t has a career-high 18 points with 10 goals and eight assists in 46 games this season

MEMPHIS - For a brief period of time to begin this season, the Raptors ranked among the leagues top 10 in both offence and defence as they raced out to their best start in franchise history. Christian Vazquez Jersey . Since then they have struggled to find a balance between the two, a phenomenon thats not easily explained, though Greivis Vasquez gave it a shot after his teams latest defeat. Yes, its kinda weird, man, Vasquez said following a 92-86 loss in Memphis on Wednesday. Maybe its something in the water, I dont know but its weird. I shot it terribly, [DeMar DeRozan], Kyle [Lowry], [Patrick Patterson], the guys that usually hit shots. Collectively we have to do it at both ends. Weve got to get back to us. Weve got to score. At one point, and for most of the seasons opening months, only one NBA team - the Dallas Mavericks - scored more efficiently than Toronto. The Raptors have scored 110 or more points in 16 games this season, already surpassing their total from last year, scoring 120 or more six times, something they failed to do in regulation a year ago. But as their mid-season slide continues - Wednesdays loss was their eighth over the last 11 games - their offence, once elite, has come apart. Its frustrating, said DeRozan, who made just two of his 11 shots a couple days after being held scoreless on 0-of-9 shooting in Mondays win over Milwaukee. Especially with the looks weve been getting the past couple of games, not falling. Were just going out there playing extremely hard. Sometimes bad luck just falls your way for a period of time and youve just got to fight through it. To their credit, they have been fighting through it, at least lately. For the first time this season, the Raptors defence has started to look like the unit that ranked 10th in the league during the 2013-14 campaign. Through three quarters, the Raptors led Memphis by one despite hovering around 30 per cent shooting from the field all night and finishing the game 5-for-28 from beyond the arc. For 36 minutes Toronto outplayed a notoriously physical Grizzlies team by beating them at their own game. In a gritty performance, Caseys team grabbed a season-high 21 offensive boards while holding Memphis to 46 per cent shooting and 1-for-7 from long range. I was happy about our defensive effort, the Raptors coach said after the game. The focus is there, the energy is there. The shots will fall. We’ve got to play with that type of intensity, that type of physicality in the paint to win games. Mondays game and win over the Bucks had a similar pace to it and Casey has been seeing a renewed defensive focus for a couple weeks now. In fact, the offensive drop off may be tied in to that defensive emphasis, to an extent. I think right now weve hit that full reset button and our defence is completely ahead of our offence, said Lowry, who had 20 points Wednesday but shot just 7-of-23, 2-of-8 from three-point range. Thats one of the things were struggling right now. I think once our offence catches up with our defence well be back to a hell of a team, going out there and winning more games. Maybe were too focused on defence, Vasquez wondered. Maybe we have to figure out a way to have a balance. Were going to have to hit shots. And it goes for all of us, we shot it terribly tonight. And we are concerned. I cant give you the right answer. We have to figure out a way to play good defence and good offence. As a team, the Raptors have been held under 100 points in four straight games for the first time since November of last season, winning only three quarters (of 16) over that span. After earning Player of the Month with an average of 22.3 points on 46 per cent shooting (41 per cent from three) in December, Lowry been mired in a shooting slump of his own to begin the new year. The point guard has yet to shoot 50 per cent in any of the teams 10 games in January. Over his last four games hes shooting 34 per cent and has hit just three of his 26 attempts from distance. Every player will encounter a shooting slump, to some extent, during a long 82-game season. In Lowrys case, the timing is hardly a surprise given the load he carried last month in the absence of the injured DeRozan. Oddly, most of the team is fighting through it at the same time, the primary reason for their stalled offensive attack. DeRozan has not looked like himself over the past two outings after a strong three-game stretch returning from his groin injury. While his effort on the boards has been noteworthy, Pattersons been ice cold from his sweet spot, shooting 29 per cent from distance in January after hitting the three-ball at a remarkable 55 per cent clip in December. Vasquez, who has been erratic all season, was 1-for-8 on Wednesday, the struggling Terrence Ross missed all three of his shots in his second straight game off the bench and Lou Williams hit two of his eight attempts from beyond the arc. We always can live with if its just one person, DeRozan said. If it was just me, for example, having a bad shooting night, everybody else hitting, thats perfectly fine for me to deal with. Its just frustrating when collectively were all getting good looks, but everybodys missing. Theyre confident those looks will start falling again but in the mean time their defensive effort, up to par once again, is keeping them in games and thats an encouraging sign for Casey and his club. The Raptors battled on Wednesday night. In the first quarter, Lowry went to the ground diving for a loose ball, almost a nightly occurrence for him when his right ring finger popped out. Immediately he knew something wasnt right as he darted for the locker room. I had to get up out of there, he said. I dont want nobody to cry and be squeamish with that finger so I ran off. The trainers popped Lowrys finger back into place and tapped it up. He was back in the game shortly thereafter, crashing the boards and playing hard on defence as his team followed suit. It hurts really bad, Lowry said of his ailing finger after the game. Really really bad. But theres no excuses. Im not going to complain about it, Im not going to worry about it. Im going to go out there and do my job as always. We cant hide from the struggle, Vasquez said. I thought our defence was there. We played good defence but now were not hitting shots. Before it was we were playing good offence but we werent playing defence. At least were doing the right thing. In order for us to win games weve got to play defence and thats what we did. Shots will come and unfortunately tonight we couldnt hit shots. Carl Yastrzemski Jersey . Both moves were announced Tuesday. The Titans had waived Matthews on Saturday when they promoted wide receiver Michael Preston from the practice squad. Fred Lynn Jersey . Even that couldnt slow them down against the New Orleans Hornets. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook scored 31 points apiece and the Thunder overcame injuries to two key backups to beat New Orleans 101-93 Monday night for their 10th straight home win. http://www.redsoxjerseyauthenticshop.com/authentic-xander-bogaerts-red-sox-jersey/ . -- Theres something about playing on Orlandos floor lately that seems to bring out the best in the Dallas Mavericks. DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars have signed forward Ryan Garbutt to a three-year, $5.4 million contract extension. Garbutt has a career-high 18 points with 10 goals and eight assists in 46 games this season. He is third on the team in hits with 81 and fourth in shots with 105. The 28-year-old Garbutt has 31 ppoints in 102 games over three seasons for the Stars. Roger Clemens Jersey. . He signed with Dallas as a free agent in 2011. Stars general manager Jim Nill said Wednesday that Garbutt "has played himself into a role where we ask him to play against our opponents top players on a nightly basis." Cheap Jerseys Online Wholesale Black NFL Jerseys Youth NFL Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping ' ' '