The lesson to learn from Monday night’s game (Jan. 2) is that if you live by the three-pointer, you also die by the three-pointer. The New York Knicks attempted 35 three-pointers against the Toronto Raptors, making just 10 of them to finish 28.6 percent from beyond the arc. Overall, the team went just 28-for-78 from the field (35.9 percent) in a game that simply got away from them at the end.

This 90-85 loss to the Raptors is extremely frustrating; especially with how good the Knicks looked against the Sacramento Kings back on Saturday (Dec. 31). The team had to play without All-Star power forward Amare Stoudemire again, and at first it didn’t seem like it would hurt the team. The Knicks took a nice 23-22 lead at the end of the first quarter and it looked like a great game was brewing. The second quarter got out of control though, as Toronto out-scored the Knicks 29-11 in those 12 minutes alone.

Heading into halftime with a 17-point deficit to a team that won 22 games last year is not what Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni wanted to see, and at least the team put in more effort in the second half. The Knicks fought back to within one point with just 35 second left but couldn’t stop the Raptors when it mattered most. In the early Atlantic division standings, New York now falls behind Toronto by means of the head-to-head tie-breaker. This is definitely not where the team wanted to sit after five games in a shortened season.

Carmelo Anthony finished the game 13-for-31 from the field, often taking shots he wasn’t comfortable with just to get the offense going. Far too many times there were other players passing up shot opportunities and it seemed like Bill Walker was afraid to even take shots on Monday night (Jan. 2). I don’t blame Anthony at all for attempting 31 shots, but I would have liked him to make a couple more. He did finish with 35 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists though, so fantasy basketball owners that have him had to come away happy from this game.

Next up for the 2-3 Knicks are the Charlotte Bobcats, who come to town on Wednesday (Jan. 4) for a 7:30 p.m. ET game.

More From YCN :

Knicks Beat Kings Without Stoudemire

Stoudemire Injures Ankle

No_Garnett_Suspension

New_York_Wins_Opener_Against_Boston

Baron_Davis_Comes_To_Knicks

Sources:

Full Knicks Schedule

New York Knicks Website

*Ryan Christopher DeVault is a fan of the New York Knicks that has followed the team since the days John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason instilled their defensive will on the rest of the league.

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What are your opinions.

It is only the second regular season game on 12/28/11, but the Cleveland Cavaliers will be meeting the Detroit Pistons for the third time. The only other team that the Cavs have faced this season has been the Toronto Raptors.

The Cavs beat the Pistons on their first meeting and lost to them on their second meeting. Right now, each team has had a chance to evaluate each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Looking back at the game against the Raptors, the Cavs are going to have to play harder and are going to have to penetrate the paint more. The Pistons are a physical team and if the Cavs are in the paint, they can get fouls, and in turn, foul shots.

The Cavs also have to greatly step up their defense. This really hurt them in the second preseason game against the Pistons. The Cavs were simply not playing a strong enough defense and the Pistons were running circles around them.

“This team plays hard and this has been their MO for years,” coach Scott remarked about the Pistons. “If you don’t match or surpass their physical style they are going to beat you. That’s the first thing we have to address. All our bigs and our team in general has to understand who we are playing and how they play. It’s going to be a physical basketball game. They are going to grab and hold you and you can’t cry about it. You have to fight fire with fire.”

Kyrie Irving is most likely going to start in this this third meeting against the Pistons. However, he has to up his shooting game. In the game against the Raptors, his field goal percentage was only .167. After his impressive games in the preseason against this Pistons’ team, hopefully he can up that stat. He did do well in assists though, so as a point guard, Irving did not fail his team.

On the defensive end, all Cavs’ players failed and they all need to step it up. They cannot beat the Pistons playing defense like they did against the Raptors.

R. Elizabeth C. Kitchen was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and still lives there. She was raised a Cavs’ fan and has remained loyal through all of the teams ups and downs. She remains confident that the Cavs will bring home a championship at some point in her life. Follow Rose on Twitter @Rose_Kitchen

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If anybody needs tickets to games, remember to click the tickets link at the top.

A 1,300-pound boulder sits just inside the front door to the Toronto Raptors’ dressing room, a physical reminder of the mentality Dwane Casey is trying to instill in his new team.

Heading into what the Raptors head coach is calling a “building” season, Casey has implemented a new motto: Pound the Rock.

“I knew we were going to be a work in progress, every time we walked on the floor we were going to have to have something to get us to think about … how we have to get better, we’ve got to work to get better,” Casey said earlier this week. “It’s from a story about a stonecutter. Every time a stonecutter hits a rock it may not break, you may have to hit it 100 times but on that 101st time you hit it, now you crack the rock.”

