan has had a dream start to his pro career with goals in four straight games. "Thats the biggest one yet," said Monahan, who turns 19 on Saturday. "It won us the game there and thats huge. We want to win as many games as we can right now, we want to have a good start and thats really big for our team right now." Monahan also has a five-game points streak (four goals, two assists), which is the longest for a Flames rookie since 31-year-old Sergei Makarov had points in seven straight games to begin his NHL career in 1989-90, which was before the league re-wrote the rules around rookie eligibility. "Ive got to give a lot of credit to my linemates and the players Im playing with," said Monahan, who is still eligible to return to OHLs Ottawa 67s although the likeliness of that happening seems to decrease with every passing game. "Theyre making it easy on me, putting the pucks right on my tape and in good position and fortunately enough, Im putting them in the back of the net." The game-winner was a prime example of that. Sven Baertschi made a hit along the side boards, grabbed the loose puck and zipped a perfect pass to Monahan, who steered it behind Marty Brodeur. The 41-year-old Devils goaltender already had 29 NHL wins when Monahan was born. "As soon as I got the puck, I was looking towards the net. I saw Jiri (Hudler) but then I saw (Monahan) back door," said Baertschi. "We were just looking at each other and I was like OK, theres only one thing I have to do, get that puck right to him and there was only one stick in the way, so I passed it as hard as I could." It is the first time since the Flames moved to Calgary in 1980 that the team has taken at least one point in each of its first five games. "We feel good but there are no stats right now that allows us to sit on those five games. We have 82 to play. There is still lots of hockey to be played," said Flames coach Bob Hartley. Dennis Wideman and Mark Giordano also scored for Calgary (3-0-2). Hudler had two assists to extend his points streak to five games. The Flames now depart on a five-game road trip that begins Wednesday in Anaheim. "We have to have a big road trip. Were playing some of the bbest teams in the league," said Giordano.dddddddddddd "Youre not going to beat those teams if you dont play the right way. Were looking forward to it but weve got to bring the juice." Adam Henrique and Dainius Zubrus scored for New Jersey (0-2-3). The Devils are 0-1-2 with two stops to go on their five-game road trip. They visit Winnipeg on Sunday. On the heels of a stretch that included two shootout losses and an overtime loss, it was another tough defeat. "Obviously we want to get wins and were not getting them, but the last thing we need to do is really get frustrated or over-analyze it," said Devils captain Bryce Salvador. Jaromir Jagr said they just have to keep their chins up and keep going. "We just made some mistakes and it cost us," said Jagr. "We had the lead every game except the first game against the Penguins. Weve got to learn to play with the lead." New Jersey poured on the pressure in one stretch in the third when the game was tied 2-2. But despite Joey MacDonald losing his stick, the Devils were unable to score with Flames bodies diving in front of shots all over. "We had it for a minute and a half but they were able to block everything," said Jagr. Despite his frustration, Jagr still managed to mix in some humour as he reflected on the chances that got away in that one frenzied scramble. "Theyre smart, huh. Theyre tired so they laid down," Jagr said. "Everybody does it, so do you. When youre tired, you go sleep. They went down but we couldnt lift the puck up. We had so many chances." Already ahead 2-1 late in the second period, New Jersey appeared to have scored again when Ryan Clowes slapshot off the wing bounced up in the air off MacDonald and into the net. However, the goal was waved off and Devils winger Michael Ryder, who had gone hard to the net for the rebound, was sent off for goalie interference. Calgary had its best prolonged pressure of the game on the ensuing power play, controlling the puck in the Devils zone for the entire man advantage. After several close changes, Giordano eventually poked a backhand into the net to tie it 2-2. Notes: Calgarys Lee Stempniak had his four-game points streaks snapped. ... David Jones (upper body) did not play. He has been placed on injured reserve and is considered week-to-week. Tim Jackman made his season debut in his place. ... Monahan turns 19 on Saturday. ... New Jerseys Jacob Josefson made his season debut after being a healthy scratch the first four games. He was inserted for Andrei Loktionov. ' ' '