with whom hes played alongside for a good chunk of his NHL career.

Here are five thoughts on the Toronto Raptors seven-game loss to the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. 1. JOE JOHNSON (Nets): If I had to pick the guy that was the MVP on this Series, No doubt in my mind it was him. Forget his numbers for a second which were impressive to say the least. It had more to do with his presence and the inability for the Raptors to find a viable/consistent solution to overcome his vast talents. Bottom line, hes a very difficult cover and his strength, post skills, passing ability, creativity off the bounce and distance shooting make him a fascinating and gifted offensive player. Give him credit, He took on all the challenges and made the adjustments and was the difference in this series. 2. STATEMENT: Thanks again! You - the fans have made a wonderful statement across the North American sports landscape and in the NBA community that Toronto and the country of Canada is a growing and vibrant hoops hotbed and will be heard from for generations to come. Cant tell you the impression its made on folks all across the NBA. Utterly remarkable to say the least. Great Opportunity for Raptors President and GM, Masai Ujiri, to now build from a position of strength in his retention and recruitment efforts as he formulates his vision for the long term success of the franchise. A step forward. Long way to go though - yet you can start to see the light. 3. KYLE LOWRY: No idea what will happen with him regarding his future with the Raptors. Im hopeful they can work something out. Ill say this though, the man has really impressed me this season. Every day he left everything out there on the floor for you and competed like few players ever have in a Raptors uniform. For that, we should be grateful and impressed at the same time. Hes been a joy to watch this season and an inspiration to so many young players that can learn from his sheer will and effort that you can overcome a whole lot if you give it your all. He came up short but the man is a winner. Fingers crossed it all comes together and hes back in Toronto. 4. MARCUS THORNTON (Nets): In a Game 7, many times you need that guy that just comes out of left field that gets you over the hump particularly when youre the road team. Give coach Jason Kidd credit, he played a great hunch and it paid off huge dividends for him. His perimeter shooting, creativity, rebounding and overall explosiveness were the edge the Nets sorely needed to pull off the road win in a deciding game. He was lousy in the early part of the series after playing quite well since being acquired from Sacramento but Coach Kidd showed renewed faith in him and was justly rewarded for it. Joe Johnson was the MVP but he was the difference. 5. DWANE CASEY: Actions speak louder than words. Three years and each year his teams have gotten better and he has grown each year as a head coach. As good a coach as he is - and hes a very good one - hes an even better man. Class act. He did an outstanding job this year and when I reflect over the three year period he has been consistent and stayed true to his core beliefs which I truly respect. He led a team this year that had many limitations (as we could all plainly see in this Series) to 48 wins, an Atlantic Division title and came up a bit short to a much more experienced, talented and deeper Nets team. Yes - Were all bitterly disappointed in the loss of this series yet when you take time to reflect, this organization has a true leader who is bright, steady and wont be out-worked by anyone. When I evaluate a coach, I always point to year three as my barometer of where you truly judge them. Theyve had more than enough time to get things the way they want and now you want to see that vision unfold before you. He has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt in my mind that hes more than deserving of being the head coach of the Raptors and when I evaluate him against his peers Im quite impressed. As a former coach, I think I have a pretty decent feel when I compare/contrast coaches strengths/weaknesses and when I look at coach Casey I see a man who has rolled up his sleeves, paid his dues and is truly a right fit for the task of the challenges that lie ahead for the organization. Hes a coachs coach and I can tell you flat out that the men in his profession not only truly like him but all respect him tremendously. Happy for his success. Good man. Good things do truly happen for good people. Damarious Randall Browns Jersey .com) - James Harden put the Houston Rockets on his back and willed them to an overtime victory on Thursday. Darren Fells Browns Jersey . Goodell said in an ESPN Radio interview Monday (http://es.pn/1gkbauy ) that participants played harder and made the game very competitive. Goodell says he had fun watching the game Sunday and thinks fans did, too. http://www.brownsrookiestore.com/Browns-Damarious-Randall-Jersey/ .com) - Troy Brouwer scored the game-winning goal with just 12. Antonio Callaway Jersey . The union filed a grievance late Thursday, one day after Goodell suspended four players who participated in bounties from 2009-11. The complaint says Goodell is prohibited from punishing