The motto is written on the walls of the team’s practice gym and in the locker-room.

The boulder, purchased at a quarry in Thornhill, Ont., just north of Toronto, is there to remind the players every time they walk on the court. They’re supposed to touch it as they pass by and will leave every huddle with a call to “Pound the Rock!”

The meaning of the phrase goes back to Jacob Riis, a social reformer who wrote about the plight of the poor in New York in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

“That’s our motivation this year, as you know rocks are hard to break, and our goal is to break that wall and to persevere,” said forward Jamaal Magloire.

Raptors employee Graeme McIntosh was sent out to find the stone that stands about three feet tall, snapping a photo on his phone and sending it to Casey for approval.

The stone, which cost about $500, was then washed and shipped to Air Canada Centre.

Casey said the rock won’t win his team games, it’s just a physical reminder that hard work eventually pays off.

“So every day we walk into practice it may not end up in a ‘W’, it may not end up in a great game, but we’ve got to keep pounding, we’ve got to keep hitting the rock, and eventually it will crack,” Casey said. “That’s why we work every day to get better. And you can use it in any walk of life, whether it’s as a journalist, or in a lawyer’s profession, doctor, whatever it is, we all have to pound the rock.”

Casey isn’t the first person to implement the mantra in sports. Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden used the “Pound the Rock” motto and had a rock in the NFL team’s locker-room in 2002, the year it won the Super Bowl.

The San Antonio Spurs also have the rock and the motto.

The Raptors players seem to have embraced the philosophy.

“Naturally our first meeting was when he introduced the theme and everybody gravitated to it right away,” Magloire said. “I just think you’ve just got to remember it and always persevere and break through that wall — or break through that rock — as we say.”

There is the quick update of the day.

Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news.

On March 21, 2012 the Toronto Raptors will take to the courts of their home game while wearing camouflage uniforms, a salute to Canada’s active military members. Coachs and employees for the team will also sport poppies on their clothing in support of the troops.

The game will take place against the Chicago Bulls and the uniforms (pictured above) will only be worn for that game.

Joseph Casciaro of Raptor Blog however doesn’t think the uniforms honor Canada’s troops in the right way, writing:

On Remembrance Day, you can wear a poppy, donate to various charities and legions, and do countless other things to show your support. But I’d bet that if you walked around in head-to-toe camouflage, it would be seen as unnecessary, and in fact, might even be seen as making a mockery of the whole day.

To me, this is the same thing, you don’t have to parade your team around in camouflage to prove that you care about the armed forces. Make no mistake, these uniforms will enhance the Raptors’ reputation as league laughing stock in some circles more than they will do any good for our troops and veterans.

I have to disagree with Casciaro in part, yes it is true that the team could use a more “modest” approach to honoring their troops, however the uniforms, as ugly as they may be, send a strong statement that raises awareness about the men and women who serve in Canada’s armed services.

Do you think the Toronto Raptors “remembrance” uniforms are gaudy and uncalled for or a nice gesture on the teams behalf?

That’s all for today.

Dwane Casey may have already made his most important coaching contribution of the season.

With the accelerated NBA free agent period already in high gear, don’t expect the Toronto Raptors to be making plays for the handful of big name prizes out there.

And according to those familiar with the team’s mindset at the moment, the Raptors newly hired coach is good with that.

“He supports this,” was how one insider put it.

Now, that may sound redundant. Despite the potential cap space the Raptors could have at hand – as much as $17-million if they took advantage of the new collective bargaining agreement’s amnesty provision to make unwelcome contracts go ‘poof’ – it’s hard to imagine the franchise attracting top talent now.

Casey may have forged a strong bond with free agent centre Tyson Chandler in Dallas over the past season, but strong enough for the 29-year-old defensive whiz to leave a championship team in Dallas for an uncertain present in Toronto?

Unlikely. There was a report Thursday that the Raptors would be active in pursuit of the likes of Chandler as well as Nene, the free agent from the Denver Nuggets, and Marc Gasol, a restricted free agent centre who played with the Memphis Grizzlies. All will command contracts beginning at $50-million and heading straight up from there.

But the sense around the Raptors now is a splashy move is far off the radar at this stage. Even if there were an option to “get in the game” on the sexy free agents, the team’s brain trust is focusing on building, rather than re-building.

Translated: Look for free agent moves or trades that will have minimal impact on the long-term. Instead look for moves to fill out the roster or provide a look at a potential development piece. In general, expect an effort from the team to encourage the fan base to be patient as president Bryan Colangelo uses this year and next to position the club for long-term success.

Newcomers will likely be brought in on one-year deals, although there might be an exception made for a veteran who could help Casey communicate the former Mavericks defensive specialist’s message on that side of the ball.

Chuck Hayes, the undersized centre by way of the Houston Rockets might get a look, as could Jason Collins, who veteran Raptors fans will remember for neutralizing Chris Bosh during the 2006-07 playoffs when Collins was with the Nets.

That Casey is onboard for a longer term approach is significant. It’s his resume that will bear the brunt of the wins and losses this year.

And while you’ll never hear anyone associated with an NBA team throw words like ‘tanking’ around – that’s for the guys like me -there is an acknowledgement that competing in a top-heavy Eastern Conference will require some significant talent infusion best achieved through the draft.

Accepting short-term pain for a long-term payoff is risky – drafts being by their nature uncertain – and also a departure by Colangelo, who has typically embraced the challenge of rebuilding on the fly.

That Casey has bought in will only help.

But coming off a 22-60 season and with their first overall pick, Jonas Valancuinas playing in Europe and looking at a 2011-12 campaign that will be two months shorter than the norm, it’s a perfect time to hit the reset button.

Like most NBA talent evaluators Colangelo and executive vice-president of basketball operations Ed Stefanski were expected to be in Lexington Saturday to watch the University of Kentucky host the University of North Carolina.

Raptors fans should pay close attention to the Wildcats’ Anthony Davis and the Tar Heels’ Harrison Barnes – the Raptors decision makers doubtless will be.

If accepting another losing season is going to be worthwhile the payoff will need to be in the form of a high pick in a deep draft and the addition of a franchise-changing type talent. Barnes and Davis may just qualify.

Does it have to a long slog through the bottom of the NBA to get back to respectability?

Not necessarily. Colangelo, remember, only managed to gain a two-year contract extension so he’ll be motivated to show progress sooner than later. He’s not the type to take the long way ’round anyway.

Passing on long-term contract commitments at this stage could set the Raptors up well a year from now, when – if the amnesty provision were in play – they could have as much as $24-million of space under the salary cap.

As well, Valancuinas would be available to them, along with whoever they manage to land in what again is considered a deep, talented draft.

In place already are the likes of DeMar DeRozan and Ed Davis.

It’s not a playoff team, but it’s a base of talent worth building on.

There’s hope in that.

Michael Grange will provide insight and analysis on all the top stories in sports.

Leave any suggestions in the comment box.

The Toronto Raptors have hired Ed Stefanski as executive vice president of basketball operations.

Stefanski was hired Wednesday and will report to Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo.

Stefanski was fired last week as general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers and had mixed results in four seasons, signing Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala to $80 million US contracts and firing coach Eddie Jordan after one 27-win season. Stefanski hired Doug Collins, who led the Sixers to the playoffs last season, but it was too late to save his job.

Before he joined the 76ers, Stefanksi spent nine seasons with the Nets. He was promoted to general manager of the club in the summer of 2004 following a one-year stint as the team’s senior vice president of basketball operations and four seasons as the team’s director of scouting.

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TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors have hired Ed Stefanski as executive vice president of basketball operations.

Stefanski was hired Wednesday. He will report to Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo. Stefanski was fired last week as general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers. He had mixed results in four seasons, signing Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala to $80 million contracts and firing coach Eddie Jordan after one 27-win season. Stefanski hired Doug Collins, who led the Sixers to the playoffs last season, but it was too late to save his job.

What do you guys think about this.

The Associated Press

Posted:

Aug 18, 2011 5:50 PM ET

Last Updated:

Aug 18, 2011 5:50 PM ET

Gotta run!.

Toronto, Canada (Sports Network) – Add Kevin Pritchard to the list of
hopefuls for the vacant Toronto Raptors general manager position.

The former Portland Trailblazers GM joins Ed Stefanski, Jeff Bower and Dennis
Lindsey as the list of names that the Raptors have been reported to show the
most interest towards and, out of everyone, he certainly seems like the
obvious choice.

Pritchard’s time in Portland wasn’t the longest but it was quite successful,
as he laid down the building blocks to transform a perennial loser into one of
the most talked about up-and-coming teams in the NBA.

The young core of LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy and Nicolas Batum has
Pritchard’s fingerprints all over it, so it’s clear that he’s very capable of
building a winner. And out of all the other lead candidates for the Raptors
job, he’ll probably be considered the frontrunner because he’s more of a known
commodity than the others; even though some of them have more experience.

