Unser Regelwerk » not continue as coach of the national team. "

TORONTO - Sunday afternoons track meet with the fleet-footed Suns left the Raptors in a daze, but one player was feeling it more than the others. With just over 90 seconds remaining, down by nine in a game Toronto would go on to lose 121-113, Kyle Lowry - the Raptors most irreplaceable player - clutched his head, as he remained sprawled out on the court across from the teams bench. Scrambling for a loose ball moments earlier, Lowry took two inadvertent knees to the head from Suns 235-pound forward P.J. Tucker. Assisted by his teammates and the medical staff, the Raptors point guard walked gingerly to the bench where he was examined briefly during the timeout but would ultimately stay in the game. "Hes fine," Dwane Casey said after the game, but Lowrys assessment was a little less comforting. "I got kneed in the head, bad," he told reporters. "Ive got a headache right now. These (television) lights are killing me right now. But Im alright, though." Has he suffered a concussion before? Was he concerned that he may have suffered one that afternoon? Lowry balked at those questions. "No, Im tough," he said with a laugh, as if that could shield him from possible head injury. For those familiar with Lowry, one thing was for certain. He was not coming out of that game voluntarily. Sure enough, he shook it off and played the final 1:36, badly missing his next shot, a three coming out of the timeout. After a slow start, Lowry scored all but two of his team-high 28 points during the Raptors second half push. Ultimately he and his club could not overcome Phoenixs dynamic backcourt and devastating team speed. "Their speed and quickness was the biggest factor," Casey said after his team surrendered 121 points, most since they lost a Jan. 25 shootout to the Clippers. "Speed does that," he continued. "Speed kills. Thats the whole bottom line. We wont see a faster team than that the rest of the year. It caused a lot of breakdowns." With the tandem of Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe setting the tone for Phoenix, the Raptors were forced out of their comfort zone, playing at a tempo that suited the Suns high-octane attack. "Thats their type of game," Lowry admitted. "We dont want to have no type of game like that. We want to hold teams under 100, under 90, preferably." The Raptors, who had not lost a game by more than five points in over a month, were holding their previous nine opponents at home to 91.3 in regulation. For the first time over that stretch, they seemed to let their own frustration get the better of them. Usually a calm, cool and collected bunch, the Raptors got caught up arguing with the officials during a third quarter in which the Suns shot 23 free throws, including 10 from Bledsoe alone. The afternoon mercifully came to an end with reserve forward Steve Novak confronting a teammate on Torontos bench as Jonas Valanciunas played peacemaker and held him back. Novak would not say he was shouting at, or why and insisted, its a non-issue. Despite a bit of understandable post-game tension in the teams locker room, there was an underlying feeling of calmness, stemming from their unflappable head coach. "Its not a systemic problem," Casey insisted. "Its not a situation where (we should) panic. Its one game. We knew we werent going to go undefeated the rest of the way. That team right there, theyre fighting for their playoff lives like we are." Of course, that wasnt the case back in December when Toronto last visited the Suns. In the midst of a Western road trip, the Raptors dropped their fifth straight and fell six games below the .500 mark for the only time this season. It was an undeniable low point for the squad before their fortunes turned two days later, as Rudy Gay was traded. Even after Sundays loss, they are 31-16 since that game in Phoenix. In a couple losses to the Suns - the Western Conferences feel-good story - this season, the Raptors have been out-rebounded by 36, grabbing a season-low 26 on Sunday, allowing a total of 227 points. Missing Patterson Without Patrick Patterson, missing his fourth straight game with an elbow ligament sprain, the Raptors undermanned second unit was thoroughly outplayed Sunday. The Suns finished with a 59-11 advantage in bench scoring, led by the 28 points of Gerald Green - a starter until Bledsoe returned from injury - and the Morris twins, who Patterson likely would have guarded. "Once Patrick gets back we have offence coming off the bench, which is huge, everybody kind of gets back in their place," said Casey, who wasnt concerned about long-term ramifications of the benchs underwhelming performance. "Again, no time to panic. Weve showed that weve played against quality teams without Pat. Weve got to continue to do that." Patterson will be re-evaluated Monday and the team hopes to have him back in the lineup sometime this coming week. Johnson climbs franchise block list With his swat on Tucker midway through the first quarter, Amir Johnson passed Antonio Davis for third on the Raptors all-time block list. Johnson, who leads Toronto with 73 blocked shots this season, has recorded 406 since being acquired by the Raptors ahead of the 2009-10 campaign. He is now 9 blocks away from tying Vince Carter for second-most in franchise history. Chris Bosh is the Raptors all-time leader with 600. The Stat DeMar DeRozan, who scored 17, has been held under 20 points in consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 20-23. The Raptors all-star guard tallied 16 points on Friday in a challenging matchup against the Grizzlies Tayshaun Prince and Tony Allen before facing Tucker and the Suns Sunday. The Quote "Its just tough when you go out there playing hard and sometimes we dont get a call that were fighting or dying for, that we may need at a critical time," said DeRozan, who was whistled for a technical, along with Casey, after voicing his disapproval of a no-call on a drive to the basket in the third quarter. "Its definitely tough but its something we can learn from." Jose Juan Barea Jersey .com) - DAngelo Harrison posted 21 points to guide No. Josh McRoberts Jersey . After a 99-97 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night, his Celtics coaches and teammates have only positive things to say about the Toronto-born rookie. http://www.officialmavericksfanstore.com/kids-jason-kidd-mavericks-jersey/ . He was with the New York Jets in 2011 when the NFL locked out their players after they failed to agree on a new contract. Willy went undrafted but was given a look by four NFL teams before heading north. Steve Nash Jersey .com) - A chant of Zeke reverberated around AT&T Stadium before Ezekiel Elliott powered into the end zone for his fourth and final touchdown. Luka Doncic Jersey . Torres tells Spanish daily AS "in football you never know where you will be inside one month. Im going to work hard, thats all you can do with this last part of the season so important. MANAUS, Brazil -- Xherdan Shaqiris hat trick put Switzerland into the second round of the World Cup, and kept coach Ottmar Hitzfeld gainfully employed for at least a few more days. Shaqiri scored a pair of first-half goals and added another in the second Wednesday to give Switzerland a 3-0 victory over Honduras, a result that put the Swiss in second place in Group E behind France. "We knew that we were going to show great football today," said Shaqiri, a Bayern Munich winger. "For us, this has been really a dream to be in the World Cup, small Switzerland in the World Cup." The small Swiss will next face the not-so-small Lionel Messi and Argentina on Tuesday in Sao Paulo in what could be Hitzfelds final match. The German veteran, a two-time Champions League winner as a coach, has said this tournament will be his last. "We are really anxious for that. We also know that we are not the favourites for the match, but we are going to try for victory," Shaqiri said. "Getting to the round of 16, everything is possible. You never know." Shaqiri scored his first goal in the sixth minute, dribbling into a crowd of defenders and curling a shot into the net off the underside of the crossbar. In the 31st, he collected a pass from Josip Drmic after a defensive error and easily beat Honduras goalkeeper Noel Valladares. Shaqiri completed his hat trick in the 71st. Drmic did well to beat Honduras defender Victor Bernardez on the left and pass to a charging Shaqiri, who one-timed his shot past a diving Valladares. In the other Group E game, France held Ecuador to a 0-0 draw. The match at the Arena da Amazonia was the fourth and final game to be played in the Brazilian rainforest, and was the second to have an official cooling break because of the stifling heat and humidity. According to FIFA, it was 26 degrees C (79 degrees F) with the humidity at 88 per cent when the match started. Referee Nestor Pitana of Argentina made the decision to stop the match in the 39th, and the break lasted for about a minute. There was also an official break in the first half of the United States-Portugal match on Sunday. After three 6 p.m. starts at the Arena da Amazonia, Wednesdays match started at 4 p.m. But a noontime thunderstorm combiined with overcast skies and a slight breeze cooled the temperature a bit after several days of sunny skies and oppressive heat.dddddddddddd "Toward the end things were getting tougher, but we managed to deal with this," Hitzfeld said. "We ran for the ball." The extreme weather had been something Honduras was looking forward to. The Central American country has a similar climate, and they often play qualifiers under the same circumstances in an effort to gain an advantage over opposing teams. On Wednesday, Honduras struggled to create much on the attacking end, but did manage several decent attempts in the second half. The teams best chance came in the 52nd minute when striker Jerry Bengtson beat Switzerland goalkeeper Diego Benaglio but had his shot cleared off the line by defender Ricardo Rodriguez. A few minutes later, Honduras screamed for a penalty after substitute Jerry Palacios went down in the area with Switzerland defender Johan Djourou on his back, but Pitana decided otherwise. "The second half was very good. We had three or four chances to score, but to score a goal is a different story," said Honduras coach Luis Fernando Suarez, who said he would not continue as coach of the national team. "In a sense, we disappointed our nation." Switzerland and Honduras played each other at the World Cup in South Africa exactly four years ago, on June 25, 2010, but that match ended in a 0-0 draw and both teams were eliminated. This time, the Swiss move on and Hitzfeld has plenty more work to do against Argentina. "(Its) going to be a match that we have nothing to lose. We have a lot to gain," Hitzfeld said. "We do have a chance, even against Argentina." ------ Lineups: Honduras: Noel Valladares; Brayan Beckeles, Victor Bernardez, Maynor Figueroa, Juan Carlos Garcia; Oscar Boniek Garcia (Andy Najar, 77), Jorge Claros, Wilson Palacios, Roger Espinoza (Marvin Chavez, 46); Carlo Costly (Jerry Palacios, 40), Jerry Bengtson. Switzerland: Diego Benaglio; Stephan Lichtsteiner, Johan Djourou, Fabian Schaer, Ricardo Rodriguez; Valon Behrami, Gokhan Inler, Xherdan Shaqiri (Blerim Dzemaili, 87), Granit Xhaka (Michael Lang, 77), Admir Mehmedi; Josip Drmic (Haris Seferovic, 73). ' ' '