TORONTO - Kyle Lowry laid flat in the centre of the key, hands on his head as he stared straight up at the top of the Air Canada Centre, likely seeing nothing at all, having just missed the biggest shot of his eight-year career. Wholesale NBA Jerseys . Although, technically it was not a shot. With their season on the line, the ball was in Lowrys hands, deservedly so. The clock showed 6.2 seconds as the Raptors inbounded, trailing by only one in the dying moments of a deciding Game 7. Jason Kidd and his Nets team had little doubt the ball would find Lowry. The star point guard caught the pass, with Deron Williams draped all over him, and went straight toward the rim as Kevin Garnett came over to trap. Lowry split the two defenders and floated a shot up at the basket just as Paul Pierce entered the fray in time to block it. As the buzzer sounded, putting an end to Torontos magical season, Lowry - the teams heart and soul - fell to the court. What was going through his head? "Whats not?" he shot back. DeMar DeRozan was the first one to come over. Crouching over the sprawled out Lowry, DeRozan offered up some words of encouragement. "He said, If anyone is taking that shot, Im living and dying with you taking it and trying to get that shot off," Lowry recounted after the Raptors heartbreaking 104-103 Game 7 loss. "It was one of those things, a brotherly moment." DeRozan helped the point guard up and the Raptors two best players walked off the court - Lowry with his jersey over his face - to a rousing ovation from their appreciative fans. "It was big time," Amir Johnson said of the scene. "Just them showing their appreciation, how well we did this season and how hard we worked. So it was a sad moment but bittersweet, I guess." The Raptors couldnt hide their disappointment after falling just short of advancing to the Conference Semifinals Sunday afternoon, it was written all over their faces, but they have no reason to hang their heads. The sellout ACC crowd stood and chanted in salute of their team, the game - however frustrating - served as a good reminder of why. With five minutes left, the Raptors appeared dead in the water. Frustrated and coming undone in the moment, down 10, their season was on life support but, like hes done so many times before, Dr. Lowry refused to let them die. Lowry scored 13 of his game-high 28 points in the final quarter and the Raptors came storming back. That resiliency has been their most admirable quality all year. They had led the NBA in fourth-quarter scoring differential, earning 11 comeback wins, eight more than the season prior. "Were going to fight until our last breath," said DeRozan after scoring 18 points, playing with the flu, as Casey revealed following the game. "Were going to leave it out there, every single thing we have there on the court." "We battled," added Johnson, who recorded his first playoff double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out early in the fourth quarter. "I would go to war with these guys any day and they showed a lot of pride and a lot of heart tonight. We just ran out of time." Lowry and his unwavering resolve have a lot to do with the teams late-game tenacity and so, with their season in the balance, they had no qualms with letting him decide their fate. "That young man did everything he could to get to the basket," Casey said of Lowry on the final possession. It was what they had drew up, Lowry going to the rim, though it was a slight variation of what was intended, with poor spacing that ultimately led to the blocked shot. "He tried to will his way to get that extra point." One point separated the teams Sunday and after 11 meetings - in the regular season and playoffs - Toronto and Brooklyn each scored 1,070 points. The series was as close as they come. "We were right there," Casey pointed out, and if a few calls from another highly critiqued officiating crew went their way they may have pulled it out. But in the end, the Nets were the better team Sunday and that was the case, more often than not, throughout the series. Joe Johnson - the best player on either side over the seven-game span - proved un-guardable again, scoring half of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, while the Raptors youth and inexperience continued to rear its head. Although Terrence Ross turned in his best game of the series, securing the steal that made Torontos final possession possible, the bar had been set low. Fellow sophomore Jonas Valanciunas scored just three points to go along with five rebounds in one of the quietest outings of his brief career. As a team, the Raptors wanted to go further, they believed they were ready and came just one play short of proving it. Even after the loss, with their season now over, the progress theyve made does not go to waste. Three of their starters had never appeared in a playoff game. Only four players on their roster had ever experienced a Game 7, no one has emerged victorious from one. This experience is invaluable and can only serve them well, both individually and as a collective, going forward. "Im proud of our guys," Casey said. "Nobody gave them a snowballs chance in you know where to be here. They competed all year. This group has a lot of stuff in front of them, a lot of basketball in front of them. The organization is in a great spot." "This playoff run is nothing but positive for these young men and anyone