With that in mind, Pritchard’s arrival would be pretty exciting for Raptors
fans. After all, he would be a young, vibrant GM eager to prove himself again
and turn the franchise’s fortunes around. However, that is exactly why a
Pritchard hire would be problematic.

Toronto already hired a GM much like Pritchard back in 2006 in Bryan
Colangelo, and even though he’s decided to step away from the GM role and just
act as president of the team, his DNA is still all over the franchise –
something that may not mesh well with Pritchard.

Both Pritchard and Colangelo are control freaks with strong personalities. If
he were to come into the Raptor-fold the two would likely butt heads with each
other. And while healthy debate and input on how to improve the team is
generally a good thing, constant disagreement is something a franchise doesn’t
want to deal with.

It has been reported in the past that the reason for Pritchard’s departure
from Portland was because he hungered for both power and media adoration.
These are two things he isn’t likely to receive as much in Toronto, as long as
Colangelo stays above him in the franchise hierarchy.

The hire that the Raptors president should make is one that can create synergy
amongst him and his GM. Colangelo won’t find that perfect sync if he hires
Pritchard, but he may just find it in Lindsey.

As the current assistant GM of the San Antonio Spurs, Lindsey would bring some
championship knowledge to the front office and seeing how the Spurs have made
a living off picking exceptional players later in the draft, his talent
evaluation skills will work wonders for a team likely headed to the lottery.

A Lindsey selection would also make sense, as he’ll work well with Colangelo
because of the emphasis that the Spurs have made on scouting international
players — something the Toronto boss has been known for.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the reason why Lindsey should be the
prime candidate is because Colangelo will still be able to go hands-on with
the team because Lindsey would be a rookie GM, making him more easily
controlled, which would allow Colangelo to still execute his vision for the
club.

Lindsey may not be the sexiest pick, but he seems like the right one. If the
club decides instead to go with Prtichard, however, it will be very
interesting to see how he and Colangelo work with each other.

The Sports Network

Gotta run!.

That’s all the news for today.

As far as insights go, this one isn’t particularly incisive: It is not a great time to be a Toronto Raptors fan.

There is the three-year playoff drought, capped by an arduous 22-win season last year. There is the lockout, with no end in sight, which means president and general manager Bryan Colangelo cannot make changes to that mangled roster at the moment. There is the leading scorer, Andrea Bargnani, who could not sell out Toronto rock venue Lee’s Palace (capacity: 550) with his believers. And then there are some of the team’s other core players, such as shooting guard DeMar DeRozan (who cannot make a three-pointer), power forward Ed Davis (who does not possess much offensive game at this point) and…well, yeah. That is not a needlessly negative portrait of the team. That is the reality.

To add to that, Colangelo decided to draft Jonas Valanciunas, a Lithuanian centre who will not be able to play for the Raptors thanks to a contractual situation with his club in his home country — that is if there is a 2011-12 NBA season.

This was thought to be a disastrous public relations move for Colangelo. “Remember that team that won 22 games last year? Well, forget about helping that team with the high draft pick we earned by being so terrible,” Colangelo seemed to be saying to the fans.

That was just an immediate reaction, though, and it has been replaced. Jonas fever is sweeping Raptors fandom.

Valanciunas, indeed, has been wonderful for Lithuania at the FIBA Under-19 World Championships in Riga, Latvia. Through six games, he is averaging 20.6 points per game on 59% shooting from the field, and bringing in 13.3 rebounds per game. He leads the tournament in both scoring and rebounding, while shooting nearly 83% from the free-throw line.

And yes, Raptors fans are abuzz, and with cause. Draft guru Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress tweeted that Raptors fans should be “elated” with Valanciunas, and that is exactly what has followed. It is all Valanciunas all the time for devout Raptors followers. By way of an example, seven of the last 10 posts on The Score-affiliated Raptorblog are about Valanciunas. (This is not a criticism, as there is simply nothing else going on at the moment. Valanciunas is infinitely more interesting than players who can’t play or coaches and executives who can’t talk about their players. And page views do not stop mattering, even if the games and transactions stop happening. Lockout 2011: Catch the fever.)

At this point, Raptors writers would be best served to start up all-Jonas blogs. (Two suggestions that were tweeted at me: The Jonas Bloggers and My Blog Is Jonas.)

However, it would be best to remember that Valanciunas is putting up these numbers against kids. There are a few promising players that could be draft high in next year’s draft playing — notably University of Florida-bound centre Patric Young — but their experience largely consists of dominating fellow high-school players. Valanciunas has played in the Euroleague, home of the second-best basketball in the world.

Valanciunas has been great in the tournament, and that should not be taken away from him. If people want to keep tabs on him, there is no reason not to. The NBA will come back at some point, though, and two things should be remembered before a world of pressure is put on the 19-year-old centre’s shoulders. First, remember who he is dominating. Second, remember how much Raptors fans need someone to believe in.

If that context is kept in mind, a little hope is not a bad thing.

• Email: ekoreen@nationalpost.com | Twitter: @ekoreen

Comment Below!.

Former Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Dwane Casey has been named the coach of the Toronto Raptors. (UPI Photo/Mark Cowan) 

TORONTO, June 21 (UPI) — Dwane Casey, who was on the staff for the Dallas Mavericks as they won the 2011 NBA championship, has been named the coach of the Toronto Raptors.

Casey, 54, was the head coach in the NBA for Minnesota 2005-07 before joining the Dallas coaching staff. He was in charge of the team’s defense, which was sixth best in the NBA last season.

Casey was an assistant at Seattle for 11 seasons before taking the job at Minnesota, where the team was 53-69. He was fired halfway through the 2006-07 season.

He is replacing Jay Triano, who was fired after the Raptors went 22-60 last year.

“We will get better,” Casey said Tuesday. “The roster has a good talent base.”

“After a lengthy and detailed search for our new head coach, it became very clear that Dwane Casey embodies every aspect of what we defined as an ideal candidate,” said Raptors General Manager Bryan Colangelo in a statement.

“Dwane’s 16-plus years in NBA coaching circles, working with some tremendous basketball mentors, coupled with his proven ability as a defensive architect, will serve as a great backdrop for the future approach of this team.”

That’s all the news for today.

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors are making a head coaching change after finishing with the third-worst record in the NBA this past season.

The team will not pick up the option on Jay Triano’s contract for next season. Instead, he’ll be retained as a special assistant to president and general manager Bryan Colangelo.

The search for a new head coach will commence immediately.

“I have great respect for Jay Triano both as a person and as a basketball mind,” Colangelo said in a release Wednesday. “Jay deserves tremendous credit for developing our young players this past season and our most recent win-loss record does not appropriately reflect his many positive contributions to this organization.”

The team said there is no definitive timetable for the completion of the search process.

Triano served as an assistant to three coaches before being named interim head coach in December 2008 following the dismissal of Sam Mitchell. The interim tag was later removed and Triano signed a three-year deal in May 2009.

He guided the Raptors to a 22-60 mark this past season and finished with an 87-142 record as head coach.

“This was a difficult decision to make,” Colangelo said. “But after almost three full seasons of observation and evaluation I believe that bringing in a new voice as head coach will accelerate the progress we are looking to make in the coming years.

“I am very pleased that Jay has agreed to stay on and help see through the plan that we have designed and initiated together.”

Triano, a native of Niagara Falls, Ont., became the first Canadian head coach in the NBA when he joined Lenny Wilkens’ staff for the 2002-’03 season.

“I am grateful to the organization for the opportunity to be a head coach in the NBA,” Triano said. “I am proud of the work that I and the coaching staff have done with our young players and feel confident we have laid the foundation for a team that will continue to improve.

“I look forward in assisting Bryan to deliver a championship team to Toronto.”

The announcement came two weeks after Colangelo agreed to a multi-year contract extension. He has spent five years at the helm of Canada’s lone NBA team.

The 2010-’11 campaign was one the Raptors would like to forget.

The outlook in training camp was bad following the off-season departure of five-time all-star Chris Bosh, and things actually played out worse.

A team lacking in talent also repeatedly delivered questionable efforts on the floor, with Triano becoming so frustrated that he often cursed during media interviews.

Triano, 52, became the unfortunate victim of the team’s talent deficiency, although it’s unclear how someone new will be able to get more from the current group. Centre Andrea Bargnani has failed to step into the void left by Bosh, and youngsters like DeMar DeRozan remain a work in progress.

In 2009-’10, the Raptors went a disappointing 40-42 after an off-season overhaul by Colangelo in which he added nine new faces. But the team was ultimately undone by its perennial problems — poor defence and lackadaisical rebounding.

Triano spent 11 years as a player on Canada’s national team and another six as its head coach, leading Canada to a seventh-place finish at the 2000 Olympics.

He set 11 school records at Simon Fraser University and then went on to be the Clan’s head coach, eventually landing an NBA job as director of communications with the Vancouver Grizzlies.

That’s all the news for today.