players for any aspect of the case occurring before the new collective bargaining agreement was signed last August. Zane Gonzalez Browns Jersey . -- Rodney Stuckey scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half, and the Detroit Pistons beat the New York Knicks for the first time in eight meetings, 92-86 on Tuesday night.TORONTO – Third in league scoring, John Tavares entered the evening with at least a point in all but three of the Islanders 21 games this season. "Four now," Carl Gunnarsson told the Leaf Report proudly following a 5-2 victory over New York on Tuesday night, the clubs fifth straight at home. Gunnarsson was among the stable that kept Tavares, who has 25 points this season, off the scoresheet entirely. The Islanders captain finished with just two shots and was rarely a threat, bottled up by the top pair of Gunnarsson and Dion Phaneuf and a recently assembled shutdown line of Jay McClement, Mason Raymond and Nik Kulemin. Tavares entered the night with eight goals and 16 points in 15 career games against the Leafs and had been responsible for 43 per cent of his teams offence this season. But he was held pointless for just the fourth time all season. "We played tight on him, we played hard and we didnt give him much time in our own end," Gunnarsson said of Tavares, who played alongside fellow top scorer Kyle Okposo and rookie Brock Nelson. "We couldve done some stuff better too, but when that line doesnt score we give ourselves a pretty good chance to win the game." Randy Carlyle has yet to employ a shutdown line consistently against opposing top lines so far this season – often using his top unit when healthy – but he did against the Islanders. As McClement explained it, the assignment isnt known to players until game-time and often beyond that. Unlike Andy Murray, his longtime coach in St. Louis, who would present line matchups to the group on a whiteboard in the morning, Carlyle prefers to keep his close to the vest. "He wont let you know too often," McClement said of Carlyle, leading Leaf forwards with over 20 minutes on Tuesday. "You dont really know until you start the game. And even the first shift we didnt start against them and then we played every other shift against them. You never know. Maybe its a good thing. Youre not thinking about it, youre just ready to play." What the McClement unit did effectively most of the night against Tavares, who had points in five straight, was keep him on the defensive. With consistent pressure and a simple chip-and-chase game, the line spent a good chunk of their shifts against him deep in the offensive zone. They would be rewarded when Raymond scored the eventual game-winner early in the third, the 27-year-old capping a McClement drive to the crease of Islanders goaltender Kevin Poulin. "We got to pucks on the forecheck and ended up having a lot of shifts in their end," McClement said, also beating Tavares on 10 of 19 draws. "Thats the easiest way to play defence is play offence." Five Points 1. Home ice dominance While theyve yet to establish a consistent brand of hockey (see below) the Leafs have nonetheless strung together a strong record through the quarter-mark of the season (13-7-1). Part of that success emanates from their effective showing on home ice. The Leafs have now won five straight at home and seven of their past eight, and are now 8-2-0 on the year at the ACC. Theyve outscored opponents 35-23 in that span, more effective offensively (3.5 goals per game) and defensively (2.3 goals against per game) than on the road. "That was one of the goals we wanted to create is when teams come into this building theres no more of this two points, kiss your relatives and go home," said Carlyle. "Its enough of that." With another power-play marker – this one from Phil Kessel – the Leafs also continued a trend of home dominance on the power-play; they rank first with a 32.4 per cent success rate. 2. Clarkson breaks the goose egg Without a goal in the first 10 games of his late-starting season, David Clarkson finally broke through with his first as a Leaf against the Islanders. The 29-year-old rifled a shot beyond the glove of Poulin midway through the final period, benefiting from the effective work of Joffrey Lupul and Trevor Smith down low in the offensive zone. "The better feeling is coming in here after a win and turning on that music," said Clarkson, who played nearly 19 minutes, adding five hits. "Thats the best feeling to me ever." 3. Gardiner on the left When Mark Fraser returned from a left knee injury last week – hes since re-injured a different part of the knee – Carlyle juggled his defence pairings, opting to move Jake Gardiner back to his natural left side position alongside Cody Franson. Gardiner had never played the right before and often appeared uncertain and inconsistent there alongside Paul Ranger. "I think Ive felt a lot more comfortable offensively," Gardiner told the Leaf Report prior to Tuesdays game. "I still have to fine-tune some things, but I feel like I see the ice a lot better from the left side." The 23-year-old is also pleased to be reunited with Franson, with whom hes played alongside for a good chunk of his NHL career. "We even talked about it – we know where each other are on the ice," said Gardiner of Franson. "Theres some plays that we do a lot of that seem to work and we know exactly when theyre going to be there, wwhether its in the offensive zone, neutral zone or defensive zone.dddddddddddd Hes a vocal guy too. Its really easy to play with him. Hopefully he feels the same way." Gardiner led the Leafs with over 22 minutes against the Islanders, including 19:42 at even-strength. 