TORONTO - Kyle Lowry is playing the best basketball of his eight-year career and it couldnt have come at a better time for the Raptors point guard, his team or its general manager. Coming into camp in the best shape of his life, ahead of a contract season for the 27-year-old, Lowry seemed determined to change the league-wide perception of him following a disappointing 2012-13 campaign. In the process he has raised his expected market value while fuelling the Raptors resurgence, dating back to the trade of his best friend, Rudy Gay. "Hes playing at the highest level I have seen," Dwane Casey said after Lowrys season-high 32 points led Toronto past the Knicks, 115-110 Saturday, sweeping a weekend home-and-home set with New York. "He is playing with such force and such confidence. "Thats him, man," said DeMar DeRozan, who added 20 points in the victory. "He could do that every night if he really wanted to, scoring-wise. We feed off him, thats our point guard, we look to him in late-game situations and he always comes through." DeRozan was effusive in his praise of his teammate. "I think this is the best Ive seen him play, ever since he was in Houston and had that tremendous year,” DeRozan continued. “We need that from him and hes been bringing it every night and thats why weve been winning." Lowry flirted with a triple-double against the undermanned Knicks, matching his season-high of 11 assists to go along with eight boards. In his second year with the Raptors, Lowry has recorded at least six dimes in 20 consecutive games, including the last 10 without his good friend Gay. Since Gay was traded earlier in the month, the Raptors have won seven of 10 games, exceeding 20 assists in eight of them. Despite the distractions that accompanied that trade and the subsequent rumours surrounding his future with the team, Lowry has been a pro. "With all the trade rumours and all the bull thats going around, hes been positive and upbeat and a leader from that standpoint," credited Casey. "He could have gone in a shell and kind of isolated himself from everybody else but hes dived in and been positive about it, so Im happy for him and proud of him for handling himself that way." For Lowry, it seems like a no-brainer. Hes auditioning for potential suitors - should general manager Masai Ujiri find an offer that catches his eye - hes playing for a new contract in the offseason and, most importantly, hes too competitive, too prideful to sulk. "What do you want me to do?" he asked rhetorically. "Its my job, its a business. Be mad? It is what it is to me. Im really not worried about it." After a fourth-quarter comeback sealed a victory in New York on Friday, the Raptors carried their momentum over in front of a sold-out Air Canada Centre crowd 24 hours later. They took an early lead and never relinquished it, despite a late push from the visitors, playing without Carmelo Anthony - the leagues second-leading scorer - for the second straight night. As the Knicks made their final run, to no avail, frustrated big man Tyson Chandler got tangled up with Raptors centre Jonas Valanciunas. It was Lowry who stepped in to defend his young teammate and prevent any altercation. "Im not a vocal leader, Im more of an action leader," said Lowry, who has scored 20 or more in four of the last five games. "Weve got a bunch of guys in this locker room who are soldiers and troupers and theyre going to follow whoevers leading them on the court." With a pair of wins over the Knicks, the Raptors extended their lead in the Atlantic Division to a full game over Boston, four over Brooklyn and five ahead of New York and Philadelphia. Taking advantage of a weak conference and an injury-plagued division, the Raptors are moving the ball, playing hard on defence and carrying themselves with more confidence than they have in the three-year Casey era. One of the biggest beneficiaries has been sophomore guard Terrence Ross. Ross made a career-best seven three point shots on 11 attempts, scoring 23 points in just under 32 minutes on Saturday. "T-Ross is firing that ball and nobody is even second guessing him when he fires it," Lowry said of his teammate. "Tonight, he was 7-of-11 and, if he went 1-for-11, we would still tell him to shoot the ball. I think he knows that we all have confidence in him and thats playing a big part in the way hes playing." "Hes just playing confident," DeRozan added. "I tell him, ‘Dont go out there second guessing yourself. You have the ability to do anything on that court, you jump higher than everybody on that court, youre a great shooter, you could do so much just use it and dont worry about messing up so much. Thats what hes doing." The Raptors will rest up on Sunday before traveling to Chicago for a meeting with the Bulls on New Years