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yuguhun · 03-18-2016, 03:14 AM

NEW ORLEANS - The Toronto Raptors were without Jonas Valanciunas on Wednesday for their game in New Orleans against the Pelicans. Manu Ginobili Youth Jersey . Valanciunas, who left Tuesdays loss to the Hawks late in the third quarter with a lower back sprain, missed his first game of the season. Head coach Dwane Casey announced the news an hour and a half prior to tip-off. "His back is still tight," Casey said. "[He] wasnt able to get it loose. (Director of Sports Science) Alex (McKechnie) put him through some preliminary work and it still was tight so hes going to be out." Valanciunas sustained the injury turning to set a screen, feeling immediate pain in his lower back before McKechnie and the Raptors training staff made the call to pull him from the game. After navigating through a mini-slump to close the month of February, the Raptors sophomore centre had been playing some of his best basketball of the season over the past week. Getting off to hot starts in each of his last three games, Valanciunas has totalled 34 points on 14-of-20 shooting in the first quarter of those contests. The Raptors were already undermanned in the frontcourt, missing Patrick Patterson for a seventh straight game Wednesday. He is expected to be out at least another week resting an elbow injury. Tyler Hansbrough started in place of Valanciunas. Both he and Chuck Hayes will see increased playing time as long as the teams starting centre in sidelined. Amir Johnson also played against the Pelicans after tweaking a lingering right ankle injury at the end of regulation in Tuesdays overtime loss. "Weve been very fortunate not to have that many injuries up until this part of the season," said Casey. "A lot of teams had them earlier and its unfortunate were hitting them now but its part of the NBA. Now weve got to adjust to it and make hay from it." Valanciunas is considered day-to-day. Tim Duncan Womens Jersey . Meusburger won 6-0, 6-2 to avenge their only other previous meeting, which Cabeza Candela won in straight sets in 2012. Meusburger lined up her second straight quarterfinal on tour against Romina Oprandi, after the Swiss player defeated Beatriz Garcia Vidagany of Spain, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 in a match which saw 13 breaks of serve. Tim Duncan Authentic Jersey . Fourth-place Liverpool came from behind twice to maintain its three-point lead over Tottenham, which won 4-0 at Newcastle. Liverpools last-gasp win, secured by a Steven Gerrard penalty, left Brendan Rodgers side just four points behind league leader Chelsea.SUNRISE, Fla. -- Its been a long road back for Sean Bergenheim. The left wing scored his first two regular-season goals in 18 months and Tim Thomas made 38 saves to lift the Florida Panthers over the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 on Monday night. It was the first time Bergenheim scored in the regular season since March 20, 2012, also against Philadelphia. His last goal came on April 24, 2012, in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the New Jersey Devils. Bergenheim missed last season due to injury and was playing his 10th game this season. He had multiple surgeries before finally returning to the lineup on Oct. 25. "Its been such a long road and theres been so many downs -- a few ups, but mostly downs," Bergenheim said. "Its been tough, really." Bergenheim nearly put a third goal into an empty net but couldnt get control of the puck in the closing seconds. "Too bad I couldnt finish that last one," he said. "It was a good, good win. ... All in all it feels good that were headed in the right direction." Erik Gudbranson also scored for Florida, his first of the season. Wayne Simmonds scored for the Flyers, and Steve Mason stopped 28 shots. The Panthers have won three of their past five games and evened the season series against the Flyers at a game apiece. Philadelphia lost for the first time in four games and the second time in the past eight. The Flyers failed to get a point for the first time in eight games. "Coming on the road, we wanted to play a simple game," Simmonds said. "We complicated things and didnt play the way weve been playing in previous games." The Panthers stretched their lead to 3-1 on Gudbransons fluky goal with just over 4 minutes left. Gudbranson took a shot from the point that bounced over Masons shoulder at 15:56. "It was just about getting it through, getting it oon net and hoping for the best," Gudbranson said. LaMarcus Aldridge Authentic Jersey Spurs. "Its nice to get the monkey off my back. I got a lucky bounce for it going up like that, but still it counts." The Flyers closed to 2-1 on Simmonds power-play goal at 7:06 of the third. Thomas stopped a shot by Scott Hartnell, but Simmonds got control of the rebound near the crease and wristed it past Thomas. The Flyers were sluggish the first two periods and might have been guilty of overlooking the Panthers. "I hope not," coach Craig Berube said. "Who are we to overlook anybody? We talked about it before the game, about being ready. Im not sure we were." Florida took a 1-0 lead in the second on Bergenheims first goal. The puck was bouncing around the Flyers net and Bergenheim had several attempts from behind. He stayed with it and finally slid in the puck with a wraparound on the short side at 3:35. The Panthers had killed off a power play moments earlier that included a 5-on-3 for 1:23. "(That) was huge. We had our chances," Flyers forward Claude Giroux said. "Five-on-three has to be automatic." Florida went ahead 2-0 on Bergenheims second goal during a power play. Marcel Goc took a shot from the top of the left circle and Bergenheim tipped it past Mason on the glove side at 13:59 of the second. It was the first power-play goal for the Panthers in their last 10 attempts over three games. NOTES: The Panthers placed RW Tomas Kopecky on injured reserve, retroactive to last Friday, with an upper-body injury. He is expected to miss two games. ... Panthers D Matt Gilroy also is on injured reserve and is expected to miss at least three games with a lower-body injury. ... Florida named its press box in memory of its first coach, the late Roger Neilson. ... The Flyers began a stretch in which they will play nine of 11 games on the road. Cheap China Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China China NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '