ice Thursday, his team givin

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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. Adam Thielen Jersey Sales .C. - Blair Jones scored the eventual winner in the third period as the Abbotsford Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Oil Barons 3-2 in American Hockey League action on Friday. Harrison Smith Jersey Cheap . 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.fansvikingsteamstore.com/customized-vikings-jerseys.html .Pete Morelli said the back judge threw a flag on Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens on a pass to Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew in Dallas 24-20 wild-card win Sunday. 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