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CHARLOTTE - Jonas Valanciunas took a quick glance at the stat sheet, no longer banned post-game, crumpled it up into a ball and hurled it across the locker room. At the bottom of the page the final score read "100-95" - Torontos third loss in four games - but it was how they got there that had the Raptors young centre shaking his head as he destroyed the evidence. In the less literal sense he wasnt alone. The Raptors locker room was filled with distraught players drowning their sorrows in a sea of chicken fingers and mac and cheese at the post-game buffet, eager to forget about their most recent setback. "We cant really panic, but weve got to hold each other accountable," said Greivis Vasquez, moments after his team failed to close out what would have been a historic comeback in eventual defeat to a familiar, albeit perplexing foe, the Charlotte Bobcats. "Its easy when we win and you smile and youre cool, youre hanging around, but when you face adversity or obstacles, thats when you really show your character, so now weve really got to show what [were] made of." For Vasquez - who helped engineer Torontos late-game run - his teammates and his coach, there were no moral victories to be celebrated after cutting a 30-point third quarter deficit to one with 26 seconds remaining. No moral victories, not anymore, not if they fancy themselves a playoff contender. Instead the question was, how could they fall behind by 30 to the Bobcats - who had lost 10 of 13 and were playing without Kemba Walker - in the first place? "Effort," Kyle Lowry said, and repeated six times in a three-minute scrum. For the final 16 minutes they played with plenty of it, outscoring the nemesis Bobcats 54-29 to close out the game. For the first 32 it was nowhere to be found. "Thats it, effort," the Raptors point guard continued. "That simple. Effort." Its not that simple, not for the teams fans or coaching staff that were left to wonder where that effort went for two and a half quarters in a game the Raptors sorely needed. "Its a long season but you tell a lot about who you are in these situations," Dwane Casey said. "Today was a gut-check game and the fourth quarter we turned it around but its about what we did in the first three quarters thats disappointing." Coming off a loss to the corpse of the Los Angeles Lakers 24 hours earlier, and an equally disheartening defeat in Boston last week, the Raptors scored a season-low 11 points in the first quarter. For the second straight day they attempted nearly three times as many three-pointers as free throws and allowed the leagues 28th ranked offensive team to score 100 points on 49 per cent shooting. The loss was their seventh straight in Charlotte to a Bobcats team that has been varying degrees of terrible throughout that span of Raptors futility. "Weve got to take these two losses to heart," said Vasquez who had 15 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, his best line as Raptor. "Were professionals, we know what were playing for, so, [theres] no excuses on this team. Some guys just got to step up and understand what were playing for." "I think were fine," he continued. "Weve just got to wake up and understand that one loss cant really take us down, but one win can really build some good momentum." Veteran bruiser Chuck Hayes put it best. "Its an emotional roller coaster in this league." A week ago they were riding high, winners of three straight and eight of 10, since then theyve crashed back down to earth. Where do they truly stand in the grand scheme of things? Likely somewhere in the middle. Success in the league is fickle, as Casey knows and Hayes has learned in his years of service. "After the momentum we had in December you would kind of hope it would shift over into the New Year but the New Year aint been so good to us so far," said Hayes, who recorded his first double-double - 12 points and 13 rebounds - since Apr. 11, 2011. "But theres a lot of basketball left." Hayes, along with fellow reserves Vasquez and Patrick Patterson, played the bulk of the fourth quarter in place of frontcourt tandem Valanciunas and Amir Johnson, who each played less than 19 minutes, and Terrence Ross, who logged 21. For the fourth straight game Valanciunas failed to eclipse 23 minutes or score in double figures, shooting 6-for-21 over that stretch. On Monday he was overwhelmed in a daunting matchup with crafty, low-post shaman Al Jefferson. The Raptors sophomore bit on Jeffersons pump fakes, got beat on the boards and most alarmingly let his frustration get the better of him. Jefferson, who had a double-double after the first quarter, finished with 22 points and 19 boards. Fellow sophomore Ross has also seen his performance slip over the teams recent slide, recording just one point on Monday, shooting 0-for-6. Meanwhile, Johnson connected on just one of his four attempts and has exceeded 10 rebounds in one of his last 15 contests. "Weve got to find a start that fits us," said Casey, who wouldnt rule out an eventual lineup change but insisted its too early to make that call. "You cant spot any team in this league 25-30 points and expect to be successful." The Raptors will be given a much-needed day of reflection before hosting the Mavericks on Wednesday. It will be the first time theyve faced a winning team in seven games. After squandering three golden opportunities in six days, it could be the wakeup call they need. "Weve got another game," said Hayes. "This is not it, [its] just a little adversity and weve got to find a way to respond." Carmelo Anthony Jersey . - The Kansas City Royals are hoping All-Star catcher Salvador Perez will be back in a few days. Kenneth Faried Jersey . -- Adam Tambellini scored three times and set up one more as the Calgary Hitmen won their sixth in a row by crushing the host Lethbridge Hurricanes 8-1 on Saturday in Western Hockey League play. http://www.nuggetsprostore.com/kids-malik-beasley-nuggets-jersey/ .com) - SirDominic Pointer posted career highs of 24 points and seven steals to lead No. Trey Lyles Jersey . Follow all the action live on TSN Radio 1050 in Toronto, TSN Radio 690 in Montreal, TSN Radio 1260 in Edmonton and TEAM 1410 on Friday at 3pm et/Noon pt. Dikembe Mutombo Jersey . Dirk Nowitzki scored 25 points, Shawn Marion had 22 and the Mavericks beat undermanned Philadelphia 124-112 Friday night, handing the 76ers their 10th straight loss.