INDIANAPOLIS - It was just before 2pm local time when the Raptors landed on game-day, five hours prior to tipoff and 38 hours after they were originally scheduled to touchdown in Indianapolis. Creatures of habit, the Raptors were expecting to fly out after their previous game - a hard-fought loss in Miami on Sunday - practice on Monday and shoot around ahead of an already daunting match-up with the league-best Pacers, a team they had defeated at home a week earlier. Instead, Mother Nature threw them a curveball and they had no choice but to adjust. A major snowstorm and frigid temperatures in Indianapolis resulted in the altered itinerary, a reasonable excuse for a team that has vowed to stop making excuses, and to their credit they refused to take the bait. "We can have all the excuses in the world, but in a game like this you have to man up and bring it," Dwane Casey said after his road-weary club dropped Tuesdays sluggish rematch with the Pacers 86-79 in snow-covered Indianapolis. "Its a mans league. I expected us to have a little bit of a hangover with the bullcrap with the travel but I thought we put ourselves in a position to win. Now weve got to close the deal." Not one Raptor player would use the teams travel nightmare as justification for the loss; they would barely even acknowledge it in the visitors locker room post-game. It was the type of easy out they used to fall back on, almost routinely. This time they did what winning teams do. They owned it. "[We] had the opportunity, but didnt make shots," said Kyle Lowry, who had 16 points to go along with just two dimes, his lowest assist total since November 11th. "They beat us. We were a little bit off, schedule off, routine, but still had a chance to win, so cant really say it messed us up too much." The loss was just their fifth in 15 games since the trade, dropping a game below the .500 mark. "We came out a little sluggish, had a couple turnovers at the beginning, shots werent falling for us and we got out-rebounded," said Amir Johnson, coming off his worst outing of the season. "Theres your ball game." More often than not, the Raptors were a step slow against a team that prides itself on pounding opponents into submission, especially at home, where theyve suffered just one loss. Toronto was out of sync, looking nothing like the club that stunned the Pacers at the Air Canada Centre last week. The Raptors managed just 18 assists, failing to reach 20 dimes for only the fourth time in the last 15 games. They were out-rebounded by 17 and bested by 14 in the paint, 11 in second-chance points. True to character they nearly made something out of nothing, cutting their deficit - once as big as 17 - to six down the stretch before eventually succumbing to the home teams punishing brand of basketball. "Guys were just a little bit off from their rhythm," Lowry said. "Not making shots, just the timing of everything was just a little off tonight." DeMar DeRozan scored the teams final 17 of the third quarter and finished with 28 and Patrick Patterson - playing in place of Johnson - had 11 of his 20 points in the fourth. Johnson was not himself, finishing scoreless on five attempts in just over 20 minutes of action. Battling a cold on top of the travel snafus, the Raptors forward struggled through fatigue, looking out of breath on a couple of occasions in the first half. With Patterson playing well, Casey opted to ride the hot hand and sit Johnson in the fourth. Jonas Valanciunas also had an off night, held to just four points in 32 minutes and outplayed by Pacers centre Roy Hibbert on both ends of the floor. The team checked in and out of its Miami hotel three times before eventually taking off for Indianapolis at 11:30am Tuesday morning. There, they spent less than an hour at the hotel before boarding three busses to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, skipping shoot around and putting a dent into most of their game-day routine. "Youve just got to get your body going," Johnson said before the game. "After sitting down for a couple of hours, youve got to [stay active]." "Adversity sometimes comes in different ways," Casey said. "Its a good character builder for us. You hate to be against the best team in the conference but it is what it is." Cl... McDonald Buccaneers Jersey . After battling to a scoreless first half, the teams traded goals in the first five minutes of the second half to settle for a share of the points. Houston (0-1-2) had the better of the play in the opening frame, with striker Brian Ching looking dangerous before being subbed out with an apparent rib injury about five minutes before the break. Dann... Lansanah Womens Jersey . 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The team returns to its Sun Belt Conference schedule this weekend but it shouldnt be too long before Petrino, the former Arkansas Razorbacks head coach, is on the top circuit on a consistent basis again.TORONTO – Rock bottom only seems to grow deeper. "Its adversity at its worst right now," Cody Franson said hopelessly. Game 82 is the only obvious end in sight as the losses continue to mount in stunning fashion for the Leafs, now an unthinkable 20 in the last 25 games (5-17-3). Thursday night offered yet another disastrous decision at the Air Canada Centre – their 11th straight defeat on home-ice – a 7-1 thumping at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers. "Its snowballing," Franson continued. "No matter what we try to do to get in the way of the snowball and stop it, we get ran over with it." The Leafs can seemingly do no right, the life completely drained from a group almost resigned to its devastating fate. Spiraling all the way down to 26th in the overall standings – the lottery drawing near – with only four games to go, there is little that can brighten the dark of the past two months in Toronto. "Were just not playing well," Phil Kessel said quietly before delving deeper into his teams woes. "I dont know what our record is here in the last how many games, [but] were just not playing a good game. Were not creating chances, were not playing good defence, were not doing little things to win hockey games. I mean how many shots did we have tonight? When you play like that and they have 35-40, how do you win a game? Were just not doing anything right. Its disappointing for us. We expect better ourselves. Hopefully in the last four games we can prove that were better than this because its not what we want to be." "Its embarrassing," Franson concluded of the latest one-sided result. "It doesnt get much more embarrassing than that." Five Points 1. Perhaps most disappointing to Randy Carlyle was his teams fight in front of a rookie goaltender thrust into the starters role. 24-year-old rookie Jussi Rynnas – who has bounced between the Marlies and Reading Royals of the ECHL this season – was forced into his first NHL start when Jonas Gustavsson went down with a left knee injury in the pre-game warm-up. Rynnas was all but hung out to dry on a number of occasions, yielding seven goals. "I wouldve expected more from our group from a protection standpoint against the hockey club that we played tonight in the Flyers," Carlyle said. "I was anticipating more of a pushback from that standpoint, make sure that Jussi had an opportunity to shine." 2. Rynnas took over for Gustavsson in his first NHL game on Tuesday, left on an island several times in his first start two days later. "You never want to give up seven goals," he said after facing 30 shots.dddddddddddd "Im not happy about that, but I just try to get good things with me and leave the rest of it behind." Nicknamed "The Bus" (six-foot-five, 205 pounds), Rynnas knew the moment Gustavsson went sprawling to the ice in warm-ups that he would be starting that night. "I was ready to play," he said. "It doesnt matter when it happens, I was ready." 3. It was a scary scene just minutes before puck-drop, Gustavsson laying face down on the ice for several moments before being helped off by teammates and trainers. The 27-year-old had taken a Clarke MacArthur wrist shot on the side of his left knee, a stinger that hit bone. "He was walking and hopefully with some treatment hell be able to practice [Friday]," Carlyle said, indicating no firm plans had a further injury happened to Rynnas. Gustavsson arrived on the bench as the back-up in the second period, but its doubtful he would have been fit to play. "I was looking at a couple of coaches that could possibly put the gear on," Carlyle said, managing a smile. 4. Much like his predecessor, the new Leaf head coach has been left scratching his head with a winding road of futility. "Theres not a lot we can say," Carlyle said of his message to the group. "Weve said everything we can say. Youre really looking to the inner self of the individuals to say Hey how can we continue to allow this to happen?" He later added, "In my history and my coaching career and playing career, it always went back to that if you can defend usually you give yourself a chance. If your specialty teams can give you a chance in the games and win that special teams game within the game usually you have a chance to win the hockey game. Those are the things that turn the game or turn the tide of the game in your favour, but we didnt give ourselves a chance with the number of turnovers we committed in the hockey game. Its unacceptable." The Leafs managed just 17 shots on Sergei Bobrosky, the fifth time in the last seven games theyve mustered 20 or fewer. Thursday also marked the 13th time in the 25-game slide that the club has allowed four or more against. 5. Its been nearly two months since the Leafs last won on home-ice (February 6 vs. Edmonton). Jeers of "Lets Go Blue Jays" thundered down from a sour ACC crowd. "Were not playing well so what do you expect?" Kessel said. "I dont remember the last time we won a game in this building." The Leafs have been outscored 43-19 during the eleven-game winless skid in Toronto. cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys ' ' '