Eve. cheap nfl jerseys . Chorney, 24, had a goal and three assists in 12 games for the Oilers last season. The six-foot, 193-pound defenceman has one goal and six assists in 56 career games since being drafted by Edmonton 36th overall in the 2005 draft. cheap jerseys . Braden Lamb, Corban Knight, Paul Byron and Markus Granlund each scored for Abbotsford. The Heat have won three in a row and nine of their last 10 to improve to a league-best 16-5-1. http://www.cheapjerseyssafe.com/ . Finally, the horn sounded. That first victory as an NBA head coach was his. Al Horford had 22 points and 16 rebounds, three other Atlanta starters scored in double figures and the Hawks won their home opener, defeating the Toronto Raptors 102-95 on Friday to give Budenholzer a night to remember. nfl jerseys china . Home opener. Packed park. New managers Coors Field debut. Francis wanted this day to be memorable. So, he made sure it was. jerseys from china . The end of this mess of a season for the Minnesota Twins still mattered to the veteran right-hander, who wanted no part of 100 losses.NASHVILLE -- The Nashville Predators were happy to be back home, even if it was for just one game. Rookie Marek Mazanec made 39 saves for his first NHL victory and the Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks 7-2 Saturday night. Craig Smith scored a goal and added two assists for the Predators. The three-point game equaled the Madison, Wis. natives career high. Matt Cullen, Nick Spaling, Patric Hornqvist, Viktor Stalberg, Mike Fisher and Shea Weber also scored for Nashville, which ended a four-game losing streak. Patrick Kane and Brandon Pirri had the goals for Chicago, which had its four-game winning streak snapped. Making his second start in as many days, Mazanec stopped seven shots in the first, 17 in the second, and 15 in the third. "Its awesome," Mazanec said. "I am really happy. We played a really good game." The 22-year-old Czech is playing his first season in North America. Nashville played its first home game since Oct. 26, having just returned from a seven-game road trip that spanned 17 days. They head back out on the road for games in Detroit and Toronto next week. "Good response by our guys today," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We looked at this game as the end of road trip, not the first home game really because of the quick turnover and obviously playing the Stanley Cup champions." Cullen scored the games first goal at 7:28 of the opening period. From the slot, Smiths slap shot was stopped by Chicago goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin. The rebound fell to the right of the net, and a diving Cullen poked the rebound in for his third goal of the season. Less than a minute later, Spaling doubled the Nashville lead when his wrist shot from the right faceoff dot slipped just underneath the crossbar at 8:25. Later in the first, Khabibulin left thhe game with an injury after making stops on shots from Weber and Hornqvist.dddddddddddd Corey Crawford replaced Khabibulin at 15:33. Following the game, the Blackhawks said that Khabibulin had a lower-body injury, but had no further update. "We got outworked," Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said. "We didnt do the things we needed to. We didnt win our battles, especially in the right areas we needed to win them in." Hornqvists sixth goal of the season came at 9:02 of the second to give Nashville a 3-0 lead. With Nashville on a power play, Roman Josis slap shot from just above the left faceoff circle was tipped by Hornqvist in front and beat Crawford on the short side. Smith and Kane traded goals late in the second, with Smith connecting at 18:18 and Kane answering 26 seconds later. "We just stayed positive and erased the last couple of games," Smith said. "We just kind of refreshed for this game. Its also nice to be home. Its a good feeling." Pirri briefly cut the Nashville lead to 4-2 at 6:14 of the third, but Stalberg, the former Blackhawk, struck back at 6:29. Fisher added his at 12:19. "It was a free night for them offensively, we were very gracious," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "We know what it takes and we know theyre going to be desperate." Weber scored on the power play at 14:07. His assist earlier in the game on Hornqvists goal was his 300th career NHL point. The seven goals were a season high for Nashville. Notes: Mazanec became just the eighth goaltender in Nashville franchise history to record a victory. ... Nashville C Filip Forsberg missed the game with an upper-body injury. He is listed day to day. ... Kane has at least one point in his past six games. ... Chicago RW Marian Hossa missed the game with a lower-body injury. cheap jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '