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TORONTO - When Patrick Patterson learned he would be making his first start as a member of the Raptors just prior to Monday nights game he wasnt exactly caught off guard by the news. With the first unit struggling of late and Amir Johnson - one of the teams iron men - hobbling on an injured right ankle, Patterson knew he could get the nod in a challenging matchup against one of the leagues up and coming players at his position. Although it likely wasnt an easy sell, Dwane Casey and the coaching staff made the decision to rest Johnson, who had not missed a game due to injury in nearly two years, opening the door for his backup. "I started in Houston so its not new," said Patterson, downplaying his role in Torontos 108-101 home win over the Pelicans after scoring a season-best 22 points. "Its just all about making sure I have a positive role and I know my role on the team… making sure Im a significant part of our teams success." Since coming over in the seven-player trade from Sacramento in early December, Patterson has seen his role increase steadily, earning the trust of his coach and becoming the Raptors most reliable reserve. After Johnson was ruled out, Casey expressed concern about disrupting the chemistry of his second unit by removing a key cog in Patterson, however the forwards recent play made the decision an easy one. "I thought the matchup with (Anthony) Davis was a good one for him," Casey said of Patterson, who has scored in double figures 13 times over his last 20 games, averaging 12.0 points and 5.7 rebounds, shooting 53 per cent from the field in under 24 minutes per contest during that stretch. "(Patterson) was able to stretch the defence and give us some offensive punch." Patterson gave the Raptors a lift where they needed it most. Toronto had been outscored in the opening quarter of the last four games, all on the road, before returning home Monday and getting off to a rare but crucial quick start against Davis and the Pelicans. Patterson - along with Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan - was one of three Raptors to score seven points in the first frame, knocking down both of his shots and helping his team take a 31-20 lead into the second period. Thats where Pattersons presence was missed, as Torontos bench came in and squandered a 15-point advantage. Led by reserve guard Tyreke Evans, New Orleans ripped off a 26-11 run to end the half and would go into the break knotted up with Toronto at 49 points apiece. "For whatever reason we are losing leads with our second unit, what its doing is putting a lot of pressure on our starters and putting them in big minute situations," said Casey with both DeRozan and Lowry hovering around 40 minutes on Monday. "I think they just have to get their rhythm back. Taking (Patterson) off the second unit hurts them a bit, but still we have to get a rhythm with that second unit so we can rest our starters." Heavy mileage has taken its toll on Johnson. The Raptors forward turned his ankle in a win over the Magic late last month - the most recent in a series of ankle injuries - and, to character, had played and started in all five games since. He could have done the same Monday if necessary, Casey indicated before the game, but with the all-star break around the corner and his team poised to make a playoff run over the next couple months, Johnson finally got some much-needed rest. "Its tough to replace a guy like Amir," DeRozan said of Johnson, who had not missed a game to injury since Mar. 5, 2012 (he was suspended for one game last year and sat out the previous season finale). "Everybody has to step up and try to do a little more (without him). Everybody understands their role and once they [saw] Amir [was] out, [they had] to step up and hold down the fort until he gets back." "Were deep," said Lowry, coming off his best game since before the road trip, scoring 19 points to go along with 12 assists and seven boards, five of them offensive. "Thats how we play, thats how we roll. 15 deep." Patterson started six games with the Kings earlier this season and has made 54 starts during his four year career, most of them as a member of the Rockets. With Patterson stepping into the first unit, Tyler Hansbrough - who has fallen out of favour since returning from an ankle injury last month - took advantage of the opportunity he was given off the bench, scoring 12 points and grabbing six rebounds in 14 minutes. "Tyler and Patrick both carried us tonight," Casey said. "I thought they were huge in their minutes." "Tyler came in and was a pro. He brings physicality to the game that we need." Patterson and Hansbrough shared the assignment of neutralizing Davis, the Pelicans second-year forward, who has been a revelation in the Western Conference this season. Davis scored just two points, hitting one of his six shots in his first appearance at the Air Canada Centre exactly a year ago Monday but hes come a long way since then. The first-time all-star is one of five players averaging over 20 points and 10 rebounds and the only one doing so while shooting over 50 per cent from the field. Hes also on pace to become just the fifth player since 1973 to lead the NBA in blocks in his first or second season. "Anthony Davis is one of the most skilled big guys in the league," Casey said before the game, comparing him to a young Kevin Garnett. Davis was glued to the bench in foul trouble late in the third as the Raptors made their run and finished the game with 19 points and seven rebounds while Evans, 24 hours after being bench for disciplinary reasons, had 23 points and 10 assists off the bench for New Orleans. Cheap Seahawks Jerseys . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers (5) – He had good saves on Giroux, Akeson, and Hartnell tonight. Wholesale Seahawks Jerseys . Coach Jorge Sampaoli resisted naming any major surprises in the list published Tuesday at the site of Chiles football association. Chile is pinning its hopes on the recovery of Vidal. http://www.cheapseahawksjerseyselite.com/. So much so that even a simple foul pop up to the first baseman turned into a run. Houstons four-run rally in the ninth inning to beat the Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Monday night was capped by a bizarre play that started as Crowe fouled out to first baseman Justin Smoak with runners on second and third. Cheap Seattle Seahawks Jerseys . The defending champions’ roller coaster season included trading offensive star Percy Harvin in the midst of the team’s 3-3 start. That move that reportedly irked several Seahawk players, but one management saw necessary to save the team’s chemistry. Cheap Seahawks Jerseys China . Kerr said he had dinner with Jackson, his former coach with Chicago and the new Knicks team president, on Friday night and they talked again Saturday. Kerr is in New York to work the game between the Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Raptors for TNT.TORONTO - When the Raptors rolled into Detroit last month, the Pistons had hit rock bottom, a feeling Dwane Casey and most of his team are familiar with. Raptors fans had come down by the busload, packing the Palace and overpowering the home crowd on a night in which the Pistons would go on to drop their 12th straight in Auburn Hills. James Johnson dazzled Torontos traveling entourage with a vicious dunk on Andre Drummond, topped only by his post-game summation of the jam: I cocked that joint back and banged on him. As a miniture malice broke out following Drummonds cheap shot on Johnson, Josh Smith got into a verbal altercation with a spectator in Raptor colours, his swan song as a Piston. His former club has gone 9-1 since letting him go. They remind me a lot of us from last year after the [Rudy Gay] trade, Casey said ahead of Mondays rematch, a 114-111 loss to Detroit. Theyre clicking on all cylinders both on offence and defence. The Pistons are the NBAs feel-good team of the New Year and no one can quite put their finger on the exact science behind it, although weve seen it before. There are some obvious similarities between these two abrupt turnarounds - last seasons Raptors and this years edition of the Pistons - both of them brought on by the removal of a high-usage player. Addition by subtraction. The basics are relatively straight forward. Without Smith, Stan Van Gundy has had 32 minutes and 14 shots to redistribute nightly, doing so in a way that better suits his desired style of play. Much of Torontos leftover shots, following the Gay trade, went to Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Terrence Ross. The Pistons - like Van Gundys old Magic teams - are shooting a ton of threes, theyre playing harder on defence and getting unusually consistent production from Brandon Jennings, Mondays hero. But theres more to it than that, evident in the way the visiting Pistons clawed their way back in the second half after the Raptors had roughed them up during the first 24 minutes. The Pistons resurgence, primarily on the defensive end, is difficult to explain. They entered Mondays contest allowing 95.7 points per 100 possessions since waiving Smith, which would rank at the top of the NBA this season. Casey attributes it to something he would know a thing or two about: chemistry. You see something that kind of jolts your system like that, he said. You waive a player that [has] the status of Josh Smith, it kind of jolts your system. And [Van Gundys] been a good coach. Hes proven that what he does works and now theyre buying in and its clicking. I dont know if theres a magic wand. You cant really put your finger on it but sometimes things like that just come together. They play harder, said Patrick Patterson, after the Pistons outscored Toronto 66-51 in the final two quarters to seal their come from behind victory. A lot more intensity, a lot more ball movement. Everyones more active and sharing. There seems to be a lot more trust out there. Its certainly not unprecedented. Often times after a losing team undergoes any major shakeup youll see an immediate spike in produuction.dddddddddddd. For players and coaches that feel they might be next it could serve as a wake-up call, for others its a moment of bonding, a cause to come together and defy the odds. The question always is: can they sustain it? More often than not, they dont. Eventually the adrenaline wears off and ordinary players, playing over their heads, crash back down to earth. Even with their improved defence failing them - Toronto shot 52 per cent, scoring 111 points Monday - the Pistons found a way to grind it out, a quality the Raptors had perfected back in 2014. Shooting just 43 per cent from the field themselves, Detroit grabbed 17 offensive boards, got to the line 31 times (compared to just 14 attempts for Toronto) and scored 22 points off 19 Raptors turnovers. We shot ourselves in the foot, Casey said after the Raptors squandered a 12-point halftime lead and career night from Jonas Valanciunas. If you commit that many turnovers against a good team like that, you shoot yourself in the foot and thats what we did. Thats all on us. Are these Pistons for real? Is this sustainable? Thats the million dollar quandary and something no one, even Van Gundy - the teams engineer - can know for sure. Masai Ujiri and the Raptors had no idea what they had created after shipping Gay off to Sacramento in early December last season. Even as the team started to win, as Lowry broke out and DeRozan became an all-star, it took a leap of fate to keep that group together long enough to prove they could sustain their unexpected success. But, until recently, they have. The Pistons find themselves in a similar situation. Jennings looked like a star on Monday, outplaying Lowry, who had an off night. The former Bucks point guard has been the biggest beneficiary of Smiths departure, scoring 34 points to go along with 10 assists and the game-winning steal against the Raptors. Has he turned a corner under Van Gundy, like Lowry did a year ago, or is this another mirage in what has been an erratic NBA career to this point? He made some tough shots, Casey said of Jennings. We double-teamed him, we put James [Johnson] on him, we put size on him, we went under the pick and rolls, we did a little bit of everything. Youve got to shake his hand, he had a great night. Like the Raptors a year ago, Detroit has an opportunity to take advantage of a weak Eastern Conference. After Mondays win they sit just two games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. Do they continue to rebuild, add to their roster in the hopes of making a postseason run, or take a page out of Ujiris book and let this ride? Continue to win, I think it the most important thing, Casey said. I think the things theyre doing defensively [are] sustainable. Theyre shooting the lights out, I dont know if thats sustainable for anytime, whether its Detroit or whoever it is. Thats something that can come and go. But defensively theyre locked in, theyre tuned, theyre down, theyre talking, theyre a totally different team right now than they were when we played them [in December] defensively. And thats sustainable. ' ' '