WASHINGTON - Fresh off his first All-Star Game appearance, DeMar DeRozan - heading into uncharted waters as the Raptors ready for a rare playoff push - addressed his teammates following Tuesday morning shoot around. Billy Turner Jersey . "Each and every single game matters from here on out, especially if we want to do something special," he told them, as the third-seeded Raptors prepared to begin the unofficial second half of their season against the sixth place Washington Wizards. "We cant take [any] nights off," he stressed. "These 30 games are going to be big and weve got to start tonight." Message received, at least in the first of those final 30 games. It took just over four minutes for all five Raptors starters to get on the board. In the end, six players scored in double figures and the teams bench totaled 43 points on an impressive 18-for-26 shooting, as Toronto came away with a 103-93 win, its third in three games against the Wizards this season. "Thats whats great about our team, everybody understands their role and thats real big," said DeRozan, who had a quiet night by his recent standards, scoring 14 points. "We have anybody that can [step up], it can be anybody. If one guys not playing well, somebody else always picks it up." DeRozans uplifting words were not a surprise to Dwane Casey. The Raptors leading scorer had told his coach that he intended to make the speech on the flight to Washington the day prior. "[I] sat with him and talked about the second half of the season, what to expect, and he said he was going to do that," Casey said. "We talked [Monday] night as a team, talked about the next 30 games, what to expect as a team. Now weve got to follow it up with action. Every team coming out is going to be gunning for him - hes achieved All-Star status - and us as a team, were in the playoff hunt. So weve got to meet those expectations." As a team, the Raptors were expectedly rusty early on, specifically on defence. Washington scored 27 first-quarter points, shooting 57 per cent in the frame, while Wizards All-Star John Wall had 11, matching his game total from the Raptors last visit to Verizon Center, Torontos 101-88 win to begin the month of January. "Its always tough to find a rhythm when youre coming off the All-Star break," said Kyle Lowry, who vacationed in an undisclosed location this past weekend after being passed up for the All-Star Game. "Its always tough but we figured it out in the second half and third quarter, for me especially to get going a little bit." In a matchup between two of the best point guards in the Eastern Conference - arguably the two best - Lowry connected on just two of his eight first-half attempts, scoring six points as Wall exploded for 19, making nine of 12 shots. The Raptors lead guard came out of intermission looking like a man on a mission, scoring 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the third, draining long jumpers, getting into the paint at will and knocking down a series of tricky step backs. Lowry finished with a double-double, leading his team with 24 points and 10 assists and Wall was held to three points, without a single field goal, in the second half. "I was trying to attack a little bit more," Lowry, the scorned should-be-All-Star, said of his third-quarter clinic. "That first game out of the break is always tough and I didnt want to let that be an excuse for us to lose this game." "He took the game over in the third quarter and willed us to a win," Casey said of his point guard. "Just his aggressiveness. He attacked their feet, didnt settle for the three, got into the paint and kept attacking." The Raptors recorded 25 assists, 17 from their point guards - Lowry and Greivis Vasquez - and shot 57 per cent on the night, holding Washington, one of the better three-point shooting teams, to 4-of-15 from beyond the arch. Although it looked like it was going to be smooth sailing for Toronto in the third quarter, leading by as much as 20, things got interesting down the stretch when Washington turned up its defensive intensity and the Raptors quickly went ice cold. Toronto was held without a field goal in the final 7:35 of the game, as the Wizards cut their deficit to six down but were unable to get any closer. "We just turned the ball over way too many times against their pressure," Casey said after this team committed eight of their 15 miscues in the final frame. "Thats just from rust and time off, timing, speed of the game." The rest seemed to do wonders for the Raptors, winners of their last three games, specifically Amir Johnson, who has had over 10 days off after missing two contests with a sore right ankle. The Raptors forward made his return off the bench, scoring 14 points and grabbing five rebounds in a spirited 25 minutes of action. Patrick Patterson made his third straight start - scoring 10 points in 34 minutes - and should stick with the first unit for the time being as Johnson works his way back to full health, though Casey wouldnt commit to the lineup change. The