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry Fraser wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! Hi Kerry, I am really confused about something that happened in the game between the Flyers and Leafs last night. The Flyers scored a goal that was verified immediately by the ref directly behind the net. He signaled the goal. But the goal was disallowed apparently when the other ref (who was closer to Argentina then he was the play) called it no goal. The replay clearly showed it was a goal, and more importantly, in the net BEFORE the whistle. Now I understand that is not reviewable, but what I dont understand is why the ref behind the net cant just say, "Hey I was right on top of it, its a good goal". The explanation provided by the announcers was something akin to the other ref losing sight of the puck. If that was the case, almost every goal in the NHL could be disallowed by the center ice ref since it is unlikely they would have a very good view of the puck itself from about 100ft away. Thanks. John Berry Hi Kerry, During this game, the Flyers had a goal disallowed when the neutral zone ref blew the play dead on a "hold the post" type play. The question is: why is someone that is about 100 feet away blowing the play dead? The ref that could actually see the play signaled goal. Later in the game, the Leafs scored on a play where the puck was jammed out from underneath the goalies pad, no whistle. There was no way to see the puck from center ice on the Leafs goal, either. Help me understand which game these refs were watching. Brian Mullaney View the play in question here (17:04, 2nd period). John and Brian: While I must admit that we dont often see the back referee kill a play when he deems the goalkeeper has the puck covered, it is well within his authority to do so. Let me explain why I agree with the call made on the ice by referee Dean Morton from his position in the neutral zone. Both of you are only partially correct when you stated that the referee behind the net, Kevin Pollock, was in position to see the play and then signal a goal once the puck entered the net. The overriding fact is that Leafs goalkeeper, Jonathan Bernier, clearly had the puck covered underneath his blocker and held tight against the post a reasonable time for the play to be considered dead. This "reasonable time" frame is demonstrated by the fact that Bernier initially covered the puck when Matt Read, the Flyer who eventually dislodged the puck, was positioned well behind the net near the end boards and had some distance to travel to the post at the sidee of the net.dddddddddddd In fairness to referee Kevin Pollock, he had a considerable distance to travel from the opposite side of the net towards the corner and was unable to see that Bernier had the puck covered. By the time referee Pollock was able to assume a position behind the net, Matt Read had already jammed Berniers blocker with his stick and dislodged the frozen puck. At this point, the referee gained a sightline that allowed him to see the exposed puck which Matt Read knocked into the open corner of the net from the seat of his pants. Even though back referee Dean Morton was a long distance from the net (albeit much closer than Argentina) he had a view from the open side to where Jonathan Bernier froze the puck with his blocker against the post. From this unobstructed view to the goal and with a broad perspective of the play, Morton would have taken a quick look to determine the sightline that his had partner on the other side of the net in that moment. Knowing that Pollock could not possibly see that the puck was covered from his position, referee Mortons radar intensified once he saw an initial attempt by Michael Raffl to jam at Berniers glove with his stick and as Raffl was subsequently knocked to the ice by Leafs defenceman Cody Franson. Knowing that Kevin Pollock had not yet assumed a position to determine the frozen puck, referee Mortons "intent to blow the whistle" would have kicked into high gear once he saw Matt Read jam at Berniers blocker and expose the puck. Mortons whistle to kill the play is audible just as referee Kevin Pollock moves into position behind the net to signal a goal once the puck crossed the line. The correct call was made by back referee Dean Morton to determine that the puck had been frozen by the Leafs goalkeeper prior to Matt Read dislodging it with his stick and then knocking the puck into the net. The correct procedure was also followed to the letter when Morton quickly approached referee Pollock to inform him that the puck had been frozen by Jonathan Bernier. FYI, in an article I wrote on November 28, 2011 I responded to a fan question when Kris Letang of the Penguins dug a frozen puck from underneath the catching glove of Carey Price to score the game winning goal in overtime. The goal line referee was on the opposite side of the net and impossible to detect that Price had the puck covered. My answer in that column was that the back referee near the blue line with an unobstructed view should have blown the play dead prior to or as Kris Letang jammed the puck loose. Click on the link below to see the similarity of these two plays. Fraser: Discussing Letangs goal and Paciorettys hit Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '