TORONTO - Even before the Hawks painted their latest masterpiece on the canvas that has become the slumping Toronto Raptors, Dwane Casey couldnt help but fawn over the NBAs hottest team. Roy Halladay Jersey . Although the Raptors head coach immediately shot down an implication of jealousy, could you blame him if he was a bit envious of Fridays opponent? 14 Eastern Conference coaches should be. Oh, its impressive, Casey admitted ahead of his teams 110-89 loss to the Hawks, Atlantas 25th win over its last 27 games. Somebody asked me yesterday, was I envious? But Im not envious, Im impressed more than envious. Weve shown times where weve moved the ball early in the season and got the ball humming and moving, he continued. Weve shown stretches of that. The Raptors were the Easts best team for a franchise-best 60 straight days before Atlanta dethroned them on the second night of the new calendar year. While the Hawks have been on a tear through the league, defeating some of the NBAs best teams in impressive fashion, Toronto continues to trend in the opposite direction with no easily apparent or quick fix in sight. That was not us, Casey said after they allowed the Hawks to shoot 61 per cent in a game that matched their most lopsided defeat of the season. We didnt come out and put our best game on the court. Its not one person. Were still in that rut and the only way were going to get out of it is to work our way out of it. Casey would not diminish his teams effort and overall compete level, but knows that whatever it is the Hawks are playing with right now - what the Raptors had to begin the season - escapes them at the moment. For the second time this week, they held a closed-door, post-game meeting, the content of which theyre keeping to themselves, rightfully so. With limited practice time and mid-season fatigue beginning to wear on them, the challenge could be a mental one more than anything else. Theyve lost six of eight after racing out to an impressive 24-7 start. How do they find themselves again? We had a long talk, James Johnson said. Its going to stay internal, but we just got a little over-confident and we started taking to heart that were a good team [but] we havent accomplished nothing yet. As long as we get back to that, were still in a good place. Were still third [in the conference], first in our division, but it can go south right away and we dont want that. Toronto has accounted for a quarter of Atlantas eight losses on the season, both coming early in the campaign. Now, the division between the two clubs is significant. Casey often likens these Hawks to the multidimensional Spurs teams of the last couple decades - a natural comparison given that their coach, Mike Budenholzer, spent 17 years working as an assistant under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio. There are a couple obvious similarities in the way they spread the floor and move the ball but theyre also looking an awful lot like the Golden State Warriors team that also handed Toronto a 21-point loss earlier this month. All 10 players that logged meaningful minutes for the Hawks on Friday can shoot the ball. Most of them can pass and do so at a frenetic pace that had the Raptors defence running around aimlessly all night. Theyre a different team, Kyle Lowry said. More confident, learning their system even more. Their shooting is unbelievable right now. Theyre playing together. They got all their guys and theyre moving the ball extremely well, added DeMar DeRozan, who led Toronto with 25 points on 11-of-18 shooting in his second game back from injury - he and Johnson were the teams lone bright spots on the night. Theyre playing at a high level and you have to give them credit. Atlanta recorded 30 assists on 42 made field goals, hitting 12 of their 23 attempts from long distance and scoring 24 points off Torontos 19 turnovers - another alarmingly high total for a team that has dropped off considerably in that category. The Raptors have thrown the ball away 120 times over the past seven games after committing almost half the amount of turnovers (63) in the previous seven. You should be frustrated if youre getting your butts kicked, Casey said. Were all frustrated and you should be. If youre a competitor you should be frustrated, but theres no frustrating in pointing fingers, its everybody. On Friday, they were overmatched against a very good team that played nearly flawless basketball - an excusable loss in and of itself. But that storyline is sounding all too familiar. While the Hawks have been victorious in 11 of their last 12 contests against teams at or above the .500 mark, Toronto has dropped eight of nine to winning competition. Though the Hawks are beginning to separate themselves in the conference - now five games up on second-place Washington, five and a half ahead of Toronto - the East is still very much up for grabs. The Raptors may not be the team that many hoped they could be after that hot start to the season, but theyre right to believe they are better than this. At some point, if they are to contend in the conference and take another step as an organization, they have to start hitting back against the leagues heavy weights. They have to find themselves again. You can go right through the roster, said Casey. Coaches, players, say you can do this better, we can do this better. Thats what weve got to do, because weve done it. We did it at a high level for a couple of months. Weve just got to get that mojo back and get that two-by-four off our shoulder. Were still in a good place, but weve got to fight through this and grind through this tough spot right now. Jaime Garcia Jersey . Future Hall of Famer Ricky Ray is in his prime and back for a third season in double blue. The 34-year old was magnificent in 2013, throwing for just under 2,900 yards despite missing eight games, tossing an impressive 21 touchdowns against just two interceptions, completing 66 per cent of his passes in the process. Randal Grichuk Jersey . Coaches are now allowed to challenge both called and potential defensive pass interference fouls under certain conditions. http://www.officialbluejaysjerseysonline.com/authentic-aaron-sanchez-blue-jays-jersey/ . This is an exercise I have undertaken a few times, starting in 2009, and hope that Ive refined my approach a little bit in that time to help paint a better picture.EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers didnt follow the script the standings suggested they should have. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored two goals, including the winner, and added an assist as the Oilers came from behind to stun the Eastern Conference-leading Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in overtime on Friday. The Oilers had a power play to start the overtime session and Jordan Eberle made a perfect pass to Nugent-Hopkins, who snapped the puck into a wide-open net 1:01 into extra time. "That shows a lot of character for us, and just to show we can play this way, it was a big game for us," said Nugent-Hopkins, whose Oilers team trailed 2-0 after 40 minutes. "There was no real deflation in the second intermission. When we get into trouble we kind of deflate and dont bring that same effort and I thought we did a good job of not getting down on ourselves and we pushed back and we did a great job of sticking with it." Taylor Hall and Anton Belov also scored for the Oilers (15-27-5), who captured just their fourth win in the last 15 games. Edmonton sits in second last place in the NHL. "With our history this year, some nights we havent wanted to stick with the game plan and just breathe," said Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins. "Tonight we did that, we took a breath and understood what we needed to do and we stuck with it. Its good when you get rewarded that way, because it backs up what were trying to promote. Beating a team like Pittsburgh, puts a little jump into our step." Hall said it was a good feeling in a season that hasnt contained all that many of them. "It was a fun effort all around, there was a good atmosphere in the arena tonight and we found a way to win," he said. "We were down quite a few times in the game, but we came back, stuck to our guns, stuck to our game plan and it was good to see." James Neal, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang responded with goals for the Penguins (32-12-2), who had their three-game win streak halted. It was just Pittsburghs third loss in its last 15 games. "We just didnt match their desperation," Crosby said. "Being up by two goals, obviously we need to find a way to close that game out. We knew they were going to come out hard for the third and we still let them get even, then we took the lead and lost it again. You dont deserve to win games when you do that." Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma said three penalties his team took, including Brandon Sutters slashing call that gave the Oilers the man advantage heading into overtime, were a major contributor to the loss. "A big part of the game was the penalties we took," he said. "We took a penalty on the power play two times and we took a penalty behind their net in the offensive zone at the end of the third that turns into the game-winning goal. We had three penalties that were undisciplined. Joe Carter Jersey. " The Oilers had the best chance in the early running as Ryan Smyth stole a puck deep in Pittsburgh territory minutes into the game and got in tight on Penguins starter Jeff Zatkoff, but his stick broke on the shot attempt. Edmonton had 11 shots in a scoreless first period, while the Penguins put nine shots on Devan Dubnyk in the Oilers net. Pittsburgh took a 1-0 lead two minutes into the second period after a pair of costly giveaways in his own end by Edmonton defender Jeff Petry. The second mistake gave the puck to Evgeni Malkin behind the net and he fed it out front to Neal for his 17th goal of the season. The Penguins went up by two goals eight minutes into the second as a Crosby pass attempt hit Oiler Sam Gagner and caromed through Dubnyks legs. It was Crosbys first-ever goal against the Oilers and 25th of the season. With a minute left in the second Dubnyk came up with a pair of huge saves on Malkin and Chris Kunitz on a Penguins power play. Malkin knocked Dubnyks goalie stick into the corner and the Oiler goalie took exception, as the two mixed it up before a crowd of players congregated. Edmonton got on the board 53 seconds into the third period on an abbreviated power play with Malkin in the box as Eberle spotted Nugent-Hopkins creeping in from the point and the 2011 first overall draft pick made a perfect shot to beat Zatkoff. The Oilers tied the game with just under 10 minutes to play in the third period as they got an odd-man rush on a Pittsburgh line change. A shot from Nugent-Hopkins deflected to Hall in the crease where he was able to hook it in for his 17th of the season. Pittsburgh jumped back in front on a four-on-three advantage with just under eight minutes left as Crosby won a face-off and Letang caught Dubnyk going the other way on a shot from the top of the circle to make it 3-2. Edmonton kept up the pressure, however, and was able to tie the game 3-3 with just 1:59 remaining as Belov scored his first career NHL goal with a point shot that went over Zatkoffs shoulder. The Penguins have a quick turnaround, taking on the Flames in Calgary on Saturday. The Oilers embark on a four-game trip, starting in Chicago on Sunday. Notes: It was the second and final meeting between the two teams. The Penguins won the first game 3-2 in Pittsburgh in Octobera It was the Penguins first visit to Edmonton since Oct. 9, 2011. Sidney Crosby was hurt for that game, making Friday his first appearance in Edmonton since Jan. 14, 2010. The Oilers were one of just four teams he hadnt scored against - a list now down to Chicago, San Jose and St. Louisa The Penguins have 13 players in double-digits in points this seasona Pittsburghs Chris Kunitz has the best plus-minus in the league at +23. Edmontons Nail Yakupov is last at -24. Wholesale NFL T-shirts Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping NFL Jerseys Wholesale China NFL Gear Wholesale NFL Camo Jerseys Cheap NFL Hoodies Camo China NFL Jerseys ' ' '