BROOKLYN - With just over four minutes to go in the third quarter, Amir Johnson sat on the bench, wincing in pain as he watched the game and, in effect, his teams season slip away. That seemed like an appropriate time to get a head start on the Raptors playoff obituary. Their first-half onslaught had evaporated, the 17-point lead was no more and Johnson, like Kyle Lowry, was battling foul trouble and a myriad of ailments. At that point the momentum, if you believe in such things, belonged to the hosting Brooklyn Nets. This upstart Raptors team had been in similar situations throughout the season - fighting for their lives, backs up against the wall - but, tied going into the fourth quarter of a critical Game 4, this would be their biggest and most revealing test yet. They had a new audience, a brighter spotlight, a bigger stage and 12 minutes to prove something that they themselves already knew. "Everybody has something on their body that definitely hurts," said Johnson, who injured his knee in a failed attempt to draw a charge on the Nets Paul Pierce, "but we keep playing, we keep fighting. Its not the time to hold back now. Weve got to keep going." The Raptors held Brooklyn without a field goal for the final six minutes, without a point for the last five and in doing so they showed more character than they had at any point in this series. "Thats just us, man," DeMar DeRozan said after scoring a team-high 24 points in the Raptors scrappy 87-79 win on Sunday, tying their best-of-seven opening round series up at 2-2. "Were definitely resilient, were not going to give up until the games over. Were going to fight through." Just as things were at their most bleak - Lowry had picked up his fifth foul and Johnson, still on the bench, was also saddled with five - the Raptors got serious. Slightly out of character, DeRozan drew a charge, then he took another. Was that a first? "Nah, I dont think so," the all-star guard said with a smirk on his face as Lowry, sitting next to him, chuckled. "I hope its not." Then Lowry, throwing caution to the wind, reached in and poked the ball away from Pierce. Johnson followed suit and in a familiar scene - one that earned him his fifth foul and a sore knee earlier - stepped in to take the charge. Both Lowry and Johnson were one foul away from spending the rest of the game watching from the sidelines, one hit to the knee away from spending the rest of the night on the trainers table. Neither player seemed willing to allow his team to lose. "Theyre fighters," said Jonas Valanciunas. "Theyre soldiers. They go on the court anyway. So its good when you have those types of guys on your team." Everyone is dealing with bumps and bruises to some degree at this point in the season. Who wasnt limping out there tonight, Valanciunas was asked. "Julyan Stone," the young centre said with a smile. But there was Lowry, limping up and down the court between possessions, lying next to the bench to stay loose when he wasnt in the game. He had tweaked his reoccurring right knee injury early in Game 3, on top of all the nicks hes accumulated over a long season, but he gutted it out again. Where would his team be without him? "We would have probably got in a fight if I tried to take him out of the game," coach Dwane Casey joked. "Hes dealing with a lot right now and he came through with flying colours. He fought through foul trouble, a little bit of adversity throughout the game and still came through.” Lowry scored 12 of his 22 points in the second half and once again, with the game on the line, his team resembled their point guard, their leader, their best player. "I am not surprised at all that Kyle was limping around, hes a warrior, hes everything to this team," said Chuck Hayes. "The guy gives it his all, we just feed off of him. Then we tease him about it after, hes going to have probably every ice bag in here on his body." "We dont give up man, were some fighters," Hayes continued. "We play like the underdog, we were the underdog probably all year, including this series. I dont know, we just go out there and play for each other." Go ahead, underestimate them, disrespect them and count them out. They feed off it. If respect is earned in the postseason, perhaps the Raptors are starting to turn heads. "We understand that this is a group thats not going to back down, thats not going to give up," Pierce said after the game. "Theyve earned a lot of peoples respect around the league. Just because you dont have a lot of playoff experience doesnt mean youre not a good team. You can learn on the fly." Theyve done just that, now its a whole new ball game. The Raptors will return to Toronto and their raucous crowd at the Air Canada Centre after reclaiming home-court advantage for what has become a best-of-three set, beginning with Wednesdays Game 5. Have they played their best basketball? "No," Lowry and DeRozan answered in unison, but there is a growing sense of belief in the room coinciding with an ambiance of nervousness that spread throughout Barclays Center as Toronto hit back on Sunday. The Raptors may not be in over their heads after all. "Were on a mission," Casey said. "Were not just here trying to win a game. We want to make sure we stay poised, stay focused on our business. Thats what weve been about all year." Bobby Hebert Saints Jersey . First, Ivan Nova decided to have season-ending Tommy John elbow surgery. Then Michael Pineda was suspended for 10 games for using pine tar. Sam Mills Jersey .Y. -- Phil Jackson lost out on his preferred coach, but hes working hard on keeping his star player. http://www.saintsrookiestore.com/Saints-Chauncey-Gardner-Johnson-Jersey/ .200. His solution to his hitting woes was business in the front and a party in the back."That would be a mullet," Norris says. Thomas Morstead Saints Jersey . The two were in the batting cage moments before game time. Bautista was taking final warm up cuts. Pillar was hitting soft toss. The one-time utility player turned All-Star pulled aside the clubs young, fourth outfielder and offered him some advice. Custom New Orleans Saints Jerseys . Toronto has lost six of its last eight games but is coming off Thursdays 7-3 victory at Kansas City. Juan Francisco and Colby Rasmus both went deep for the Blue Jays, who are second in the American League with 34 home runs on the season.Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Mike Richards boasts intangible qualities most NHL general managers only dream about. Too bad his contract has become a GMs nightmare. Although the Los Angeles Kings decision to place Richards on waivers was primarily a salary cap move, there is a sad reality at the heart of the story. The fact of the matter is the former All-Star forward who became a champion in L.A. simply isnt earning his keep these days. Richards was placed on waivers Monday and there was never a chance he wouldnt clear. Carrying an annual cap hit of $5.75 million through the 2019-20 season, the contract signed with Philadelphia in December 2007 has made Richards a wealthy man, but to NHL GMs the mammoth deal is an albatross around the 29- year-olds neck. Reports out of Los Angeles suggest Kings GM Dean Lombardi tried his best to deal Richards over the weekend, but nothing materialized. When Lombardi realized he couldnt dump Richards salary on another team via a trade, the decision to waive him became necessary. The deadline to claim Richards was Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET, and, as expected, no takers came forward. The Kings now can assign Richards to their AHL affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs, and see $925,000 of his cap hit come off the books. It may not seem like much, but even the tiniest bit of relief helps the cap- strapped Kings. Still, Lombardi has to be kicking himself for not using a compliance buyout on Richards when he had the chance. The NHLs collective bargaining agreement allowed teams to rid themselves of unwanted cap hits following the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons. To many in the media, it seemed like a foregone conclusion Lombardi would buy out Richards and make him a free agent, especially since the summer of 2014 marked the last chance for NHLs teams to use compliance buyouts. Instead, the GM opted to keep Richards in the fold and bet on the forward regaining his old form, and now it seems like a rare error in judgment from Lombardi. Of course, Lombardi was aware of Richards decline, but he chose to keep him around because of the intangibles he brings to the table. The former Flyers captain has a reputation as a guy who puts the goals of his team first while his personal achievements place a distant second. Youre loathe to ever give up on that kind of player, its very difficult to find that special ingredient, Lombardi said last summer while explaining why he declined to buy out Richards. Even through his negatives this year, who rises to the occasion in the end? Time and again he shows up at critical moments. There is little doubt Richards, who turns 30 in a few weeks, played a positive role in Darryl Sutters locker room during the Kings championship runs in 2012 and 14, but its clear the head coach is depennding less and less on the veteran when it comes to actual playing time.dddddddddddd When Richards came to L.A. in a trade with Philadelphia during the summer of 2011, he was seen as a potential missing piece for a Kings team with plenty of young talent and that proved to be true, in the short term at least. Richards averaged 19 minutes, 30 seconds of ice time per game in the 2012 playoffs, as only star centerman Anze Kopitar and captain Dustin Brown received more playing time among Kings forwards. During last seasons run to the Cup, however, his ice dropped to 15:32, leaving Richards 14th on the team and seventh among forwards. The trend of decreased playing time has continued this season with Richards logging 13:41 of ice time on average through 47 games. His production has fallen off, too, as Richards has managed only 15 points and the normally reliable two-way forward also is sporting a minus-seven rating. Lombardi spoke Monday to the Los Angeles Times about the decision to waive Richards and used a baseball analogy to try to make sense of his embattled forwards struggles. Mike, through his career, has shown he can be a .330 hitter, 80 RBIs, an All- Star player, Lombardi said. Maybe at this stage, maybe its not fair, but I still think he is capable of being a .280 hitter and (can) do a lot of those things for you that only he can do. Lets face it: right now hes batting .200. I dont see any reason why he cant get back to that. Hes gotta do what hes gotta do. For me, the world of the NBA offers the best comparison for Richards, who always seemed like the NHLs version of Allen Iverson. While Iverson was blessed with superior athletic ability that resulted in him getting selected No. 1 overall by the Philadelphia 76ers, Richards also was a first-round pick by the Flyers and became the face of a Philly franchise. Also like Iverson, Richards off-ice habits led him to spar with the Philadelphia media, but few people ever questioned either players work ethic when it came time to play a game. And although both Iverson and Richards were undersized for their respective sports, neither man ever blinked when it came time to pay a physical price for their teams. Sadly, its beginning to seem like the parallels may not end there. The wear and tear eroded Iversons ability until eventually he became a shell of his former self and quietly faded out of the NBA. Only time will tell if Richards can avoid a similar fate, but his struggles over the past two seasons are not a promising sign. Still, the veteran can count his coach among the folks who still believe he can get his career back on track. Lots of players go on waivers. Lots of players clear waivers, Sutter said. And lots of players still have great years in front of them. ' ' '