SALT LAKE CITY - Sporting a Seahawks cap during afternoon shootaround, coach Dwane Casey reinforced a sentiment hes preached over and over again since coming to Toronto. "Relentless defence wins in any sport," he said after watching the hard-hitting, opportunistic Seahawks stymie the Broncos and their high-octane offence. Casey didnt have to say much as he and his team watched Seattles dominant Super Bowl victory from their Salt Lake City hotel Sunday night. The message had already been engrained into the mindset of his players and stuck with them in Utah the following evening. "We cant control if our shots go in, we cant make every shot but we can control when we play hard on the defensive end," DeMar DeRozan said after holding Utah to 41 per cent shooting in a 94-79 win over the Jazz Monday. "Were understanding that more and more every game." Again, the Raptors got off to a slow start on the defensive end, something that plagued them in Portland Saturday as their comeback bid eventually fell short. The Jazz shot 50 per cent and scored 27 points, closing out the opening quarter with a three-point lead before Toronto tightened the screws in the second frame. Utah scored just 17 points in the second quarter, shooting 35 per cent from the field, 0-of-7 from three-point range and was held without a single assist. The Jazz didnt score more than 18 points in any quarter after the first. "Thats an issue with our team," Casey said before the game. "For whatever reason we turn up the intensity after halftime. I dont know if they like hearing me go ballistic at halftime." "Its one of our unfortunate traits, I would say, but again well take [the win]." The Raptors resiliency was tested again as Kyle Lowry - fresh off being named Eastern Conference Player of the Month - left for the locker room late in the third quarter to get treatment on a sore right knee. Lowry has been the teams most consistent contributor but seemed off his game, shooting 1-for-8 in 25 minutes before he was ruled out for the fourth quarter. The good news is the injury doesnt appear to be a serious one. Lowry has been battling soreness in the knee for about a week, playing through it and playing well, but on Monday he couldnt get it loose. "I couldnt help my team as much as I wanted to," said Lowry, who expects to play in Sacramento on Wednesday. "I trust my teammates would get the job done and thats what they did tonight." Torontos depth and team chemistry came through with Lowry on the sideline. Greivis Vasquez, who returned from a bout of the flu, stepped in at the point and scored 12 off the bench. Amir Johnson - playing on a sore right ankle - looked better, recording a double-double. Jonas Valanciunas had one of his better games in a tough matchup against Enes Kanter and John Salmons chipped in with 13 off the bench. As it has been when one Raptor struggles or gets hurt, the next man steps up. "Thats what it is, I think were playing for each other," Vasquez said. "I want Kyle to get healthy, I want the best for each and every one of us so thats important, man. When you have a team that has such a great atmosphere in the locker room, that care about each other, its going to be scary." Most importantly, it was the defensive effort that carried them to their sixth win over the last eight games. Casey preaches it every day and his troops have all bought in. Theyve seen how far it can take them. "The good thing about it is our players were talking about it last night watching the [Super Bowl]," said the Raptors coach. "Our guys were talking about how [the Seahawks] were hitting people and thats what Ive been preaching and am preaching, hit first." "Basketball-wise, its a little bit different but you can be aggressive for 48 minutes, take away options, take away passing lanes, bump cutters, box out [and] hit people coming for rebounds." Casey, an assistant with the Sonics for 11 years, resides in Seattle during the offseason and was invited to visit the Seahawks training camp a couple summers ago, where he - along with Blazers coach and good friend Terry Stotts - got the opportunity to watch Pete Carroll at work. The takeaway for Casey was to fully embrace and stay true to his philosophy as a head coach. "[Carroll is] a guy thats comfortable in his skin and Im at that point in my career too," he said. "In his first couple of tries he tried to do it the way the organization wanted to do it and he was trying to please everybody. I think you have to coach to your personality and to the personality of your team and thats what he conveyed to [Stotts] and I when we met with him" That philosophy - defence first, second and third - has been hammered home since day one and the results are beginning to reflect it. Entering Mondays games the Raptors ranked sixth in defensive efficiency, just behind the leagues heavy hitters (Indiana, Chicago, Golden State, Oklahoma City and San Antonio). On Monday they surrendered just 79 points, matching the second lowest total theyve given up all year. "I dont care who is playing, when you play the Utah Jazz, its a brand of basketball thats very difficult," Casey said. "Youre going to have to grind it out, youre going to have to earn every inch, every yard in this place and we did tonight." "The rest of the way, before the [All-Star] break, were going to have to grind it out mentally and physically," he continued. "Thats how its going to be because people are going to come out throwing haymakers at us and weve got to be physically and mentally prepared for it." On the season, theyre now 22-6 when holding teams under 100 points. Theyre 20-4 when opponents shoot below 45 per cent. Fake Air Max 90 For Sale . The 25-year-old McIlroy, who is from Northern Ireland, was eligible to play for either Ireland or Team GB when golf makes its return to the Olympics in Brazil for the first time since 1904. Air Max 90 Black Buy . - Titans quarterback Jake Locker will miss the rest of the season with a Lisfranc injury to his right foot, leaving Tennessee trying to rally with Ryan Fitzpatrick. http://www.outletairmax90cheap.com/outle...tial-cheap.html. Down 2-1 after Rick Nash scored on a penalty shot, the Oilers ran off four unanswered goals in the remainder of the second period on the way to a 6-3 victory on Sunday. Cheap Air Max 90 White China . Peko, a fourth-round pick in 2006, started all 16 games and a playoff loss to San Diego last season. He was second on the line with 72 tackles and had a career-high three sacks. Air Max 90 Leather White .Do you have to be that close? Federer snapped at a TV cameraman hovering nearby as he received medical advice after losing a set on Wednesday.For Nadal and Sharapova, the nuisance was coming from the lowly-ranked qualifiers across the net.Thumbs down to the fact Sidney Crosby will not play for the Pittsburgh Penguins in Tuesday nights game against the Winnipeg Jets, which happens to be Sidney Crosby Bobblehead Night. Im not sure if its thumbs down to Crosby or thumbs down to the NHL, but either way, it is not right that Crosby will sit out on Tuesday, suspended by the NHL, as it were. The reasoning goes that if Crosby could start and finish Wednesdays game against Chicago, he should suit up for Team Toews or Team Foligno in Sundays All-Star Game and, by not doing so, he disrespects the NHL and Team Pittsburgh, which needs him in the lineup against the Jets. On the other hand, there is room to accuse the league of disrespecting Crosby and of carrying its annoyance with All-Star no-shows too far by applying an ill-conceived rule. How important is it for Crosby to play in Columbus today? Obviously, contrary to NHL thinking, its not as important as it is for him to play in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Both he and the league should realize that, and its too bad they wouldnt or couldnt do something about it. -- Some might say thumbs down to the World Cup of Hockey because its not the Olympics. I will say thumbs up to the World Cup of Hockey, if it winds up replacing the Olympics. Confused? Lets start with the widely-held view, among fans and players alike, that the place for thee worlds biggest international hockey event is the Olympic Games.dddddddddddd It is hoped that NHL participation in the Olympic hockey tournament will continue in South Korea in 2018. If it does, and if this is determined between now and the start of the 2016 World Cup, the event in Toronto will be viewed accordingly. Itll be interesting, potentially exciting, quite gimmicky with the inclusion of two teams that wont be representing single nations, and it will obviously be well attended. But it wont be the Olympics. Conversely, if the NHL and the NHLPA decide to skip the next Olympics, and maybe others to follow, the World Cup becomes the best and only place to watch the top players in an international setting and a World Cup win will amount to international hockey supremacy. In saying that, it is necessary to react to the possibility, slim, though it may be, of a World Cup win by a team of European or young North American all-stars. That would satisfy no one apart from the members of the championship team if the 2018 Olympics were off the NHL calendar. It would be more acceptable, once the surprise wore off, if the bigger and more important event were to follow at the Olympics two years later. Thus, I reserve final judgment on the full worth of the World Cup until a decision is reached on future NHL Olympic involvement. ' ' '