TORONTO - Forty-eight hours after a disheartening loss in Brooklyn, and moments after their bounce-back victory at home over the Pistons, a collection of Raptors players and coaches gathered in the locker room to watch the tail end of the Nets one-point victory over Miami. Fake Basketball Shoes . With less than 20 games remaining and a postseason berth all but locked up, the scoreboard watching is well underway. The red-hot Nets pulled within three games of Toronto for top spot in the Atlantic Division on Monday. In defeating the defending, two-time champion Heat Wednesday - for the third time this season - they continue to keep pace with the Raptors, breathing directly down their necks. As Dwane Casey and his players watched Brooklyn close out its seventh victory in eight games, the Raptors coach delivered a strong message to the troops. Dont look back. "We can watch that but if we dont take care of our business its not worth a crap," he said after his team did just that, defeating the Pistons 101-87 at home Wednesday evening. "Im more concerned about what we do and how were playing and how weve got to make up for Patrick (Patterson) being out and losing leads more so than anything else." The Raptors, despite Mondays loss, still control their own destiny and they sure looked like a team in the drivers seat against an inferior opponent in the reeling Pistons. Detroit is a befuddling case of disjointed talent. Despite swinging for the fences over the summer - signing Josh Smith and trading for Brandon Jennings - Joe Dumars and company have struck out this season. Chemistry is a hard thing to quantify in a team sport like basketball, as the post-trade Raptors can attest to. You either have it or you dont. When the Pistons began to come apart - as they tend to do - in the third quarter and then again in the fourth, the Raptors came together. "I thought [the bigs] were battling and our guards came back in, what we call cracking down, and cracked down to help the bigs" said Casey. "I thought that was huge. Its a five-man job." Toronto was paced in scoring by DeMar DeRozan, who had a game-high 25 points, as well as Amir Johnson and Kyle Lowry, chipping in with 20 and 19 respectively. Still, it was as much a collective effort as Casey could have hoped for, especially with the injured Patterson out resting an elbow sprain. With the intimidating frontcourt duo of Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond to contend with, the Raptors had four players pull down eight or more rebounds, including reserves Greivis Vasquez and Chuck Hayes. The Pistons came into the game ranked first in offensive rebounds, first in paint points and second in second-chance scoring. "We had to box out," said Johnson, who grabbed nine boards on the night. "We looked at all the stats and that was definitely the key, to get all those guys off the boards. They definitely have a big lineup and thats what we did." The Raptors "cracked down" - as Casey says - in the second half, besting Detroit 29-13 on the boards, holding the visitors to one offensive rebound. They also outscored the Pistons 24-14 in the paint and 15-0 in second-chance points over the final 24 minutes. On a night in which Brooklyn stole headlines with an impressive win over an elite team, the division-leaders took care of business. The Raptors have heeded their coaches warning, at least to this point. They havent looked back. With 11 wins in its last 12 games against opponents with records south of .500, Toronto continues to hold serve. Theyre not looking for style points so long as they come away with the prize. "A lot of our guys havent been there," Casey reiterated. "Like Ive always preached, its a different animal. I hope theyre enjoying it but yet still [understanding] how hard it is, getting there first and then after you get there it gets even harder." "Its good, its exciting, its great for our fans," he continued. "Its something our fans havent been through in a while but again, weve just got to take care of our business." Basketball Shoes Online Store . Coach Jorge Sampaoli resisted naming any major surprises in the list published Tuesday at the site of Chiles football association. Chile is pinning its hopes on the recovery of Vidal. Cheap Basketball Shoes Free Shipping . Trailing 4-1 in the final set, Sharapova steadied her erratic service game and took command again to beat the 56th-ranked American 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 on clay at the Magic Box tennis centre. The ninth-ranked Russian looked to be cruising before McHale broke late in the second set to tie the match and then took her commanding lead in the final set after breaking Sharapova. https://www.cheapbasketballshoesstore.com/ . Some will say that Martin is too sensitive while others will say that it is part of the way football is in the locker room. But to have to absorb what was said to him for any rational and intelligent person is too much.NASHVILLE -- After three games, Ryan Miller is fitting in just fine with the Blues. Ian Cole had a goal and an assist to lead St. Louis to its third straight win, 2-1 over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night. Magnus Paajarvi had the other goal for the Blues, who have won all four of their games against Nashville this season. They are 16-0-1 against fellow Central Division teams. Miller stopped 20 shots to win his third game in as many starts since being acquired from the Buffalo Sabres on Friday. Nick Spaling scored for the Predators, losers of six of seven. "This is not how we wanted to come out of the break," Nashville forward Colin Wilson said. "Obviously we wanted to come out on a roll, and (we) havent been able to." Miller was quick to credit his teammates for the few shots against he had to face. "Every night, these guys track hard," he said. "They know where to be. They make the game easy to read." Cole scored the games first goal at 4:03 of the opening period after Steve Ott won a faceoff in the left circle and Cole beat Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne with a wrist shot high to the far side. "Otter had a great win right back to me, and I just kind of waited for traffic to get to the net," Cole said. "I then shot it high to the far side. I dont think he saw it." Otts assist was his first point as a Blue. Nashville drew even at 10:28 of the first on Spalings 11th goal of the season. From the right half boards, Patric Hornqvist sent a pass in front, where Spaling tipped the puck high over Millers right shoulder. Basketball Shoes 2020. The Predators have scored just one goal in each of their last three games, all losses. "We had a couple of looks, and when we had those looks, we werent able to get it by Miller," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "So yeah, its a little bit frustrating because youre playing well in a lot of areas of your game and not getting any points." St. Louis regained the lead at 8:18 of the second on Paajarvis sixth of the season. Paajarvi took a pass from Roman Polak in the neutral zone and skated into the Nashville zone on the right side, where he cut into the right faceoff circle and beat Rinne with a quick wrist shot. "Hes really improved," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said of Paajarvi. "Hes bought in to the way he needs to play to be a really good pro. Hes become a really good player." Alexander Steen was awarded a penalty shot at 15:27 of the second period after being fouled from behind on a breakaway, but Rinne gloved down Steens wrist shot from the right side. Steen has converted one of two penalty shot attempts this season, while Rinne has turned aside the two that he has faced. NOTES: Hornqvists assist was the 100th of his career. ... Nashville C Mike Fisher has points in five consecutive games, equaling a season high. ... The Blues are 34-1-4 when scoring first this season. ' ' '