TORONTO - With just over two minutes remaining in the first half of Mondays win over the lowly Bucks, Kyle Lowry dumped the ball

TORONTO - With just over two minutes remaining in the first half of Mondays win over the lowly Bucks, Kyle Lowry dumped the ball into Jonas Valanciunas on the left block. Authentic Chandler Parsons Jersey . Isolated against Ersan Ilyasova, Valanciunas turned to face up, took one dribble and barreled into the smaller defender, who took the charge. As Milwaukee called a timeout, Lowry followed the Raptors promising sophomore centre straight to the bench. “Know your opponent,” he implored, instructing Valanciunas to post-up when he has a size and strength advantage over the defender. The Raptors were up by 14 at the time, they would go on to win by 22 and Valanciunas would register his 12th double-double of the campaign, four more than he totalled as a rookie last season. Still, Lowry was all over the gaffe. The two have developed a mutually beneficial mentor-protégé relationship. "Hes kind of like a coach," Valanciunas said of Lowry after practice the day prior. He knows a lot, he tries to help everybody, especially me because Im the young guy." Lowry has been as tough on the young centre as anyone in the Raptors organization and as such his fingerprints can be found all over the 21-year-olds continued development. "Hes been great," coach Dwane Casey told TSN.ca, speaking of Lowry and the leadership role hes taken with Valanciunas. "He has a way of getting on him but yet still he has a relationship with him that he can talk to him that way. "Other people may not understand it but Kyles done a great job of working with Jonas, letting him know what he needs to do. [Hes] just been a great mentor to him. Thats been huge for Jonas." Both players are approaching the middle of their second season together in Toronto. Lowry was acquired in a trade from Houston in July of 2012, just around the same time Valanciunas - Torontos fifth overall pick in 2011 - had arrived from Lithuania. After missing the bulk of training camp with injuries last season, both of their Raptor careers got off to shaky starts. While Lowry struggled through injuries, fluctuating playing time and philosophical differences with the coaching staff, Valanciunas experienced the growing pains you would expect from a 20-year-old getting accustomed to his surroundings in a new country, in a new league. Valanciunas has seen his playing time increase by five minutes per night in his second season; hes regularly on the court during crucial moments at the end of games and he is becoming more of a focal point in Torontos offence. However, as both his coach and his point guard would tell you, hes far from a finished product. He continues to make nightly mistakes - with his positioning, in the pick-and-roll game, and on defence, particularly as the help man - and Lowry is usually the first person to let him hear about it. "Every time he messes up we talk about it," Lowry said. "I tell him what he did and then he fixes it and I congratulate him when he does it [right]. "I think he has the skills and he has the heart and he has the right mentality to be one of the best bigs in the league," the Raptors point guard continued. "My constructive criticism is just tough, big brother love. I think the world of him, I think he can be so good [and] thats why I push him. Im always going to be tough on him because I know how good hes going to be." Lowry, an eight-year NBA vet, is also coming into his own, playing the best basketball of his career and spearheading the Raptors recent resurgence. "Thats just coming from buying in if you ask me," former Raptors teammate Alan Anderson said of Lowry. Most importantly - for a player that will be in the market for a new contract this summer - he is well on his way to shedding the reputation that has followed him like a dark cloud over the years. "Kyles showed hes been a positive leader," Casey said over the weekend. "I think that was the biggest question among coaches around the league, could he be a positive leader and be productive on the court." Not only has he been productive, averaging career-highs across the board, but hes been the consummate professional his team has desperately needed him to be while remaining a positive influence on his younger teammates, namely Valanciunas. Occasionally combative, Lowrys fiery nature has often been misunderstood. The reality - which his teammates and coaches have come to accept and appreciate - is, he holds himself and everyone around him to an incredibly high standard. He is a fierce competitor with an unrelenting will to win. Lowry is a strong personality, certainly not the first Casey has coached. The Raptors coach worked with future Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett in Minnesota and current Nets bench boss Jason Kidd in Dallas, but Lowrys leadership style reminds him of another hard-nosed point guard from his past. "The guards that Ive had, Gary Payton was one of the [toughest]," Casey said, having coached ‘The Glove as an assistant in Seattle. "He would use some colourful words to talk with his teammates but they understood it, he had a relationship with [them], just like Kyle. Kyle reminds me so much of Gary in the fact that he can talk to players in a certain way that they understand because he has their respect and he has a relationship with them. "As long as you have that relationship and you back it up with love and real sugar than you can get on guys but I havent seen Kyle be overly tough on JV, just when he needs it and just the right amount." As Casey points out, Lowry walks a fine line between tough love and going too far, but he does it with precision. Hes hard on Valanciunas because he recognizes the young mans upside but also, and most importantly, he knows the seven-footer can take it. "Hes really receptive," Lowry said, "because I tell him, I tell him why Im so tough on him and he understands that. "He knows how to do it," said Valanciunas, who has thick skin, having played professionally in Europe since he was 15. "I understand hes my teammates, he wants me to do good and [Ive] just got to live with that." Whether or not Valanciunas realizes or fully appreciates it now, Lowry should have a long-lasting impact on his auspicious NBA career. As for Lowry, his future with the team remains uncertain but wherever he ends up, after cashing in on this seasons revival, his Raptors legacy will live on in the growth of the franchises emerging centre. Authentic Zach Randolph Jersey . The club announced on Wednesday that Malhotra signed a 25-game professional tryout contract. The 33-year-old suffered a serious eye injury when struck by a puck during a game versus Colorado in March of 2011. Authentic Mike Bibby Jersey .com) - The Boston Bruins announced Monday that the team has signed goaltender Niklas Svedberg to a one-year contract. http://www.cheapgrizzliesjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-lorenzen-wright-jersey . -- Chad Labelle scored the winner 17:36 into the third period to give Medicine Hat a 2-1 victory over the Swift Current Broncos on Sunday and lift the Tigers into the second round of the Western Hockey League playoffs. SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Canada played to expectation up until halftime. After that the game belonged to the upstart Americans. Brett Thompson scored a try in the 68th minute and Chris Wyles got a successful conversion to lead the United States to a 38-35 comeback win over Canada on Saturday in a Pacific Nations Cup mens rugby match at Bonney Field. It was the first time the U.S. had beaten Canada since 2009. Canada, which led by 10 at halftime, tried in desperation to get a try in the last two minutes of the contest, but the U.S. defence met them at every turn. "I think we were doing well up until then, but then we started playing poorly," said Canadas coach Kiernan Crowley. "We didnt make any tackles and you cant afford to do that and we cant afford to give away the amount of penalties that we gave away. It was just a pretty poor performance by us." Harry Jones led Canada with two tries, while Aaron Carpenter, James Pritchard and Ciaran Hearn each scored one. Pritchard added four conversions. Blaine Scully led the Americans with two tries. Danny Barrett, Wyles and Thompson scored the others. The U.S. made three conversions and Wyles had four off of penalties. The U.S. jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first half with a penalty kick from Wyles, and he added another moments later to make it 6-0 when Canadian scrum half Phil Mack was issued a yellow card. But Canada came back to lead 7-6 on a try from Jones and a coonversion from Pritchard. Authentic Marc Gasol Jersey. Canada scored twice before the end of the first half and led with a 28-18 margin. Carpenter drove over the line with a powerful pick-and-go to bring the game to 18-14 before Pritchard dove on a DTH van der Merwe chip kick for Canadas second score before halftime. "They were scoring off our mistakes," said U.S. centre Folau Niua. "They attacked us really well on turnovers. But what I like is that we didnt panic. Our captain gave us a few words and that was to play together." Canada picked up where it left off, striking early on Jones second try of the night for a 35-18 lead at the 43rd minute of the second half. The Americans mounted their comeback by scoring the next 10 points before retaking the lead. Both teams played with intensity around the goal-line in the last two minutes of the match. But it was the U.S. defence that conquered the moment, which ended with Scully recovering a turnover and Niua kicking the ball out of play to end Canadas effort. "We werent clinical enough, its as simple as that," said Pritchard. "We gave away too much ball, werent strong in the tackle areas and our tackling was weak. There was a second-place finish in the PNC up-for-grabs and there were times throughout the game that we could have put them away and in front of their home crowd they fought back." Attendance at Bonney Field was sold out at 7,804 spectators. 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