TORONTO - Stewing in the frustration of a Game 1 loss, DeMar DeRozan imprisoned himself in his room following a disappointing playoff debut on Saturday. Deandre Baker Womens Jersey . His first postseason experience was something he had been dreaming about, something he had been preparing for, but it didnt go as he had planed. Reflecting on what went wrong, DeRozan spent the duration of the evening in solitude. He didnt turn on the television and he didnt speak to any of his friends around the league. He thought about returning to the Air Canada Centre at 1am to get up some shots, but decided against it. He needed to regroup, to recalibrate. The next day he went back to work. "Im a student of the game," said the Raptors All-Star. "I went back, watched the whole game two or three times." Fast forward to Tuesday nights sequel. DeRozan, finally getting into a rhythm, picked up his fifth foul with just over seven minutes remaining the final quarter. After pleading with coach Dwane Casey to keep him in the game, he was wisely subbed out, finding himself on the bench as his team clutched onto an evaporating lead. They had been up by as many as 11, but the Nets were closing in and the sell-out crowd, electric again, was getting deja vu. The Raptors were wilting under the pressure, succumbing to the veteran savvy of a Brooklyn team that owned the fourth quarter three days prior, or so we thought. There was DeRozan, in solitude once again on the bench, head down while his teammates and coaches convened during a timeout. "It was just my competitive spirit," he said. "I was a little frustrated, just calming myself down. I was a little frustrated that I couldnt be out there with my team, especially at that critical moment. Just staying focused." Two minutes later, he re-entered, the game tied at 83. Almost immediately, he drained a 20-foot jumper to put Toronto on top. Moments later, he knocked down a fadeaway, padding the lead. He never looked back. "It was just me taking advantage of the mistakes I made in the first game and not doing the same thing in this game," said DeRozan after leading the Raptors to a 100-95 win, evening their series with Brooklyn at one game apiece. "Its everything that you dream about, especially when you become a professional athlete, [play] at the highest level." After being held to 14 points - failing to make a shot until the third quarter - in the series premiere, the fifth-year guard scored 17 of his game-high 30 points in the final frame Tuesday, hitting four of his five field goal attempts and nine of his 11 free throws. "Im just happy for him because a lot of people said he had a bad game [Saturday]," said Kyle Lowry, who scored eight of his 13 points in the fourth quarter of Game 2. "Every one has a bad game once in awhile. Tonight, he just showed what he can do. He did an unbelievable job of attacking, being aggressive and he got his rhythm going. Once he gets his rhythm going, he is a hard guard." The playoffs, as we know, are about adjustments from one game to the next and, despite another patchy performance through the first 36 minutes, DeRozan gave the Raptors new life in this series, one that few are expecting them to win. DeRozan was far from perfect and neither were the Raptors. After committing 19 turnovers Saturday, Toronto threw the ball away 21 times. They hit just two of 16 attempts from three-point range and had to overcome quiet outings from both Lowry and Terrence Ross, who shot 1-for-8. Perhaps they were fortunate that the Nets looked nothing like the team that thoroughly outplayed them in Game 1. Paul Pierce, Saturdays hero, was just 2-for-11. He didnt make a shot until the fourth quarter, but couldnt recapture last weekends late-game magic, misfiring on a couple wide-open looks from beyond the arc in the final 30 seconds. The win wasnt pretty, but it was one they needed - a hard-fought game resembling the style of basketball Casey expects to see from his team. "Earlier in the year, we wanted to be the Freddy Krueger of the NBA," said Casey. "Not give up, not give in. I think our guys have done that. We won against a very veteran team like Brooklyn and that is very difficult to do because they seem to find a way to challenge you and keep you on your toes. I thought our guys did a good job of making sure they kept the pedal to the metal." "We werent going down 0-2," stated Amir Johnson, who also enjoyed a bounce-back performance, scoring 16 points to go along with nine boards. "We were the desperate team and we had to play desperate. There was no way we were going to lose that game. It was a must-win for us." Now, its a brand new series, a best of five that will shift to Brooklyns Barclays Center for Fridays Game 3 and Sundays Game 4. Despite