ATLANTA - With an ice pack wrapped around his injured lower back, a frustrated Jonas Valanciunas spoke to the media having just watched his teams second straight loss from the visitors locker room, unable to influence the final result. James Ihedigbo Jersey . After missing 20 games as a rookie a year ago, Valanciunas - like the Raptors as a whole - has been fortunate to be in good health this season. As he spoke about it, the Raptors sophomore centre scanned the room for wood to knock on. "It is disappointing because we lost today so thats the worst part of the day," said Valanciunas, who left Tuesdays game with a lower-back sprain in the third quarter, missing the rest of Torontos 118-113 overtime defeat at the hands of the Hawks. "Everyone wants to win and do something to help us win but I couldnt do anything sitting back here." With Valanciunas unavailable and Patrick Patterson missing his sixth straight game with an elbow injury, the Raptors found themselves as far outside their comfort zone as theyve been in months. Dwane Casey was forced to mix and match several different combinations of Amir Johnson, Chuck Hayes, Steve Novak and Tyler Hansbrough in the frontcourt while cycling through various unorthodox lineups to spark an underperforming second unit. All the while, Atlanta - winners of five straight after losing 14 of 15 - did them no favours. Following Sundays loss to the Suns, Casey was confident his team would not have to face the level of speed and quickness they saw that afternoon. Two days later, Jeff Teague had something to say about that. "He lived in the paint tonight," Kyle Lowry said of Teague, who matched his career-high with 34 points, hitting 11 of his 18 shots, all but six of them taken in the paint. "He got layups and free throws. You have a quick guy like that its hard for the bigs to try and help me and its hard for me to try to figure out where hes going. We tried to change our coverage a little and it worked but he lived in the paint too much tonight." "Its my fault," Lowry said, taking responsibility for his counterpart. But it wasnt, not entirely. "Its a speed league," he acknowledged. Its not the Raptors strength but theres too many up-tempo teams, too many quick players to allow it to be such a glaring weakness. Like Phoenix on the weekend, the Hawks burnt Toronto with speed, playing at a pace that the Raptors could not catch up with, especially with two key defensive players out of the lineup. Toronto tried blitzing Teague, they tried trapping him and switching and pick and rolls. More often than not the Hawks point guard blew by the coverage. He ran an effective two-man game with all-star Paul Millsap - who recorded his first career triple-double - and found open shooters. The Hawks hit 11 three-pointers, their seventh straight game with 10 or more. "We were trying to take away their threes," said DeMar DeRozan, who had 29 points to go along with 10 rebounds and six assists. "We did a good job to start out the game but we got out of place, missed some rotations and they started knocking down threes. They got confident with it and they kept knocking them down." "They make you change your coverages a little bit with the way they space the floor," added Lowry after a 20-point, nine-assist night. "But we had a decent chance to win that game." Late-game execution failed the Raptors - now 1-5 in overtime this season - once again. They turned the ball over eight times in the fourth quarter and overtime, also committing 16 fouls and giving up seven offensive rebounds. "I just thought we were casual with the basketball," said Casey, his team dropping back-to-back games for the first time since the West Coast trip in early February. "[We] had a lot of opportunities to attack and were casual and soft with our passes and they took advantage of it." The Raptors got off to a strong start, holding Atlanta to 17 points on 25 per cent shooting, including 2-for-9 from long distance in the first quarter. The momentum turned immediately as the second quarter began and the Raptors depleted bench came into the game. Without Patterson, Torontos second unit - outscored 59-11 on Sunday and 20-11 in the first half Tuesday - lacks spacing and movement on the offensive end and foot speed defensively. Then, late in the third quarter, the Raptors lost Valanciunas. The seven-footer felt his back tighten up as he turned to set a screen. "I stopped and hyperextended my back," he said. "I cant tell much about it. I just felt pain and that was it." Valanciunas, who hasnt dealt with back issues in the past, wanted to continue playing but the teams medical staff pulled him prior to the fourth quarter. For the third straight game the sophomore centre got off to a hot start, scoring 11 points and grabbing four boards in the opening frame. "I thought he had something good going, a match inside," Casey said. "He was attacking the rim, attacking the basket, he was giving us some rim protection and rebounding." Valanciunas will be re-evaluated in New Orleans ahead of Wednesdays game against the Pelicans. Riley Reiff Youth Jersey . -- Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin will have minor shoulder surgery soon to address a nagging injury he played with last season. Bill Bentley Youth Jersey . Kane returned to score a goal and added an assist, leading the Winnipeg Jets to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night.Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman is among a group of NHL GMs and executives who believe the time has come for the league and Players Association to take a more aggressive path towards eliminating fighting. "Yes, I believe a player should get a game misconduct for fighting," Yzerman told The Dreger Report. "We penalize and suspend players for making contact with the head while checking, in an effort to reduce head injuries, yet we still allow fighting. "Were stuck in the middle and need to decide what kind of sport do we want to be. Either anything goes and we accept the consequences, or take the next step and eliminate fighting." Yzermans comments carry significant weight, given his Hall of Fame playing career and years of playing alongside legendary tough guys in Detroit such as Darren McCarty, Joe Kocur and the late Bob Probert. When asked if the league and players should stop trying to make fighting safer and focus on banning fighting in general instead, Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford said, "Weve got to get rid of fighting, it has to go." Rutherford said he would support an open and full discussion on additional penalties such as a game misconduct for fighting - with a significant suspension for any player, for example, who fights multiple times in a season. Pittsburghs Ray Shero has been a strong advocate in the leagues crackdown on checking to the head. He believes that the NHL has a responsibility to consider a ban on fighting and not just simply raise the discussion when an isolated incident happens. "It wont happen overnight, but we need to be leaders, not followers in this area," he explained. "I respect other GMs and their views, but we need to look at this and not just when an incident like last night (Parros) happens." After reading the quotes from these three NHL executives, it didnt take long for one of the games most celebrated builders to chime in as well. "I support views of Steve Yzerman, Ray Shero and Jim Rutherford on their opinions for addressing most fighting issues," tweeted the legendary Scotty Bowman on Wednesday afternoon. "Poll all Players." Bowman would express further concern to TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun on ESPN. Pat Edwards Womens Jersey. com Wednesday, saying "Its a pretty complex issue. But with the emphasis on hits to the head, and the seriousness of concussions, if you look at fighting, its mostly hits to the head. Its something that has to be looked at." The NHLs executive vice-president and director of hockey operations Colin Campbell, however, told LeBrun that change might not come as easily as other executives might hope. "We are constantly in touch with our various constituents, including our players and our fans, on all issues pertaining to the game on the ice," Campbell told ESPN.com. "At the current time, there is not an appetite to change the rules with respect to fighting." "That said," Campbell continued, "we intend to continue to review all aspects of our game, with a focus on making it as safe as it can be for our players." This latest debate has been brought to the forefront in the aftermath of the fight between Montreal Canadiens forward George Parros and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Colton Orr on Tuesday night. Orr, losing his balance in the middle of the scrap, grabbed hold of Parros on his way down. Orrs fall brought Parros down to the ice face-first, knocking him unconscious and forcing him to be stretchered off the ice. Parros has since been released from a Montreal hospital and was diagnosed with a concussion. Thats positive news, given the state that the hulking Canadiens enforcer appeared to be in after the fight. Its unclear as to how the NHL will tackle this issue, if at all. However, moreso than ever before, NHL decision makers seem concerned enough to initiate discussions at their November meeting. Its unlikely the NHLPA will endorse any radical change given the impact of such a move on the role of the enforcer. Ninety-eight per cent of NHL players polled in 2011-2012 were in favour of keeping fighting in the game and while theres no immediate plan to conduct a new players survey, the overwhelming support to leave things as they are may not change. And while sensitive to Parros injury, Flyers forward Vincent Lecavalier said Wednesday that if he was asked to vote again, he would vote the same way and believes fighting still has its place. wholesale nfl jerseys ' ' '
