TORONTO -- Patrick Patterson knows his role and, usually, its making an impact off the bench. Mark Stone Jersey . But on Monday, the back-up forward got his first start since coming to Toronto two months ago and made the most of it, pouring in a season-high 22 points as the Raptors defeated New Orleans 108-101. "My role doesnt change whether its starting, or whether Im coming off the bench," said Patterson, who learned earlier in the day he would join the starting five in place of Amir Johnson, sidelined with a right ankle injury. "Setting screens, rebounding, shooting my shot, running the floor in transition and making my teammates better." Patterson, who came over to Toronto from the Sacramento Kings on Dec. 9 in a seven-player trade that sent Rudy Gay West, did all of that Monday in his first start in 30 games as a Raptor. He was a tidy 7-for-11 from the field -- including 3-for-5 from three-point range -- had six rebounds and added two assists. In his fourth season in the NBA, Patterson had 54 career starts, the majority with the Houston Rockets, coming into Monday night. He had started just six games this season, all with Sacramento. "Its all about making sure I have a positive role," Patterson said his rare start. Pattersons 22 points was one more than he had for the Kings against the Los Angeles Clippers Nov. 23. "Fifteen deep. Thats how we play. Thats how we role," starting point guard Kyle Lowry said of Pattersons ability to step into the line-up. "We won. Everybody stepped up." Lowry had another complete performance, scoring 19 points, doling out 12 assists and grabbing seven rebounds while DeMar DeRozan added 22 points as the Raptors (27-24) snapped a two-game losing streak before a crowd of 17,596 at Air Canada Centre. With the win, the Raptors, returning home from a five-game road trip out West, widened their lead over the Brooklyn Nets atop the NBAs Atlantic Division to three games. Toronto, 8-2 at home since Jan. 1, plays seven of its next nine at Air Canada Centre. The Raptors host the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday in their final game before the All-Star break. "We want to get both wins at home, protect home court and go into the break with a great conscience and try to hit the stretch run running," Lowry said of the teams approach to this weeks two games. The Raptors squandered a 15-point lead in the second quarter to go into halftime tied at 49. They then built up an 18-point edge in the third but again saw the Pelicans (22-29) battle back. Tyreke Evans had a game-high 23 points and 10 assists to lead New Orleans. Anthony Davis added 19. New Orleans went on a 16-5 run over the opening 5:10 of the fourth quarter to cut the Toronto lead to 87-86. But the Raptors responded with an 11-3 run over the next 2:30 to pull away for the victory. "For whatever reason, we are losing our leads with our second unit," said Raptors head coach Dwane Casey. "What its doing is putting a lot of pressure on our starters and them in big minute situations." DeRozan logged 40:21 and Lowry put in 38:48 to lead in court time among all players. "Taking Patrick Patterson off the second unit hurts them a bit," Casey said. "But still we have to get a rhythm with that second unit so we can rest our starters." Christian Jaros Jersey . The ninth-seeded Safarova doused Swede Johanna Larsson 6-2, 6-3 on the green clay at Family Circle Tennis Center. The Czech player was a finalist here two years ago and captured back-to-back doubles titles in 2012 and last year. Ottawa Senators Jerseys . In the days leading up to the draft, TSN.ca and TSN Radio basketball analyst Duane Watson looks at some of the names that will be headlining the event. Tonight, Michigans Nik Stauskas of Mississauga, Ontario. http://www.hockeysenatorsonline.us/chris-kelly-hockey-jersey/ .com) - Jimmie Johnson won Sundays AAA Texas 500 while championship contenders Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski as well as their teams were involved in a post-race fight on pit road after the two clashed in the closing laps at Texas Motor Speedway.RALEIGH, N.C. -- With his latest milestone within reach, Alex Ovechkin caught himself pressing and overthinking his play. All of a sudden, his path to history was clear. Ovechkin scored his 400th career goal into an empty net after the Washington Capitals had three power-play goals in the second period of a 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night. "I had a couple of chances to score, and they were good ones, but maybe I tried to make more moves than I usually do," Ovechkin said. "(An) empty-netter is (an) empty-netter. Of course I (thought) about it, but its over and its time to move on." Troy Brouwer, Marcus Johansson and John Carlson scored with the man advantage and Nicklas Backstrom assisted on all four goals to help the second-place Capitals win for the fifth time in their last seven games. Ovechkins empty-netter with 24.5 seconds left in his 634th career game made him the sixth-fastest player in NHL history to reach No. 400 and the seventh active player with that many. "As we all know, hes a pretty good goal-scorer," Backstrom said. "Its always fun to see a player accomplish something big and I think 400 goals in however many games he has, its great. We all know hes a great player." Jordan Staal and Riley Nash scored for Carolina while Cam Ward stopped 25 shots. The Hurricanes had earned at least a point in six of their previous seven games. But theyve dropped four of five with the loss to the Caps. "Five-on-5, we were all over them," Staal said. "We were the better team, 5-on-5. But three power-play goals, you cant let that happen. Thats not good enough, obviously, and thats how you lose games." Washingtons Philipp Grubauer matched a season high with 39 saves -- and got some help from the choppy ice after Alexander Semins shot with about 6 minutes left trickled just wide of the net. The Capitals have the leagues second-best power-play unit with a success rate of nearly 25 per cent. They converted all three of their chances in the second. ";You dont want to have to rely on it, but whenever its going to power you through games, absolutely you want to rely on it," Brouwer said of the power play. Mike Condon Jersey. A fortunate bounce helped the Capitals reclaim the lead at 3-2 with 4:31 left in the period: Mike Green broke his stick while dribbling a shot up the middle that clipped Brouwer on its way past Ward. "When it comes slower, obviously I get a better touch on it," Brouwer said. "I had my stick halfway up my body thinking it was going to be a higher shot because thats where he usually likes to shoot. Its almost a weird adjustment where you dont ever practice having to put your stick back down on the ice." That capped a big period for the Capitals power play. Johansson tied it 41 seconds into the second when he stuffed the puck between Wards left leg and the post. Carlson put the Capitals up 2-1 with 11:26 left -- and just 14 seconds into a holding minor on Tuomo Ruutu -- when his straightaway blast from just inside the blue line got past Ward. Carolina, which has the leagues third-worst power play, made it 2-all 2:42 later by scoring on the man advantage, with Nash making the most of Andrej Sekeras rebound. But it couldnt convert late after Carlson went off for hooking with 4:50 to play, despite peppering Grubauer with a barrage of shots from close range. The Hurricanes were playing for the first time since Dec. 14, when they wrapped up a four-point, four-game western swing with a win at Phoenix. Staal put the Hurricanes up 1-0 with 2:48 left in the first when he scored on a one-touch pass from Semin, who played seven years with the Capitals before signing with Carolina in July 2012. "We did a good job of getting after him and getting shots and getting opportunities," Staal said. "We just didnt bury them." NOTES: The Hurricanes scratched D Mike Komisarek (lower-body injury) after activating him from injured reserve earlier in the day. ... Semins point was his first since his Dec. 12 return from a concussion that cost him 12 games. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '