Umzug » itter in the ninth. Happ made his first appearance since

TORONTO - For the first time in a week, Dwane Casey and his team had actual game tape to review in practice Thursday. The Raptors, fresh off an opening night victory over the Celtics, had plenty to digest after barely coming away with a win the night before. "I thought we did some good things in building the lead and some bad things in giving it back," Casey said after practice Thursday, his team giving up a 16-point third quarter lead before pulling away in the fourth. "I thought we had some execution issues once we had the lead." Specifically, Casey was critical of some lazy passes and the teams poor transition defence that allowed Boston to score 25 points off the Raptors 18 turnovers. The execution issues Casey referenced stemmed from a stagnant offence down the stretch. To Caseys admission, the ball stuck too often in the final quarter. Rudy Gay and DeMar DeRozan relied heavily on isolation sets, leading to difficult shots and poor shooting nights for both of the Raptors wing players. "Weve got to get the ball popping and moving," Casey acknowledged. "Theyre sending crowds to [DeRozan and Gay]. We had wide open looks on the draw and kick issues and we didnt make those plays." "Well do it," he continued. "I think the first game, [as] we saw last night, its different than preseason. The intensity level is higher than preseason." Kyle Lowry suggested that he and his teammates were especially cautious with the ball, restricting ball movement, because of the aggressive defence they saw from the scrappy young Celtics. "They still have some remnants of the old KG, Pierce and that defensive group, which was always perennially one of the top defensive groups," Casey said, to Lowrys point. "It was a good test for us but again, teams are going to game plan and teams are going to prepare for DeMar and Rudy and weve got to be able to play off them." Lowry wont blame injury for shooting woes Kyle Lowry refused to make excuses for his poor shooting night. The Raptors point guard shot 2-for-8 from the field, 0-for-3 from three-point range and 7-of-12 at the line in his first game playing with a protective splint wrapped around an injured left ring finger. "It is what it is, just an off shooting night," Lowry said Thursday, chalking it up to early season rust instead of the injury on his non-shooting hand. As for the splint itself, Lowrys still adjusting to it although Casey insists it hasnt affected his point guards play. "I told him he may not have had a great shooting night but everywhere else, he did a heck of a job," Casey said. "He did a lot of good stuff defensively and I think once he gets used to the [splint] on his finger, thats going to help him tremendously." "I dont think Ill ever get used to anything on my hand, on my fingers," Lowry said of the splint, which hell be required to play and practice with for approximately five more weeks. "But Ive got no choice right now." Amir from three It appears Amir Johnson has added the three-point shot to his repertoire. The Raptors forward, who played in his 300th game with the team on Wednesday, launched just 13 triples last season - a career high - making five of them, also a career best. In Wednesdays opener, he connected on one of three attempts from long range. The trey that fell was big for his team, a shot Vitor Faverani dared him to take with 6:20 left and one he celebrated by sweeping the floor with his hand. "It was good [that] I finally hit one," Johnson said after the game. "They left me open. I know [the fans] were kind of hyping me up so I definitely had to shoot it. I knew it was good as soon as I released it." "That was my celebration. I dont know, Im just trying to figure out different three celebrations." A day later, Casey said hes fine with Johnson launching from deep, provided he doesnt overdo it and uses the addition to his game at the right times. "Im okay with it [but] we dont want to make a living out of it," Casey said. "Id rather for him to get into early post-ups and dive into the paint but hes worked on it, hes earned it, corner threes are good shots for him." "I think teams now will respect him enough to go out and guard him." On the road again The Raptors get set to hit the road, where theyll play six of their next eight games and 19 of 33. Playing away from the Air Canada Centre was a challenge for Toronto last season. The team went 13-28 away from the Air Canada Centre. "You always want to do a good job on the road," Casey said. "Thats tough for a veteran team and a young team but moreso for a young team." "Being focused on the road, going in with the same seriousness and focus when youre not in your home arena is huge. Its going to be a good measuring test for us in these first two games." Their first pair of road contests will come in a weekend back-to-back, visiting Atlanta on Friday and traveling to Milwaukee on Saturday. Dale Weise Jersey . - The Minnesota Vikings have ruled Christian Ponder out for Sundays game at Baltimore, because the quarterback has not yet passed all of his post-concussion tests. Scott Laughton Jersey . Louis Blues and Buffalo Sabres came to an agreement on a big trade that may only offer incremental improvement to the Blues in their quest for a Stanley Cup. http://www.officialflyersfanstore.com/au...-flyers-jersey/. Paul George and Darren Collison each scored 17 points and Roy Hibbert added 11 points and nine rebounds for the Pacers (9-3), who won their third straight. Radko Gudas Jersey . Groves signed with Cleveland as an unrestricted free agent last year after a season with Arizona. He was in the linebacker rotation and had a sack in the season opener against Miami. Custom Philadelphia Flyers Jerseys . Nothing pretty. But this is 1/4 World Cup. Usually plays out this way.PHILADELPHIA -- Jose Reyes hit a leadoff homer, J.A. Happ tossed three-hit ball over five innings and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0 on Monday night. Facing his former team, Happ (1-0) walked four and pitched out of trouble often in his first start of the season. The left-hander was filling in for injured righty Brendan Morrow. Four relievers finished off the seven-hitter. Kyle Kendrick (0-3) lost his eighth straight decision, dating to last season. He gave up three runs and seven hits in seven innings. The Phillies failed to go two games above .500 for the first time since Oct. 1, 2012. They are 0-4 in those situations this season. A video review in the eighth inning cost Marlon Byrd an infield single after replay officials overturned a close call at first. Reyes charged the slow roller, barehanded it and his one-hop throw was in time to get Byrd. Reyes hit his 19th career leadoff homer to give the Blue Jays the lead. Melky Cabrera followed with a single and scored on Juan Franciscos bloop single to left with two outs. Josh Tholes RBI double to left-centre made it 3-0 in the second. Byrd greeted reliever Esmil Rogers with a triple to start Philadelphias sixth. But Byrd was thrown out by right fielder Jose Bautista trying to score on Ryan Howards fly out. A video review confirmed the call. Side-winding lefty Aaron Loup struck out three batters in the seventh, including Chase Utley to strand two runners. Brett Cecil workked the ninth for his second save.dddddddddddd Jimmy Rollins wasnt in Philadelphias starting lineup because he tweaked his right groin in Sundays 1-0 win over Washington. Freddy Galvis filled in for him and snapped an 0-for-24 slump with a line-drive single to right in the third. Rollins popped out as a pinch-hitter in the ninth. Happ made his first appearance since April 23. He pitched out of the bullpen three times after starting the season on the disabled list because of a back injury. Happ was 12-4 with a 2.93 ERA and finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting for the NL champion Phillies in 2009. He was traded along with two minor-leaguers to Houston for Roy Oswalt on July 29, 2010. NOTES: Bautista was hit by a pitch in the seventh inning, extending his streak to 32 games reaching safely. ... Blue Jays 2B Brett Lawrie left the game in the fourth inning because of tightness in his right hamstring. Hes day to day. ... Reyes has three homers in 36 at-bats against Kendrick. Reyes has more hits (181) against the Phillies than any current major leaguer. ... Phillies LHP Jake Diekman caught an infield popup in the eighth inning, calling off SS Galvis and C Carlos Ruiz. ... Galvis hitless streak was the longest by a Phillies position player since Ruiz went 0 for 26 in 2011. ... LHP Cole Hamels (0-2, 6.75) makes his third start of the season on Tuesday night against Toronto RHP Drew Hutchison (1-2, 3.82). Hamels was pushed back two days because of the flu. ' ' '