Raptors will go for the four-game sweep of Washington when the Wizards visit Toronto next week. They are now four games ahead of the Wizards and a game and a half in front of the fourth-place Chicago Bulls, Torontos Wednesday opponent at the Air Canada Centre. "Thats a tough team," Lowry said of the Bulls, who will be well rested having arrived in Toronto Tuesday, getting the night off. "A different type of game tomorrow night. Theyre very defensive-minded. Theyve got a great coach [in Tom Thibodeau] and a very intense team, with Joakim (Noah) their All-Star. He leads the charge so weve got to match his intensity." Paxton Lynch Jersey .5 million, two-year contract with the San Francisco Giants on Thursday, a deal that covers his final two arbitration seasons. Garett Bolles Jersey . Head coach Corey Chamblin announced on Monday that Avon Cobourne had been hired as the defending Grey Cup champions new running backs coach. http://www.thebroncosstoreonline.com/Youth-Peyton-Manning-Broncos-Jerseys/ .3 seconds remaining, and No. 7 North Carolina held off a resilient No. 25 Virginia team, 54-51, on Saturday. John Henson contributed a double-double with 15 points to go with 11 rebounds for the Tar Heels (25-4, 12-2 ACC), who have won five straight and 10 of 11.This time of year I usually create a New Years wish list for Canadian soccer – what Id like to see happen within the game over the next twelve months. However, this year youll have to wait a little while longer. The Canadian Soccer Association is planning to unveil its brand new 2014-2018 strategic plan sometime in January 2014. If that document contains what Ive heard it contains, many of my wishes for Canadian soccer are about to become reality. Renewed investment in technical leadership? Check. Increased investment in coaching development? Check. National training curriculum? Check. Standards-based leagues across the country? Check. Alignment of governance structures? Check. Either I missed Christmas this year, or Santa has decided to pay Canadian soccer an early visit in 2014. Granted, a strategic plan is only a document; words on paper that need to be turned into action. But for the first time in its over one hundred year history, the CSA will have a simple and concise road map that will serve as its compass for the next five years. The process of formulating the strategic plan was a comprehensive one for the CSA. The strategic planning committee, chaired by Dr. Nick Bontis (Twitter: @NickBontis), went to unprecedented lengths to ensure that every angle was covered and that an exhaustive review of all stakeholders was achieved. Another CSA first, the methodology for developing the plan was entirely inclusive. Starting over 14 months ago, they met with John Herdman, coach of our Olympic bronze medal-winning womens team, Tony Fonseca, the national technical director, as well as with the technical directors of all of the provincial associations. They drew on best practices from soccer nations who share characteristics with Canada, as well as from other sports that are achieving success in Canada. They conducted numerous townn hall interviews across the country with subject matter experts to ensure that the top strategic priorities were included in the plan. Brendan Langley Jersey. For the first time in CSA history, they also conducted a large-scale quantitative survey – offering the whole Canadian soccer community a chance to have their say on what was important to them. The survey drew an impressive 3000 respondents from coast to coast. The more information the committee gathered, the clearer the picture became. Certain priorities started percolating to the top of the list. Critically important issues like player development, coaching development and the performance of our national teams ranked highly amongst the technical priorities. Increased media coverage, increased corporate sponsorship and more high-quality international matches on domestic soil were some of the top organizational priorities. While increased communication and policy development and implementation were some of the top administrative priorities. The final document promises to be simple and concise – no more than 2,300 words in length - and will contain four strategic pillars: investment in technical leadership, improved national team performance, responsible growth of the game, and professional governance of our sport. Within these categories are 26 strategic elements in total. Some of these elements will be familiar to you: like the continued adoption of LTPD as a developmental framework. Meanwhile, others are truly groundbreaking. If successful, they could drastically alter our ability to improve the game across the country for years to come. Ill have more on this in the weeks ahead, as some of these unique strategic elements require deeper discussion. For now, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year – there are better times ahead for soccer in Canada in 2014! Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '