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TORONTO – As the Toronto Raptors get set to host the red-hot Atlanta Hawks at the Air Canada Centre on Friday, coach Dwane Casey smiled when asked if the game will be a good measuring stick for his team. “Tomorrow night’s game isn’t going to make or break our season,” said Casey following practice on Thursday. No, he’s right it won’t. But it will give the Raptors a good sense of where they match up at this time against a surprising powerhouse in the Eastern Conference. “It’s a big game because they are one of the best teams in the league right now,” noted the Raptors head coach. “We are not going to judge who we are and what we are not, by one game.” What the 26-12 Raptors are right now is a team that is struggling with just two wins in their last seven games and a team that has not been strong on the defensive end, having allowed 100 or more points in six of their last eight. Toronto finds itself four-and-a-half games back of Atlanta for top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks meantime have won 10 straight and are 31-8 sitting in top spot in the East. They enter play on Thursday seventh in the league in points per game (103.1) and second in the Association in assists per game (25.6) and points allowed (96.7.) The Hawks have five players who are averaging double digits in points per game, led by point guard Jeff Teague (17.5 PPG) and centre Al Horford – “one of the top centers in the league,” said Casey – who in his eighth season in the league is averaging 14.8 PPG and 6.6 RPG. “No, I don’t envy anybody,” said Casey. “[The Hawks] play the game the right way. I don’t envy them because our job here is to play that way. Not out of envy, but out of necessity. “ “One thing they do is shoot the ball extremely well at every position,” said Casey. “They come off the bench with shooters. And their commitment to defence. They play a team defence. They don’t have a team of stoppers. They play the way we want to play, as a team concept.” With DeMar DeRozan back, fresh off playing 29 minutes and scoring 20 points against Philadelphia on Wednesday, including eight points in the fourth quarter, the Raptors expect to give the Hawks all they can handle. But will they – can they – pick up the defensive intensity for the entire game? “We are getting there,” said DeRozan. “Especially with me back, we are definitely going to get there. You got to give Atlanta credit, they are one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now. It is going to be a good test for us.” The Raptors have beaten the Hawks twice already, but this is a different Atlanta team “One thing we caught them early before they got hot,” said Casey of the Raptors season-opening 109-102 win and in the 126-115 win November 26, the final game of a six-game winning streak. “We were playing better defensively at the time and clicking better offensively. We’ll see where we are [on Friday.]” “They are kind of like us in the sense where they really don’t have a superstar player,” said DeRozan. “All their guys just play together and play hard.” “Their consistent effort on every possession,” is what impresses Casey the most right now. “They are all pulling together, they are playing as a team right now, Casey explained. Everything they are doing is clicking. If we have a chance [on Friday], we got to be the hardest working team on the floor. Casey sees similiarities between the two clubs. “We both are shooters that have to play defence - that’s kind of the personality of both teams,” noted Casey. “We are similar from that standpoint. They’ve done it at a high level for longer than we have.” “I think our biggest test is becoming a team for a whole 48 minutes,” said James Johnson. “It’s all about us at this point. There is no bigger test right now for the Raptors than the NBA’s hottest team. Chris Doleman Jersey . 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Kyle Rudolph Jersey .com) - Carmelo Anthony tallied 31 points to help the New York Knicks continue their improved play of late with a 100-92 victory over a short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder squad.Flushing Meadows, NY (Sports Network) - World No. 1 and defending champion Serena Williams put forth an utterly dominating performance to reach the semifinals of the U.S. Open, while Chinese star Li Na also advanced to the final four of the seasons final major during Tuesdays session. Williams faced no resistance from No. 18 seed Carla Suarez Navarro in her quest for a fifth career U.S. Open title and second straight, with the 16-time Grand Slam winner needing a mere 52 minutes to double-bagel the overmatched Spaniard 6-0, 6-0 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The American star won an astounding 88 percent of her first serve points and ripped off 20 winners to claim a berth in the semis, where Williams will face Li after the fellow 31-year-old outlasted 24th-seeded Ekaterina Makarova by a 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 count earlier in the day. "I played really good. I was just more focused than anything," Williams said humbly. Second-seeded Victoria Azarenka, who lost to Williams in last years outstanding final in Flushing, was a hard-fought fourth-round winner on Tuesday. The Belarusian stalwart overcame 13th-seeded fellow former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in just over two hours in a match that was postponed because of rain on Monday. Ivanovic staved off two match points and broke Azarenka to pull within 4-5 in the final set. In the next game, Azarenka broke right back after blowing a third match point before converting on a fourth when her Serbian counterpart netted one final two-handed backhand. "I was, like, sleeping," Azarenka said. "I really had to wake up in the second set and try to fight for points.dddddddddddd "The match points were pretty bad. I really didnt go for my shots. I kept waiting for a mistake, and obviously it didnt happen." Azarenka is now 5-2 lifetime against the 25-year-old 2008 French Open champion Ivanovic, including a victory in California last month. The 24-year-old Azarenka, who is now 29-1 on hardcourts this year, will meet 30-year-old former top-10 star Daniela Hantuchova in a quarterfinal on Wednesday. The Slovakian Hantuchova edged out American fellow non-seed Alison Riske in three sets on Monday. Azarenka and Hantuchova have split four career meetings, but the Belarusian has won the last two, including a win at Indian Wells earlier this season. Azarenka is the two-time reigning Australian Open champion and lost to Serena Williams in last years U.S. Open finale. Meanwhile, the fifth-seeded Li fought off a stern challenge from the Russian Makarova in a match that lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes. The Chinese slugger recorded two of her seven service breaks in the third set, while Makarova failed to break Li in the deciding stanza of their quarterfinal. Li is the first-ever Chinese player to reach the final four at the U.S. Open. The 31-year-old Li was this years Aussie Open runner-up to Azarenka and captured the French Open and was an Aussie Open runner-up in 2011. Shell now appear in her fifth career Grand Slam semifinal (3-1). The 2013 U.S. Open champ will earn $2.6 million. The current world No. 1 Williams would claim an additional $1 million as a result of capturing the U.S. Open Series. Wholesale USA Soccer Jerseys discount uswnt jersey Wholesale AC Milan Jerseys Wholesale Arsenal Jerseys Wholesale A.S. 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