TORONTO - With six weeks remaining before his teams likely return to the playoffs, Dwane Casey is hoping to manufacture some late-season rest for the Raptors two leading scorers. Although DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry have shown no sign of wearing down, each logging more playing time than they have previously in their careers, Casey would like to keep them as fresh as possible for the stretch run, something that may be easier said than done. Sitting 9 1/2 games ahead of ninth-place Detroit in the Eastern Conference standings, Toronto - the Easts third seed - is poised to make its first postseason appearance in six years. With that comes another rarity for the franchise, playing meaningful games in March and April. The challenge for Casey and the Raptors coaching staff will be in managing the rotation, loosening it enough to give the guards a breathier - together or separately - without sacrificing important games. "Thats the hard thing," Casey acknowledged following Wednesdays practice. "Weve got to buy them a few minutes here and there but every possession - not only every game, every quarter [but] every possession - is meaningful." "When you start looking at scoring, we hit a drought the other night against Golden State right before the fourth quarter but we were just trying to buy minutes for those guys off the floor. Its a catch-22." DeRozan is fourth in the league, averaging just over 38 minutes per game, behind only Carmelo Anthony, James Harden and Kevin Durant while Lowry is 14th, logging roughly 36 a night. Amongst NBA duos, only Houstons pair of Harden and Chandler Parsons as well as Golden States Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson play more. In February, DeRozan played over 40 minutes a night, with Lowry nearly hitting 38. Since the early-December trade, Casey has been rolling out a strict nine-man rotation, using primarily Greivis Vasquez and John Salmons to spell Lowry, DeRozan and Terrence Ross. Getting reliable contribution from his reserves and piecing together the right combinations will be essential for the Raptors coach to expand the rotation enough to buy his backcourt duo more downtime on the bench. One player hed like to see more of, who could help in taking the burden off Lowry and DeRozan, is newcomer Nando De Colo. The versatile guard has played just eight minutes since being acquired from the Spurs in a deadline day trade two weeks ago. Although Casey has had trouble pinpointing where exactly De Colo fits in his lineup, he anticipates using the 26-year-old as a secondary ball handler, likely at the two or three position. "Weve got to make sure we have the right combinations on the court, that way we dont sacrifice scoring, but he knows how to play, he has a feel for the game," Casey said of De Colo. "You cant really put your finger on his position or what he is, a two, a three or a point [guard], but hes a basketball player. He just knows how to play." The Raptors got back to work Wednesday after taking a couple days off to satisfy a league mandate. "I thought we had decent focus," Casey said, "the usual first day back to school-type start, but I thought once guys got into it we ramped the intensity a little bit. "There was no resistance as far as the drills were concerned whatsoever, so I could sense they were anxious to get back. As a coach you dont want to lose that rhythm, thats the biggest fear. I didnt sense any of that today." While Jonas Valanciunas used the time off to get away from the game, spending the day ice fishing on Lake Simcoe (he returned home empty handed, without a fish), Terrence Ross took advantage of a rare mid-season opportunity for rest. Ross has been nursing a sprained left ankle, keeping him out of Sundays win over Golden State, but was able to practice in full Wednesday. "It happened at the best time," said Ross, who expects to be in uniform when the Raptors host Sacramento on Friday. "I got a few days off to stay off it and rest. Im feeling back to normal. Ive still got to do treatment on it but right now it feels good." Roger Clemens Red Sox Jersey . But sometimes the way you lose takes precedence over the final score. And how the Jets lost the 5-4 game to the New York Islanders on Thursday is what had Coach Claude Noel hot after the game. Carl Yastrzemski Jersey .com) - Bradley Beal deposited a season-high 33 points and John Wall posted another double-double as the Washington Wizards went on the road and beat the Houston Rockets, 104-103. http://www.officialredsoxfanstore.com/au...d-sox-jersey/.Y. - Through three quarters, the Brooklyn Nets could not shake the NBAs worst team. Roger Clemens Jersey . The CFL unveiled its 2014 schedule Wednesday and the Redblacks will play their first-ever regular-season game in Winnipeg against the Blue Bombers on July 3. Fred Lynn Jersey . -- The Windsor Spitfires were left with just one goaltender Tuesday after having their starter walk out on them midway through Game 3 of their Ontario Hockey League playoff matchup with the London Knights.SAN DIEGO - The San Diego Chargers got a harsh taste of reality from Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.If theyre going to hold on and make the playoffs, the Chargers are going to have to do a lot better than they did Sunday night.Brady threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Julian Edelman midway through the fourth quarter, and New England beat the San Diego Chargers 23-14 for its eighth win in nine games.San Diego (8-5) was shut out in the second half.We just didnt get it done, collectively, safety Eric Weddle said. The teams coming up are going to be just like this.The Patriots (10-3) clinched their 12th straight 10-win season for the second-longest such streak in NFL history. They spent the week in San Diego following a loss at Green Bay in order to cut down on late-season travel.New England went ahead 16-14 on Stephen Gostkowskis 38-yard field goal with 10:34 left.After forcing the Chargers to punt, the Patriots started on their 31. Brady faked a handoff and hit Edelman on a slant at about the 45. He broke two tackles and was gone.That was the back-breaker for us, Weddle said. We had to make a tackle and maybe we hold them.Brady completed 28 of 44 passes for 317 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Edelman caught eight passes for 141 yards.The Chargers dropped from the No. 5 playoff seed to No. 6. Up next is a home game against Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, who lead the Chargers by two games in the AFC West.Philip Rivers was off all night, completing 20 of 33 passes for only 189 yards. The offence scored only one touchdown.We just didnt play well, Rivers said. They were the reason for a lot of that. But we had some things that were self-inflicted as well.dddddddddddd It wasnt our best day, obviously. Anytime you score seven points in this league youre not going to win any games.The game had several momentum swings.After Stephen Gostkowski kicked his second 22-yard field goal of the first half, Brandon Bolden blocked a punt by Mike Scifres to give New England the ball on the San Diego 28. Scifres hurt his left shoulder on the play and was carted off the field.Four plays into the drive, Rob Gronkowski caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Brady to pull the Patriots to 14-13.Gronkowski became the first tight end in NFL history with four seasons of 10 or more scoring receptions.The Chargers scored twice in 2 minutes, 33 seconds in the second quarter.Safety Darrell Stuckey returned a fumble 53 yards for a touchdown and Malcom Floyd made a diving catch of a 15-yard touchdown pass from Philip Rivers.Safety Jahleel Addae forced Brandon LaFell to fumble after a reception and Stuckey picked it up and ran it in.Manti Teo leaped to make his first career interception just before halftime, preserving the Chargers 14-13 lead.With the Patriots looking to go ahead, Brady tried to hit Gronkowski on second-and-10 from the Chargers 18. But Teo, the second-year linebacker from Notre Dame, picked off the under-thrown pass at the 4.There are no excuses around here. We didnt do enough to win the game, outside linebacker Dwight Freeney said.Were hurting, Weddle said. its a tough loss for us. We fought and battled and were so close but we couldnt get a stop or get as score and find a way to win.It will sting for a few days.___Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll ' ' '