TORONTO - The Toronto Raptors are back home after a five-game western swing and will entertain the New Orleans Pelicans tonight at Air Canada Centre. Mark Sanchez Jersey . You can see all the action on TSN beginning at 7pm et/4pm pt. The Raptors went 2-3 on their western jaunt and will play eight of the next 10 games at home, where they are 7-1 since Jan. 1. Toronto has a 12-10 home record this season. The trip concluded with Fridays 118-105 setback against the Los Angeles Clippers, as DeMar DeRozan ended with 36 points and eight assists, and Kyle Lowry finished with 19 points. DeRozan tried closing the gap for the Raptors, but the Clippers were able to pull away for the win. "We got it down to nine points," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "We had to attack but we struggled making shots." DeRozan averaged 28.3 points per game on the trip, while Lowry posted an average of 15.6 points and 5.6 assists over the previous five games. Defense has been key for the Atlantic Division-leading Raptors, as they are fifth in the NBA in points allowed (97.1) and ninth in opponent field goal percentage (.446). They have won six straight games when allowing less than 100 points and are 22-6 when the opposition scores less than 100 points. New Orleans opened a three-game road trip with Sundays 93-81 loss at Brooklyn and entered the game having won two straight and six of eight. Anthony Davis led the Pelicans with 24 points and nine rebounds, while Brian Roberts and Austin Rivers scored 12 and 10 points, respectively. The Pelicans shot just 36.1 percent for the game and made 6-of-18 3-pointers. "We just didnt play well tonight," said Davis, who has scored 20-plus points in three straight and six of seven games. "We know it, the coaches know it, everybody knows it." New Orleans has lost two in a row on the road, has a 9-16 record away from the Big Easy and will close the trip Wednesday at Milwaukee. The Pelicans and Raptors are meeting for the first time since Toronto took both matchups a season ago. The Raptors have prevailed in six of the last seven encounters with New Orleans and are unbeaten in the past three showdowns at Air Canada Centre. Earl Wolff Jersey . - The Chicago Cubs say they have agreed to one-year contracts with pitchers Jason Hammel and James McDonald. Cary Williams Jersey . Baumann misjudged a long ball from Milan Badelj and failed to clear after emerging outside the penalty area, allowing Maximilian Beister to open the scoring in the 37th minute.BETHESDA, Md. -- Theres at least one notable absence from the players lining up to throw a ticker-tape parade for Rory McIlroy. "They dont give trophies away," Lee Westwood said brusquely, "on Fridays and Saturdays." Its too bad the 38-year-old Englishman and 22-year-old Northern Irishman wont be paired together for the final lap of the U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club. Golf etiquette would have required that they behave like chums, or at least do their best to make it look that way -- exchanging plenty of "well played," "nice shot," great putt" and all that. They were Ryder Cup teammates just last October, after all, theyre practically countrymen and they share an agent. But theyre more rivals than theyre ever likely to be friends. The praise for McIlroy has been nonstop this week, and with good reason. More than a few competitors had already conceded they were playing for second, and after McIlroy strolled off the course Saturday evening with an eight-shot lead over his closest pursuer, Y.E. Yang, that sentiment was all but etched on the U.S. Open trophy. Yang, who played with McIlroy in the last group Saturday, will get a second shot at him Sunday. But judging by his first go-round -- when McIlroy missed almost as many fairways and greens as he had in the first two rounds combined and still beat Yang by two strokes, 68-70 -- hes not likely to make the kid sweat. Westwood, on the other hand, still might. Hell go off alongside Jason Day, whos also 5-under, in the next-to-last group and almost no one has been hotter lately. Westwood has two wins and a loss in a playoff in his last four tournaments and after a slow- starting 75 here, shot 68 and 65 in his last two rounds. "I set a target on Friday night. Thats all you can do when youre chasing a big lead," he said. "I said maybe if I can get to 10 under at the weekend, but you dont know how Rory is going to do. You dont know how hes going to deal with the big lead. He had a big lead in a major and didnt deal with it well before. Theres pressure on him with regards to that. "So," he said finally, "well see.&" That may not sound harsh, but Westwood has launched golfs version of a beanball war. Zach Ertz Jersey. The references about McIlroy not dealing well with a big lead go back two months to the kids spitting the bit at the Masters. There, he left the clubhouse Sunday afternoon with a four-stroke lead, wound up shooting a shaky 80 and looking for a place to hide. Westwood wasnt particularly sympathetic that day, which should have surprised exactly no one. The two have been sniping at one another on Twitter and in interview rooms as far-flung as Dubai. In fact, Westwood was asked to compare McIlroys performance Friday to Tiger Woods destruction of Pebble Beach in the 2000 U.S. Open and said, "Well see what Rory does. Hes had leads before." Given yet one more chance to laud the youngster in that same interview -- "What advice would you give to Rory going in with two rounds to go?" Westwood replied: "Im supposed to beat him over the next two days. Im hardly going to give him advice, am I?" Like McIlroy, the Englishman made a splashy arrival in the game, but his career arc has been uneven since. Hes had his shot to win a few majors and never sealed the deal, then was a middling player for nearly a decade before emerging the last few years as a force on the European Tour again. Its easy to make an argument that hes currently the best player never to win a major, but whether McIlroys likelihood of becoming the latest player to leapfrog him has anything to do with Westwoods reluctance to give the kid his due is pure speculation. To be sure, McIlroy has given back as good as hes got. And either way, Chubby Chandler, the agent for both men, went out of his way Saturday to make it sound as though all the golfers in his stable get along famously. He regaled reporters with stories of dinners this week, noting that both he and Westwood have already picked up tabs and that Saturday nights bill is going to wind up in front of McIlroy. Even so, Westwood refused to commit to being at the table. "I dont know," he said when asked whether he planned to dine with McIlroy. "Depends what time he gets finished." cheap jerseys from china ' ' '