the statement win, the Raptors are still expecting be overlooked as they head on the road. "For us to go through the struggles and start from the bottom," DeRozan said, sounding awfully like Drake, the teams global ambassador, seated courtside Tuesday, "and work our way up and still dont get the respect we deserve, we understand we still have a long way to go." "We dont want no attention, at all," added Greivis Vasquez, who scored 11 off Torontos bench. "Were fine with that. We let the people talk, but we do the talking on the court and thats just who we are, really. We lost the first game and everyone was talking. Everyone was killing DeMar because he couldnt do anything, now theyre going to love him for a couple more days. Its just basketball, man." "Everyone is doubting us, which is great," Casey said. "We look at their minutes in playoff play, they have a couple Hall of Famers on the team. We are the underdog, but the way our guys competed and fought tonight, I was proud. Now the series starts." Quiet contribution from Fields As practice was letting out on Monday, Vasquez inadvertently let the cat out of the bag; Landry Fields had been involved in the teams preparation for Game 2 and could be used to try and slow down Pierce or Joe Johnson. Sure enough, Fields entered the game in place of John Salmons late in the first quarter. Although 12 Raptors saw the floor in Game 1, Fields was relegated to the bench, where hes spent most of the season. However, the fourth-year forward has stayed ready and has been a reliable source of energy when called upon. Tuesday was no different. Without attempting a single shot, Fields, an active player on both ends of the floor, made an impact with his defence. After Johnson scored 12 points in the third quarter - mostly against DeRozan - Fields held him to just two points in the final period. "Its just human nature, we always talk about who scored the most points, who carried the team," Vasquez pointed out. "Credit to Landry, because he wasnt playing at all and look at what he does. He was the MVP tonight. It wasnt anyone else but him because he didnt score, but he played great defence and that was contagious." Casey tightened his rotation, using just eight players, splitting minutes in the frontcourt amongst Johnson, Jonas Valanciunas and Patrick Patterson The stat(s) - Toronto had a 52-30 advantage on the boards, including a 19-11 edge on the offensive glass. Their 52 rebounds was the most the Raptors have ever tallied in a playoff game. - Valanciunas recorded his second straight double-double in the series - 15 points and 14 rebounds - becoming the first NBA player to total at least 30 points and 30 boards in his first two career playoff games since Ralph Sampson and Sam Perkins in 1985. - DeRozan became the fourth player in Raptors history to score 30 points in a playoff game, joining Vince Carter, Chris Bosh and Antonio Davis. The quote "Weve been here when people just thought you could come to Toronto and get a win," DeRozan said. "Weve been though all that, frustrating seasons and we want everyone to know that when you play against the Toronto Raptors, youre going to have to fight, youre going to have to bring your game." Doug Kotar Giants Jersey . -- Canadian womens amateur golf champion Brooke Henderson is a little less starstruck as she prepares for her second career appearance at an LPGA Tour major event. Dalvin Tomlinson Jersey . PAUL, Minn. http://www.giantsrookiestore.com/Giants-Julian-Love-Jersey/ . 15-23, the Ottawa Senators will by hoping to avoid going five straight games without a victory for the first time since a 0-3-2 drought from Oct.TORONTO -- Scott Milanovich doesnt want the Toronto Argonauts to completely forget their dismal start to the 2014 CFL season. Toronto opened the campaign with a lopsided 45-21 road loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. On Saturday, the Argos host a Saskatchewan Roughriders squad that registered 10 sacks in a 31-10 dismantling of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in its season opener. "Take nothing away from Winnipeg but I think we were embarrassed with the way we performed and should feel like weve got a lot to prove (Saturday)," the Argos head coach said Friday. "I know Im looking forward to kickoff to see if we can get this bad taste out of our mouth. "I dont know if you ever really let one like that go. Those happen from time to time but they need to stick with you a little bit." The upstart Bombers, who posted a league-worst 3-15 record in 2013, dominated the Argos. Quarterback Drew Willy threw for 308 yards and four TDs while running back Nic Grigsby rushed for 122 yards. Winnipeg also recovered two fumbles, with Demond Washington returning one for a TD. Toronto was also flagged 22 times. The defending Grey Cup-champion Riders were very impressive in their opener. Former Toronto defensive end Ricky Foley had three sacks as the defence held Hamilton to just 114 net offensive yards. Newcomer Anthony Allen -- replacing departed Grey Cup MVP Kory Sheets -- rushed for 158 yards and a TD and also had a touchdown catch. So effective was the run game that Saskatchewan quarterback Darian Durant only threw 22 passes, completing 15-for-136 yards and two TDs. Torontos revamped defence -- it has just four returning starters -- will have four new faces against Saskatchewan. Cornerback Vincent Agnew, safety Jermaine Gabriel, linebacker Antwaun Molden and defensive tackle Marcus Thomas all get the nod as cornerback Matt Ware, linebacker Jamie Robinson and safety Matt Black go on the injured list while defensive lineman Greg Romeus is placed on the practice roster. Running back Jeremiah Johnson goes to the injured list, with Anthony Woodson (practice roster) replacing him. That means sophomore Curtis Steele and rookie Anthony Coombs -- Torontos 14 first-round pick from the University of Manitoba -- will share tailback duties. "Its a great opportunity for us to see how much weve improved in one week playing the champs in our building," Milanovich said. "They (Riders) are going to get some plays but the other thing you look for is how are we going to react to adversity? "When you have that many new guys like we do now, part of it is fun because you dont know whos going to be the person whos going to take the leadership reigns of this team. Im really anxious to see who thats going to be. Hopefully its several guys." However, Milanovich said its important to keep Saturdays game in proper perspective. "Win or lose, this game isnt going to define who we are in three months," he said. "Everybody, myself included,, gets caught up in what happens today and what happened last week and theres no avoiding that but I try not to lose sight of the big picture. Deandre Baker Giants Jersey. "Even if we win the game if we didnt improve and build towards becoming a better team by the time October and November roll around, it doesnt matter. To me, that was the biggest difference in my two seasons here as the head coach. Even though we were below a .500 club in 2012 we improved every week throughout the season and by the end of the season were playing well. Last year we were leading the East probably most of the way but I dont think we made the incremental improvements we did the year before so I dont know if we got any better while other teams were getting better." In 2012, Toronto won its final two regular-season games to finish second in the East Division with a 9-9 record before mounting its Grey Cup-winning run. Last year, the Argos were first with an 11-7 record before losing to Hamilton in the conference final. Saskatchewans Corey Chamblin -- the CFLs coach of the year in 13 -- said Toronto quarterback Ricky Ray, who had a league-record 77.2 completion average last year, will present the Riders defence with plenty of challenges. "At the end of the day were going to play a different style football team, especially with the quarterback," he said. "This is a more seasoned quarterback than the one we played (Hamiltons Zach Collaros). "We didnt get a lot of looks, we just played fast. But with this quarterback its going to be tough. Youre going to have to play fast and do some things you dont usually do to keep Ricky off his game." Ray was 27-of-38 passing for 283 yards and two TDs against Winnipeg but Toronto rushed for just 42 total yards and had the ball less than 24 minutes overall. However, Ray said there are the things the Argos can do to help limit Saskatchewans pass rush. "You try not to hold on to (the football) too long to give those guys extra seconds to get in there," he said. "Another thing is weve got to be balanced, weve got to be effective with our run and pass game to keep those guys off balance and guessing about whats going to be coming. "We also want to try and get a lead . . . to make sure youre not having to throw on every down because youre behind." Not much has separated Saskatchewan and Toronto the past two years as theyve split their regular-season series 2-2. "Even the year we won it I thought they were very, very close," Milanovich said of the Riders. "Its a very good football team, our guys know we can match up with them and have the ability to compete with them and win the game. "I certainly hope they know that. Were going to have to play well, certainly, to do it." Durant expects a more fundamentally sound Argos squad Saturday. "I dont think theyll give up any easy plays," he said. "Theyre going to make us earn everything we get." ' ' '