WASHINGTON - Fresh off his first All-Star Game appearance, DeMar DeRozan - heading into uncharted waters as the Raptors ready for a rare playoff push - addressed his teammates following Tuesday morning shoot around. Chris Ivory Jersey . "Each and every single game matters from here on out, especially if we want to do something special," he told them, as the third-seeded Raptors prepared to begin the unofficial second half of their season against the sixth place Washington Wizards. "We cant take [any] nights off," he stressed. "These 30 games are going to be big and weve got to start tonight." Message received, at least in the first of those final 30 games. It took just over four minutes for all five Raptors starters to get on the board. In the end, six players scored in double figures and the teams bench totaled 43 points on an impressive 18-for-26 shooting, as Toronto came away with a 103-93 win, its third in three games against the Wizards this season. "Thats whats great about our team, everybody understands their role and thats real big," said DeRozan, who had a quiet night by his recent standards, scoring 14 points. "We have anybody that can [step up], it can be anybody. If one guys not playing well, somebody else always picks it up." DeRozans uplifting words were not a surprise to Dwane Casey. The Raptors leading scorer had told his coach that he intended to make the speech on the flight to Washington the day prior. "[I] sat with him and talked about the second half of the season, what to expect, and he said he was going to do that," Casey said. "We talked [Monday] night as a team, talked about the next 30 games, what to expect as a team. Now weve got to follow it up with action. Every team coming out is going to be gunning for him - hes achieved All-Star status - and us as a team, were in the playoff hunt. So weve got to meet those expectations." As a team, the Raptors were expectedly rusty early on, specifically on defence. Washington scored 27 first-quarter points, shooting 57 per cent in the frame, while Wizards All-Star John Wall had 11, matching his game total from the Raptors last visit to Verizon Center, Torontos 101-88 win to begin the month of January. "Its always tough to find a rhythm when youre coming off the All-Star break," said Kyle Lowry, who vacationed in an undisclosed location this past weekend after being passed up for the All-Star Game. "Its always tough but we figured it out in the second half and third quarter, for me especially to get going a little bit." In a matchup between two of the best point guards in the Eastern Conference - arguably the two best - Lowry connected on just two of his eight first-half attempts, scoring six points as Wall exploded for 19, making nine of 12 shots. The Raptors lead guard came out of intermission looking like a man on a mission, scoring 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the third, draining long jumpers, getting into the paint at will and knocking down a series of tricky step backs. Lowry finished with a double-double, leading his team with 24 points and 10 assists and Wall was held to three points, without a single field goal, in the second half. "I was trying to attack a little bit more," Lowry, the scorned should-be-All-Star, said of his third-quarter clinic. "That first game out of the break is always tough and I didnt want to let that be an excuse for us to lose this game." "He took the game over in the third quarter and willed us to a win," Casey said of his point guard. "Just his aggressiveness. He attacked their feet, didnt settle for the three, got into the paint and kept attacking." The Raptors recorded 25 assists, 17 from their point guards - Lowry and Greivis Vasquez - and shot 57 per cent on the night, holding Washington, one of the better three-point shooting teams, to 4-of-15 from beyond the arch. Although it looked like it was going to be smooth sailing for Toronto in the third quarter, leading by as much as 20, things got interesting down the stretch when Washington turned up its defensive intensity and the Raptors quickly went ice cold. Toronto was held without a field goal in the final 7:35 of the game, as the Wizards cut their deficit to six down but were unable to get any closer. "We just turned the ball over way too many times against their pressure," Casey said after this team committed eight of their 15 miscues in the final frame. "Thats just from rust and time off, timing, speed of the game." The rest seemed to do wonders for the Raptors, winners of their last three games, specifically Amir Johnson, who has had over 10 days off after missing two contests with a sore right ankle. The Raptors forward made his return off the bench, scoring 14 points and grabbing five rebounds in a spirited 25 minutes of action. Patrick Patterson made his third straight start - scoring 10 points in 34 minutes - and should stick with the first unit for the time being as Johnson works his way back to full health, though Casey wouldnt commit to the lineup change. The Raptors will go for the four-game sweep of Washington when the Wizards visit Toronto next week. They are now four games ahead of the Wizards and a game and a half in front of the fourth-place Chicago Bulls, Torontos Wednesday opponent at the Air Canada Centre. "Thats a tough team," Lowry said of the Bulls, who will be well rested having arrived in Toronto Tuesday, getting