who last spring became the first Canadian

TORONTO -- Dwane Casey saw it as a sign of maturity on the part of his young team. After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. "Thats another step in our growth," Casey said after Friday nights win at Air Canada Centre. "Last year at this time, if wed have missed shots like that wed have caved in. "But we kept grinding it, grinding it, grinding it and thats what you have to do when the shots arent falling." The Raptors (30-25) shot a woeful 32.7 per cent from the field in the first half and trailed 44-39. But, with second-year centre Jonas Valanciunas leading the way, Toronto shot an impressive 16-for 23, or 69.5 per cent, in the third quarter on the way to winning their fourth game in five starts. "We said we need to pick it up, we need to come out with energy," Valanciunas, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, said of the talk in the locker room at halftime. "Thats what it was all about. "We shot really bad the first half but we did a better job the second half and thats what matters." Valanciunas scored 10 of his 14 second-half points in the third quarter, including five in a row during a 4:07 stretch that saw the Raptors turn a one-point deficit into a 10-point lead. Second-year guard Terrence Ross had a team-high 20 points as the Raptors snapped the Cavaliers (22-34) six-game winning streak and widened their lead to 3-1/2 games over the idle Brooklyn Nets atop the NBAs Atlantic Division. With the win, the Raptors equalled the third-fastest time theyve reached the 30-win mark in team history, just one game off the best mark of 54 games in both the 2009-10 and 2007-08 seasons. The Raptors, who have missed the playoffs in each of the past five seasons, didnt win their 30th game until their 78th outing last year. Although Ross led the Raptors in scoring, it was his defensive play against Cleveland guard Kyrie Irving, who was named MVP of last weekends NBA All-Star Game, that drew rave reviews from his teammates. "Defensively, hes always been impressive, and hes getting better," Toronto guard Kyle Lowry said after Irving was held to 3-for-16 shooting on his way to 17 points. "I told him that on the bench tonight." Lowry had 14 points, nine assists and six rebounds. DeMar DeRozan added 14 points and five assists. Clevelands Luol Deng led all scorers with 21 points and added 11 rebounds while Tristan Thompson of Brampton, Ont., added 13 points and nine assists and Anthony Bennett, also from Brampton, who last spring became the first Canadian to ever go first overall in the NBA draft, had nine points in his first game here. "We just had to pick up our defensive intensity," Ross said of the message delivered at halftime. "The biggest thing, we were coming out, playing too lackadaisical and we had to pick that up." Toronto outscored Cleveland 37-21 in the third quarter to take control. Valanciunas made a layup with 7:22 to go in the quarter to put the Raptors up for good at 53-52. After Valanciunas and Amir Johnson combined for just four points in the first half, Casey said he gave the big men "a wake-up call" going into the second half and they responded at both ends of the court. "We reminded them theres more to the game than the offensive end," Casey said. "You can get rebounds. You can get back in transition. You can challenge shots and you can go vertical. "You can do a lot of different things other than make shots and I thought the second half (they) worked at it and got it done." Jermon Bushrod Jersey . It was the quickest three-goal sequence in Olympic history, with the latter two coming just eight seconds apart. Kessel, Lamoureux and Kendall Coyne all scored twice for the Americans, and Molly Schaus made 10 saves in her Sochi debut. Cameron Meredith Jersey . -- Jerel Worthy and his Michigan State teammates charged across the field, holding four fingers in the air while celebrating another sweet victory over their biggest rival. http://www.saintsrookiestore.com/Saints-Kurt-Coleman-Jersey/. The alley-oop looked easy -- just like everything else after halftime for the Miami Heat. James scored 32 points, Wade added 22 points and eight assists, and the Heat trailed by 11 early in the second half before running away to a 107-88 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. Custom New Orleans Saints Jerseys .L. - Defending womens champion Alberta improved to 3-0 at the Canadian junior curling championships with a 10-3 win over Ontario in Sundays afternoon draw. DeMario Davis Jersey . Marian Gaborik had two goals and an assist and Martin Jones made just 17 saves to record his fourth shutout of the season as the Kings snapped a three-game losing skid with a 3-0 victory over the lowly Oilers on Thursday.Former Celtic captain Stephen McManus says Leigh Griffiths will be a key player in Sundays Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers. The Motherwell defender was given an unwelcome reminder of the Celtic strikers single-minded attitude last Saturday when Griffiths struck twice at Fir Park to earn three points for the Premiership leaders.The former Hibernian player had earlier missed a penalty and showed what it meant to break a four-game duck - which included Scotlands friendly with Denmark - by racing the entire length of the pitch to celebrate his opener infront of the visiting fans. Griffiths has now scored 37 goals this season and McManus predicts he will have a major say in the outcome of the Glasgow derby, live on Sky Sports. Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths celebrates his winning goal at Motherwell Strikers need to score goals for themselves, for the pressure of it. Playing for Celtic you get a lot of chances and sometimes that can play on your mind when you are not scoring, said McManus, who made over 150 appearances for Celtic between 2003-2010.But the most important thing is he still in there, and hes going to be a big, big player for Celtic at the weekend.Leigh Griffiths has had a tremendous season. Its not easy scoring goals at the Old Firm, certainly not Celtic. You need to be the right type of charracter to handle the pressure, to relish the pressure that comes with it, and Leigh has certainly done that.ddddddddddddHe will now be looking to advance on his next aim, to become a regular for Scotland. But he has had a terrific season and when you have someone like him in your side you know you are going to get chances and you know you will get an opportunity to score goals. L to R David Clarkson, Stephen Pearson, Ryder Cup golfer Stephen Gallacher, Stephen McManus and Linlithgow golf pro Kenny Monaghan McManus was promoting a charity golf challenge he is undertaking with Motherwell team-mates David Clarkson and Stephen Pearson along with Kenny Monaghan, a resident professional at Linlithgow Golf Club. The four will attemptto play 72 holes in one day on May 20.Weve been good mates with Kenny, the four of us hang about together, McManus said. Kenny lost his mum to cancer five years ago and we decided to do the Longest Day Golf Challenge for Macmillan Cancer Support.It will be a tough day but it will be enjoyable and its a great cause so hopefully we can raise as much money as we can. Also See: Celtic video Celtic fixtures Celtic stats Get ￡10 free bet! 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