HOUSTON - It was a long night at the office for the Raptors, who went home empty handed Monday night. Billy Cundiff Browns Jersey . It was long, it was ugly and it ended in disappointment. It was not the first time theyve endured such a night. "[There are] no moral victories in this league," Kyle Lowry said, as if he had been practicing the cliche that has become more of a slogan for this team over the years. Its the second time hes used it in 10 days. And hes absolutely right. The Raptors played 58 minutes of basketball, at least 40 of which were hard fought, in a game that elapsed three hours and 17 minutes. They clawed back from 17 down after an atrocious second quarter, overcame injuries and foul trouble while hanging in with a more talented team on the road. Ultimately, a loss is a loss. Toronto now has five of them in eight games. The question is, what can they learn from this one? "I am proud of the way they fought and scrapped and got back in the game," Dwane Casey said after his teams 110-104 double-overtime defeat at the hands of the Houston Rockets. "They could have laid down two or three times and they didnt." "Theres no moral victories in this game but, I see our team growing, fighting through things. Its a totally different feel from last year." Their resiliency was notable. Torontos 87-86 lead, following an Amir Johnson put-back with 40 seconds remaining, was its first since early in the opening frame. They scored just 13 points and shot an abysmal 18 per cent in the second. The defensive effort was equally as impressive, holding the Rockets to 44 per cent and neutralizing Dwight Howard and James Harden - for most of the game - as well as you can hope to. Offensively, they were treading water at the best of times. "We had so many opportunities to score," Casey said, "but we have to convert them." They didnt, not often enough to win. In fact, they were fortunate to come so close. Rudy Gay made just 11 of his career-high and franchise-most 37 field goal attempts, while DeMar DeRozan hit just six of 25. Together the pair shot 27 per cent on 62 attempts. Overall the team registered just 10 assists, a season low despite the extra time, on 38 made field goals. "We cant let us not making shots get us frustrated at all," said DeRozan, who had 22 points, second to Gays team-leading 29. "Were going to make shots, theyre going to come but we know we can stay in games with our defence and thats what we did." Those two missed a handful of jumpers they generally tend to hit with some consistency, as they pointed out, but poor shot selection continues to plague the Raptors high-volume duo early in the season. Both players are shooting below 37 per cent through eight games and DeRozan is now 18-for-70 (26 per cent) over his last four. "We being the go-to players on this team, we have to [keep shooting]," DeRozan maintained. "We cant get frustrated if the shots not going. It would be a whole different story if we didnt take the shots, if we were out there being passive and not taking the shots we normally take." "It sucks that were missing a lot of easy shots but were going to continue to fight it out no matter what. We could be out there playing with a bowling ball and were going to continue to shoot it." Gay drew most of the ire from fans for his 37 attempts. With 34 seconds remaining in regulation - knotted up at 87 - Gay, isolated on the wing, winded down the shot clock and launched a 22-footer that clanked off the side of the rim. "We prefer for him to go to the basket," Casey said of that specific play. "Thats what we wanted, to attack the rim. I dont know if it was fatigue or good defence but the play was drawn for him to attack the rim." Fast forward, down three in overtime, Gay knocked down the triple that bought the Raptors an extra five minutes. The true Rudy Gay experience. You take the good with the bad. On this particular night, there was far more of the latter. "Were fighting," Lowry said. "Thats all we can do is keep fighting. Like I said, no moral victories in this league, none of that." "But as long as we fight and play as hard as we can possibly play and do the things we know how to do the basketball gods will help us out a little bit. Well win some games like this." Aches and pains Lowry sat in the locker room after the game, both feet soaking in buckets of ice water. The Raptors point guard sustained a sprained right ankle in Saturdays lopsided win over Utah but said he never had any doubt about playing against his former team in Houston. He struggled early, going 2-of-8 from the floor through three quarters but helped ignite Torontos run in the fourth. Lowry shot 4-for-8 and scored 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime periods before eventually fouling out. "Guys are tired," he said after the game. "But guys are spirited, guys are still up. Were not going to put our heads down, were going to learn from the game and weve got another tough test on Wednesday." The point guard admitted his ankle was sore after playing 47 minutes but doesnt plan to miss any time, with another former team on deck in the Grizzlies. Gay was also icing down a sore ankle that he tweaked during the game. Up next Gay will make his first return to Memphis following last seasons three-team trade when the Raptors visit the Grizzlies Wednesday night. Catch it live on TSN 1050 Radio beginning at 8:00pm et. Christian Kirksey Browns Jersey . -- Canadian Kevin Pangos had 18 points, Drew Barham matched his career high with 17 points off the bench, and Gonzaga beat Pacific 70-53 on Thursday night to clinch the outright West Coast Conference regular season title. Karlos Dansby . There is also the Genoa derby on Sunday, while second-place Roma hosts Parma looking to take advantage of any more slip-ups from Juventus. Here are five things to know about the Italian league ahead of this weekends matches: LLORENTE ON SONGThe last time Juventus hosted Inter Milan the visitors ended the Bianconeris impressive streak of 49 games unbeaten with a 3-1 victory. Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hey Kerry, big fan of yours, just finished reading your book. I think that we all saw the Canucks/Flames line brawl just after puck drop. It was obvious that something was about to happen, even to the referees because the fourth lines were on to start. My question is, is there anything that the refs couldve done to prevent this from happening? Secondly, Canucks coach John Tortorella confronted the Flames after the end of the second period. He was pretty wound up after the brawl and there were the two refs and a linesman beside him trying to calm him down. The confrontation would not have most likely happened if he received a penalty of some sort after the brawl. He was pretty worked up, and yelling at the Calgary bench, so why not penalize him for his actions or just toss him altogether? Thanks Patrick Patrick, The referee is expected to execute his duties as a reactionary arbitrator. He must determine when a violation of the rules has been committed and then raise his arm to assess the appropriate penalty. There is nothing within the playing rules that prevents either coach from placing their fourth liners on the ice to start the game. As the visiting team, Flames coach Bob Hartley must provide his starting lineup to the Official Scorer first. This generally takes place following the pre-game warm-up. As the home team coach, John Tortorella had the option to counter with a starting lineup selection of his choice. Torts accepted the challenge from Hartley and chose to match "beef for beef"! Both coaches must accept the consequences of their players actions, premeditated or otherwise. All hands of the officiating crew were on deck as they observed the tell-tale signs as to what was about to occur the instant the puck was dropped. Players extended menacing looks, chatted each other up as they assumed their positions, gloves shook on hands to make sure they came off quickly and Canuck defenceman Kevin Bieksa offered a word with Flames starting centre Kevin Westgarth before switching positions with Canucks starting center, 66 rookie Kellan Lain. Referee Dave Jackson was privy to all of this and delayed the puck drop after providing some instructions of his own. At this point in the posturing that took place, I am going to step well outside of the expected referee protocol. I suuspect many will disagree with the proactive intervention that I am about to suggest. Orange Brian Hoyer Youth Elite Jersey. . (Know that I have utilized something similar when situations called for it). While many of you might have even enjoyed watching the line brawl that took place, I personally didnt like the staged event that forced players to initiate and others to defend themselves as a result of coaching decisions and perhaps even instructions. Prior to even thinking about dropping the puck, I would bring the other officials to centre ice for a conference and ask the linesmen to escort both starting lineups to their respective players bench. I would speak to Bob Hartley first (with my ref partner) and read him the riot act. I would promise (not threaten) that if a brawl erupted, we would identify the instigators from either team and eject them from the game. Additionally, I would offer the coach a moment, before we started the game, to instruct his players to exhibit restraint once I dropped the puck and to just play! If they did not comply with this request and a brawl resulted, I would hold the coach responsible and eject him from the game as well! The final thing I would do is allow the coach to make a change in his starting lineup if he wished. The very same discussion would be held with John Tortorella at the Canucks bench and if Hartley made a change in his starting lineup, Torts could counter the move. These are pretty drastic measures, for sure. Would I do it in the best interest of the game? Youre damn right! If a line brawl erupted following the discussion with both coaches and their players, I would make good on my "promise". The battle lines would have been drawn before the puck drop. Following the brawl, Tortorella understandably lost his mind on Hartley, perhaps forgetting that he also had a hand in placing a starting lineup on the ice. This would have been a perfect time to eject both coaches from the game in addition to the players that got an early shower. Once the period ended, assuming the referees observed what took place in the hallway outside of the Calgary dressing room that was captured on camera, Tortorella should have been ejected from the game for his conduct. The officials would be required to submit a full report to the commissioner immediately following the game with regard to the line brawl and their account of the incident in the hallway. Hefty fines and even suspensions should result from this ugly incident. ' ' '