the night off. "A different type of game tomorrow night. Theyre very defensive-minded. Theyve got a great coach [in Tom Thibodeau] and a very intense team, with Joakim (Noah) their All-Star. He leads the charge so weve got to match his intensity." Abry Jones Jersey . Ferrer, the two-time defending champion in Buenos Aires, is aiming to win his 21st ATP tournament. Ferrer will next face fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, the fourth seed, who defeated Jeremy Chardy of France 7-6 (7), 6-3 in another quarterfinal match. Keelan Cole Jersey . The 90-plus minutes of play are about trends and approach. http://www.jaguarsfansclub.com/Black-Aaron-Colvin-Jaguars-Jersey.html?cat=914 . Its Wu-Tang and Outkast in the final. Now, we all know youve played the role of Andre 3000 in the past, does that mean Outkast is getting your vote?AJ: You know it, you know it.KOLOMNA, Russia -- Charles Hamelin ended the short-track speedskating World Cup season on a high note Sunday, winning gold in the 1,000-metre event in the final Olympic qualifying event of the year. Canadas strong showing throughout the World Cup season has qualified it for the maximum number of spots in every short-track speedskating event at the Sochi Games in February. "With the beginning to the season that Ive had, beginning with the Canadian trials in August, I have nothing to doubt in myself. How strong I am, how fast I am," said Hamelin. "I think that the program that our coaches have put in front of us is the perfect one for us." Hamelin won gold on Sunday despite having to withdraw from Saturdays competition with a bruised left thigh. He won the race in one minute 24.923 seconds. Frances Thibaut Fauconney (1:25.054) was second followed by American J.R. Celski (1:25.148) and Chinas Tianyu Han (1:25.195). Charle Cournoyer of Boucherville, Que., and Olivier Jean of Lachenaie, Que., both stumbled in the preliminaries and finished at the bottom of the rankings. Sochi wont be Hamelins first Olympics. He won gold in the 500 metres and 5,000-metre relay at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and silver in the 5,000-metre relay in 2006 in Turin. Despite that wealth of experience, this World Cup season has been formative for Hamelin. "Ive learned a lot on what to do at the Olympics in two months," said Hamelin. "I feel very confident that I can be on the podium in every distance and Im going there with that confidence." The mens relay team did not reach the main final on Sunday. Charles Hamelins fall in the 30th lap created too large a gap for his teammates to close, excluding them from the A final. The team of Charles and Francois Hamelin, from Ste-Julie, Que., Cournoyer, Yellowknifes Michael Gilday and Jean took advantage of a fall by the two leading teams in the B final as the final bell was ringing to win the heat and take fifth place. First place went to the Americans (6:44.941), second to the Russians (6:45.552) and third to South Koreans (6:45.470). Yves Hamelin, Canadas short-track speedskating program director and father to Charles and FFrancois, believes that Canada is poised for a very strong showing in Sochi, possibly better than its performance in Vancouver. Leonard Fournette Jersey. "Theyre healthier, theyre stronger," said Yves Hamelin. "Four years to keep building up their performance. Getting more experience, having the chance to do more semis and finals. Our guys in these critical races, we see them reacting very well, even better than they were in Vancouver. "Thats very encouraging to see such a large racing background develop over the last four years, in addition to what they had prior to Vancouver." With several months to prepare for the Olympics, Charles Hamelin isnt getting ahead of himself. "Ill be focusing on my training," said Hamelin. "I will not be trying to focus on things too far away. I think thats the way to relieve the pressure." On the womens side, Valerie Maltais of La Baie, Que., was in fine form in the 1,000-metre event, leading until the last turn when she lost her footing and found herself in the mats, ultimately finishing fourth in 1:29.169. "On the last corner, Elise Christie from Great Britain passed me inside," said Maltais, who said she was uninjured in the fall. "The pass was clean but it was tight. She hit the block and I stepped on that block when I fell." Marianne St-Gelais of St-Felicien, Que., recovering from a virus, finished 14th, followed by her teammate Jessica Hewitt of Kamloops, B.C., in 15th. Neither skater advanced past the quarter-finals. In the 3,000-metre relay, China won in 4:06.785 after taking the lead with seven laps to go. The South Koreans (4:06.215) were second and Italy (4:09.217) third. The Canadian team of Edmontons Jessica Gregg, Maltais, St-Gelais, Hewitt and Marie-Eve Drolet of Laterriere, Que., were shut out of the podium, finishing fourth in 4:11.880. "Im very excited (for the Games), Im very for the whole team because everyone got their spots for the individual distance and also for the relay," said Maltais. The relay was Drolets return to competition, after battling injury since last Augusts Olympic trials. Gregg fell during the race, slowing down her teams rhythm. China NFL Jerseys Stitched Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic China Jerseys Cheap Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping NFL Jerseys Wholesale ' ' '