4. Kessel durability Phil Kessel played his first game as a Leaf on Nov. 3, 2009; he sat out the first 12 games recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. The 26-year-old has not missed a game since. Kessel extended his iron-man streak to 303 consecutive games, breaking a recent dry spell with a pair of goals against the Islanders. A bout with the flu a day earlier put his games played streak in jeopardy, but the teams leading scorer remained in the lineup, paired with James van Riemsdyk and Peter Holland for the second straight game. Kessel is a ways off the active leaders in consecutive games played. Jay Bouwmeester is the current iron man with 654 straight games played, according to TSN Research, trailed closely by Henrik Sedin at 651. Only three players remain from the Toronto lineup that dressed on the night of Kessels highly anticipated debut: Luke SchennGarnet ExelbyIan WhiteMike KomisarekNiklas HagmanLee StempniakMatt StajanTomas KaberleWayne PrimeauFrancois BeaucheminAlex PonikarovskyColton Orr*John MitchellNik Kulemin*Rickard WallinJason BlakePhil Kessel*Mikhail GrabovskiVesa ToskalaJonas Gustavsson*Still with the team 5. Standing at the quarter pole Joffrey Lupul offered the following assessment of the Leafs performance one quarter of the way into the season. "Weve battled through a lot of injuries and were still up near the top of the conference. Thats a positive," said Lupul. "Is there things we can do better? For sure there is. But Im sure every team in the league with the exception of maybe St. Louis or San Jose or one of these teams is saying the same thing. Everyone wants to do some things better. But its early in the season and youre just finding that identity as a team and you want to eventually be a team that plays the same way every night and a team that improves throughout the year. Were not there yet, but were still high in the standings so theres positives and negatives you could say." Added Randy Carlyle, "Weve tried to create a template that were more conservative from an offensive standpoint. Were not making the Hail Mary plays. Were not trying to just be a rush team. Were trying to do a lot of different things as far as getting away from just one and out. We want more puck possession time. Theres been a lot said in our statistics proving out that were having success when we shouldnt be. We look at it as weve been forced to do some things differently with personnel, suspensions and injuries. We are just trying to find a way to manufacture points. This isnt a development league were in, its about winning. The points that we can put up on the board, doesnt matter who we have in the lineup, it just bodes well for us in the future." Bonus Point – Extending an opportunity Trevor Smith played his first NHL game with the Islanders back on Dec. 31, 2008. On Tuesday against the same New York squad, the 28-year-old had a career-high three points. Playing alongside Lupul and Clarkson, Smith scored the games opening goal 22 seconds into the first frame, adding a pair of assists in the third. Plugging a hole at centre with Tyler Bozak and Dave Bolland both injured, Smith has compiled at least a point in three games since being recalled from the Marlies last Friday, totaling three goals and five points in that span. "The guys are making it really easy for me to come in and play and be confident to make plays with them," Smith said. "I was fighting the puck a little bit in the first, but they calmed me down and just told me to relax and do what I do and we went from there." Nazem Kadri is due to return from a three-game suspension on Thursday, but it would appear that Smith has earned, at the very least, an extended opportunity. How long that opportunity lasts is unclear with Bozak likely to return Saturday following a lengthy stint on injured reserve. Stat-Pack 1 – Goal for David Clarkson this season. 303 – Consecutive games played by Phil Kessel. 8-2-0 – Home record for the Leafs this season. 3 – Points for Trevor Smith against the Islanders, a career-high. 32.4 per cent – Leafs power-play effectiveness at home, first in the NHL. 3 – Assists for Joffrey Lupul against the Islanders, a season-high. 2 – Multi-assist games for Lupul this season. 13-16 – Faceoff mark for Jerred Smithson against the Islanders. 17:45 – Ice-time for Morgan Rielly. Special Teams Capsule PP: 1-2Season: 24.3 per cent PK: 2-2Season: 84 per cent Quote of the Night "That was one of the goals we wanted to create is when teams come into this building theres no more of this two points, kiss your relatives and go home. Its enough of that." -Randy Carlyle on the Leafs home record. Up Next Nazem Kadri returns from a three-game suspension when the Leafs host the Predators on Thursday night. 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