He is one away from tying Ernie Banks

BOSTON - Depending on whom you ask, it was only a matter of time before the suddenly scorching Toronto Raptors experienced a setback, even a negligible one. Discount Nike Shoes . Conditioned to be skeptical following years of false hope, the teams loyal albeit exasperated fan base - or at least a segment of it - has been weary of the dreaded letdown game. "Its the first stinker weve had," coach Dwane Casey said after his much-improved team was stunned by the lowly Celtics, falling 88-83 in Boston, a city in which the Raptors have gone winless over the last six years. It was bound to happen eventually. The Raptors had been remarkably consistent in potential trap games, winning 10 of their last 11 contests against teams with losing records. Still, no one truly believed they would run the table with more than half the season left to be played, no one outside the locker room that is. "No," Kyle Lowry said straight-faced when asked if he saw it coming. "We dont expect to have any letdowns." Its just one game, one night, one of 82. In and of itself, the loss – however disappointing – shouldnt be a cause for concern. Even the best of the best get caught taking their foot off the gas but that doesnt provide solace to a team thats learning to demand more of themselves. "They out-worked us tonight, which is rare for us," Lowry said, his team giving up 19 offensive boards to the Celtics, who had lost nine straight coming into the contest. "It sucks but weve got to learn from this. Everyones pissed off right now, guys are mad and we should be." The Raptors came out flat and could never quite find the groove theyve been playing with for the better part of the last month. It was their most disheartening loss since a Dec. 18 overtime defeat at home to Charlotte and their worst effort since the Spurs ran them out of their own building eight days before that. Leading the division, Toronto owned the best record in the Eastern Conference since its early-December trade. On the other end of the spectrum, the Celtics were quickly sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic, jettisoning their assists-leader to the West Coast hours before hosting the red-hot Raptors on Wednesday. Missing Jordan Crawford, who was traded to Golden State earlier in the afternoon, and Rajon Rondo - expected to return from injury on Friday - the Celtics caught Toronto napping. The Raptors should, but probably wouldnt, appreciate the irony. Undermanned just hours after the Rudy Gay deal was consummated, the Raptors upset the heavily favoured Lakers in Los Angeles just over a month ago. Sometimes youre the windshield, on Wednesday they were the bug. "It started on the boards," Casey said, as the Raptors were out-rebounded 20-7 in the third quarter, when the game began to slip away. "I was disappointed in our rebounding, we just got whipped in every way in the paint." Forward Jared Sullinger grabbed eight of his 20 boards in the third, en route to a career performance. The Celtics sophomore became the first player in the franchises rich history to record at least 25 points, 20 rebounds and four assists in a game since Larry Bird accomplished that feat in 1987. Needless to say, Casey was not thrilled. "None of our bigs did a mans job on the boards tonight (and) thats the ball game," he said. "Anytime you give up that many (second-chance) points, you can point to any big." Jonas Valanciunas had a rough night on both ends of the floor, shooting just 1-of-7 in 23 minutes of action. Amir Johnson was held under 26 minutes, having to leave the game early in the third after tweaking his left ankle. "They played harder than us," Johnson admitted. "We definitely should have come out and won this game." Johnson said the injury did not occur on a specific play, instead it just started to feel sore, similar to what he felt before undergoing surgery on the same ankle in 2011. "It was weird," said Johnson, who was able to return to the game in the fourth quarter after getting treatment in the locker room. "Once I got the tape on it, it felt fine, but it was weird." Johnsons brief absence was costly, Patrick Patterson who had been playing at a high level was underwhelming and Tyler Hansbrough - sitting out his seventh straight, also with a sprained left ankle - was missed. For the first time in over a month Steve Novak was asked to log meaningful minutes as Toronto played catch-up in the fourth. Although the Raptors knocked down 11 threes on 24 attempts from beyond the arch - their fourth straight game with 11 or more treys - both teams shot under 40 per cent from the field. While Boston connected on 26 of their 36 attempts from the line, the Raptors missed a devastating 13 free throws (on 25 attempts), including several down the stretch. Down by as many as 18 in the second half, the Raptors managed to fight back and cut their deficit to three with under a minute remaining. Missed free throws and poor late-game execution was their undoing. "We have to use this as a reminder," said DeMar DeRozan, who led the Raptors with 23 points. "It doesnt matter who we are playing. If its a team we are better than, whatever, teams are still going to go out there and play hard. Boston didnt give up at all. They kept the pressure going on us. They played hard tonight." Cheap Nike Shoes . As a follow-up, TSN.ca offers you the opportunity to chime in on all the big issues with our insiders. Read up on all the questions and answers, and put in your own two cents on our popular Your Call feature. Nike Shoes Sale . - Urijah (The California Kid) Faber finds himself in an unaccustomed position Saturday night at UFC 175 — on the preliminary card. https://www.wholesalenikeshoesauthentic.com/ . Louis Cardinals. He was 48. The commissioners office said Bell died in his home state of Ohio. Bell had not been feeling well over the weekend and had been scheduled to see doctors later Monday at the Cleveland Clinic.ANAHEIM, Calif. - Albert Pujols hit a go-ahead, two-run home run, and C.J. Cron and pinch-hitter David Freese also homered against the Houston bullpen in the Angels eight-run seventh inning as Los Angeles beat the Astros 11-5 on Saturday night for their ninth straight home win. Pujols 511th homer tied him with Mel Ott for 23rd place on baseballs career list. Houston starter Scott Feldman left after six innings with a 5-2 lead and was replaced by Anthony Bass (1-1). Cron greeted Bass with a leadoff single before Freese batted for John McDonald and hit his first homer in 124 career at-bats at Angel Stadium and first in the majors as a pinch-hitter. Kole Calhoun followed with a single for his third hit of the game. Bass retired Mike Trout before Pujols drove out the next pitch for his 19th homer. He is one away from tying Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews on the career list. Tony Sipp, who surrendered Trouts walkoff homer in the ninth inning of the Astros 7-6 loss on Friday, gave up a walk to Josh Hamilton and an RBI double to Erick Aybar. After an intentional walk to Howie Kendrick, Josh Zeid came on and yielded Crons three-run homer. Trout, the 14th Angels batter in the seventh, struck out against Sipp with the bases loaded to end the teams most productive inning of the season after 55 minutes and 74 pitches. Michael Roth (1-0) pitched two perfect innings of relief for the victory after rejoining the Angels from the minors earlier Saturday. Los Angeles is a season-best 14 games over .500 and remains 3 1-2 games behind AL West-leading Oakland. Angeels lefty Hector Santiago gave up five runs, six hits and three walks in five innings of his 11th start of a season in which he has been demoted to the bullpen and to the minors. Wholesale Nike Shoes. . He is 0-7, and his ERA jumped from 4.08 to 4.50. Feldman allowed two runs on six hits and struck out five without walking a batter. Chris Carter hit a grand slam for Houston. The Astros, who came in with an AL-worst .235 batting average, scored five runs in the third after the Angels took a 1-0 lead in the first on Pujols RBI single. Jason Castro tied it with an RBI double before Santiago hit George Springer on the left leg and gave up a single to Matt Dominguez. That set the stage for Carter, who also homered on Friday. Carter slammed his 15th homer of the season and second career grand slam. NOTES: Pujols hit his 542nd career double in the ninth, overtaking Rogers Hornsby for 30th place. ... The Angels became the fourth team to reach the 50-win mark, joining the As, Brewers and Dodgers. ... Freeses homer was the first by an Angels pinch-hitter since Chris Iannettas solo shot on Sept. 4, 2013. ... Roth was selected to the major league roster to replace LHP Rich Hill, who was designated for assignment. ... Former Angels 3B Troy Glaus, who hit a franchise record 47 home runs in 2000 and was the 2002 World Series MVP, threw a ceremonial first pitch. ... The Angels optioned RHP Cory Rasmus to Triple-A Salt Lake, after obtaining LHP Joe Thatcher and OF Tony Campana from Arizona in a trade that sent OF Zach Borenstein and RHP Joey Krehbiel to the Diamondbacks. ' ' '