BOSTON - With just under 40 seconds to go, the game tied at 105, Kyle Lowry poked the ball away from Celtics rookie Marcus Smart, igniting the signature play of the evening. Wholesale Yeezy China . I just sat on the crossover, said the Raptors point guard. If he got by me he wouldve gotten a layup but I anticipated it well and I know that DeMar [DeRozan] is always going to trail me. So I was just hoping he was hurrying up. Leading the fast break, Lowry flipped the ball back to DeRozan - following behind him as predicted - who finished it off with the go-ahead, one-handed slam. Thats our thing, DeRozan boasted. Whenever hes on the fast break he knows Im trailing and Im finding an opening gap where I can catch it and go through and try to get a foul or something. So thats just how we play. He knew I was coming. The play of the game was the steal [Lowry] had at the end, Dwane Casey said. As the whistle blew - DeRozan would go to the line to cap off a three-point play - Lowry turned to face the Garden crowd, arms spread at waist level, and let out a roar. At the moment, he had that look in his eyes. He had that same look, or variations of it, from the second quarter on. Most of the NBA is familiar with it by now and it doesnt usually bode well for whomever is on the other side. Hes got that angry face, said Patrick Patterson. Thats what he always looks like. There was no way Lowry was letting his team lose that game. Yesterday they said I wasnt aggressive enough and with us missing [Jonas Valanciunas] and [Amir Johnson] I had to be more aggressive tonight, said Lowry after scoring 35 points - his highest as a Raptor - on just 17 shots in Torontos comeback 110-107 road win over the Boston Celtics Wednesday. The Raptors were without their starting frontcourt. Valanciunas sat out nursing a couple injuries - namely a sore hand - after taking a beating in a game the night before. Johnson stayed back in Toronto, missing his third straight contest with an ankle injury. For Lowry and the rest of Wednesdays starters it was the same story on a different night. Plagued by slow starts to begin the season, Toronto allowed the host Celtics to shoot a whopping 79 per cent in a 35-point first quarter. It got ugly, and fast. Boston hit its first eight shots, going nearly half the period without a miss. They made 11 of their first 12 until, before you knew it, the Raptors were stuck in a 16-point hole and Lowry was having deja vu. Our starting unit, we havent been playing up to par, he had said after a similarly crushing slow start soured Tuesday nights win over the Thunder. I think… I know we need to play a lot better. Its one of them things weve got to fix internally. Midway through the second quarter, Lowry and company finally delivered on that promise. With that same starting unit on the floor, the Raptors closed the opening half on a 20-7 run putting a dent in their well-earned deficit. They decided to compete, said Casey. Thats the thing. You take the whip out in the derby and just keep cracking the whip, cracking the whip, cracking the whip. We cant be that way. It shouldnt have to come from me to crack the whip at every turn to get us going. But they decided to get going. To be a playoff or championship calibre team we shouldnt have to say giddy up. As the half ended, with momentum starting to turn in favour of the visitors, the ball was in Lowrys hands once again. Unhappy with a foul he committed on the other end, sending Rajon Rondo to the line, he drove into the body of the Celtics All-Star point guard, took a step back and drained the buzzer-beating jumper. Without breaking stride or watching the ball splash through the mesh, Lowry walked straight to the locker room. No roar that time. Just business. Rajon, hes got good hands so I had to get my step back and get freed up, he said. It was kind of a momentum push for us. He just got the two free throws so I wanted to make up for the dumb foul I did. Lowry was pissed off. Competition, as it usually does, fuelled him. A battle with Rondo, who finished with a triple-double of 13 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists. A dog fight with Smart, who he went head-to-head with a couple occasions in the pre-season. But more than anything else he was ticked off at himself and at his team. They had let themselves down again. Toronto has allowed 30 or more points in the first quarter of each of its last three games. Opponents are shooting 71 per cent over that span. I call us drama queens, honestly, DeRozan said of the slow starts. Were like a suspenseful movie. Weve got to get out of that habit. I dont know. Were just a group of guys that love a challenge for some reason. I dont know why. Despite their 4-1 start to the campaign - Torontos finest in 10 years - weve yet to see the Raptors at their best for anything even close to a 48-minute interval. Theyve yet to face elite competition, sure, but theyre also coming off a stretch of four games in five nights without their two most important defenders and interior players for the second half of it. We cant be satisfied with that, Casey said. Im happy we won but were trying to build something here. Weve got to develop a playing personality starting the game. Starting the game. We cant wait till we get punched in the mouth. [We have to] understand that teams are coming after our necks and respond accordingly. The good news, and its not insignificant, is that Lowry is already looking like the All-Star that the Raptors hoped he would be when they committed to him this summer. Prior to Wednesdays contest, the Raptors became the first team to record 10 or fewer turnovers in four straight games to open a season since the NBA began tracking the stat in 1970. They gave the ball away just seven times in Boston, forcing the Celtics into 28 turnovers. Lowry has been the catalyst, with the ball in his hands more than any other Raptor player. The point guard did not commit a turnover on Wednesday. Its the fourth time in five games hes gone without one. Hes committed just two in 171 minutes. Help is also on the way. Although the Raptors have decided to err on the side of caution in regards to Valanciunas and Johnson, Casey believes theres a reasonable chance one or both could be back in the lineup to face the Wizards at home on Friday. Fake Yeezy Online . -- LeGarrette Blount made one last big splash into a soggy end zone. Wholesale Yeezy Shop . -- Mike Shanahan gave Robert Griffin III a rest, and may have turned up the pressure on himself, too.CHICAGO -- Corey Crawford started every single playoff game when the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup last year. Detroit had Jimmy Howard in goal, Jonathan Quick was in net for Los Angeles, Boston had Tuukka Rask, and Crawford beat each one of them. Chicagos unassuming goaltender still had his doubters when this season began. Not so much right now. Crawford is among the NHLs playoff leaders with a .931 save percentage and 1.97 goals-against average, leading the Blackhawks to the Western Conference finals for the fourth time in six seasons. The breakout post-season comes after he set career highs for games and starts while going 32-16-10 during the regular season. "Its another step closer to our ultimate goal and were pretty excited about that right now," Crawford said moments after he helped finish off Minnesota in the second round. "Resilient bunch and we never give up or get down, never get too high. That was a pretty good finish for this one." With Chicago locked in a tight series with the improving Wild, Crawford stepped up at a pivotal moment for the Blackhawks title defence. He had 27 saves in Game 5, helping the Blackhawks rally for a 2-1 win and a 3-2 series lead. Then he made 34 more stops in a 2-1 win at Minnesota on Tuesday night, keeping his team in the game until Patrick Kane got free for the series-clinching goal in overtime. "He was big," Kane said. "Seems to be a trend in this building, kind of in the second periodd, that they outplay us. Clearance Yeezy For Sale . Im sure he wasnt happiest with us with how we were playing in front of him. But he did what he does. Hes a great goaltender, and we feel hes the best in the league for that reason." It was Minnesotas first home loss of the post-season, but Crawford didnt sound all that impressed with his performance. "I rate it a as a win," he said. "Thats the only thing that counts." Crawford was just a spectator when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010, beating Philadelphia in six games. He took over as Chicagos starting goaltender the following season and posted a career-high 33 wins. Crawford took his lumps when the Blackhawks lost in the first round of the NHL playoffs in 2011 and 2012. He put those years of difficult lessons to good use last summer, when he went 16-7 with a .932 save percentage and an NHL-best 1.84 GAA in Chicagos run to the title. Now hes back for more. Next up is a rematch with the Kings, who lost to the Blackhawks in the conference finals a year ago, or a showdown with the Anaheim Ducks, the Wests top seed. Anaheim held a 3-2 series lead going into Wednesday nights game at Los Angeles. "Every round gets harder," said the 29-year-old Crawford, who received a $36 million, six-year contract extension after last years title. "Two really strong teams that are playing right now, were going to have to face one of them. Have to get some rest and prepare to work harder for our opportunities." ' ' '