that thinks any different doesnt know basketball." Cheap Nike Basketball Jerseys . So they rushed to re-sign the first baseman who general manager Ben Cherington described Friday as "a unique player." The World Series champions finalized a $32 million, two-year agreement Thursday with the slugging former catcher who turned into a surprisingly good defender. Cheap NBA Jerseys Authentic . The Canadiens captain, who underwent surgery on his injured biceps in the off-season, had been skating with the team in a non-contact capacity since last week. https://www.nbachinajerseys.us/ .J. -- Pete Carroll said it was the suspension of linebacker Bruce Irvin last spring that finally got the attention of the rest of the Seattle Seahawks that they needed to be taking their commitment to the team more seriously.STANFORD, Calif. -- The Denver Broncos retired John Elways No. 7 jersey four months after he announced his playing career was over in 1999. The following year, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. And the Pro Football Hall of Fame welcomed the quarterback in his first year of eligibility. The one honour Elway never thought would come will take place Thursday night. Thirty years after he graduated from the university, Stanford will finally retire Elways iconic No. 7 jersey at halftime of its game against second-ranked Oregon. Hell join Jim Plunkett (No. 16) and Ernie Nevers (No. 1) as the only players whose jerseys have been enshrined by the program. "Realizing the history, it wasnt something that happened a whole lot at Stanford. And thats why it was a great surprise and thrill to learn when coach David Shaw called me a few months ago and told me that they were going to retire the number," Elway said by phone this week. "I think that makes it so much more special now than if theyd done it earlier." Stanford always has been selective with bestowing such an honour. Nevers jersey was retired in 1970, some 45 years after he led Stanford to a Rose Bowl victory over Notre Dame. Nearly 21 years after he became Stanfords only Heisman Trophy winner, Plunketts jersey was retired by the school in November 1991. Nobody at Stanford really knows why it took so long for Elways jersey to be retired. The Cardinal quarterback was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1983 NFL draft and one of the most celebrated athletes in school history. Shaw said he started asking the question when he was a wide receiver at Stanford in the early 1990s and asked again after he was promoted from offensive co-ordinator to head coach in January 2011. In the past year, after Bernard Muir took over as athletic director, those conversations escalated. "I remember thinking about when I was here. I came in, one of my friends, (quarterback) Mark Butterfield, was wearing No. 7. I said, Why the hell are you wearing No. 7?" Shaw said. "Mark had a great senior year and was great and I just kept thinking, Nobody should be wearing No. 7. "And I came back as a coach, Toby (Gerhart), great player, Why is he wearing No. 7? The last couple years I kept going around and I talked to some of our historian people, I talked to Bernard and I said, We have to do this. He was completely on board. And everybody I talked to said, Yeah, why havent wwe done that? There was no malicious intent. NBA Jerseys Outlet. I think it was just one of those things." Shaw said he has spoken to Muir about developing a standard for future numbers to be retired. Muir declined to discuss what the process might entail. Wide receiver Ty Montgomery and defensive end Aziz Shittu both wear No. 7 currently. Whenever they graduate or if they decide to switch numbers next season, nobody at Stanford will ever wear No. 7 again. The irony is that Elway, now the executive vice-president of the Broncos, never intended to wear that number. He wore No. 11 in high school and, in a story he has told many times over the years, a defensive back at Stanford already had taken that number there. Elway said he chose No. 7 over No. 12, which were the only numbers available, "because few athletes wore the number." Now quarterbacks at every level, including Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, wear that number in Elways honour. Elway threw for 9,349 yards and 77 touchdowns while completing 62 per cent of his passes at Stanford. He held nearly every major passing record -- most of them since shattered by Andrew Luck -- when he left school. Elway still owns the single-game record with six touchdown passes in a 54-13 win against Oregon State on Nov. 1, 1980. Elway was the Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year in 1980 and 1982, when he also was a consensus All-American. After the Cardinal lost at rival California on the infamous lateral play in his final collegiate game, Elway finished second to Herschel Walker in the 1982 Heisman Trophy voting. "We had the highs and lows when I was at Stanford," said Elway, who led the Broncos to five Super Bowl appearances and two titles during his NFL career. Stanford footballs recent renaissance, which includes three straight BCS bowl appearances, surely helped bring more attention to Elways cause -- and it could help others soon. Stanford greats such as Bobby Garrett, Frankie Albert, John Brodie, Gerhart and Luck are among the top candidates to have their jerseys retired. Shaw said he already has spoken with Gerhart about entering the schools hall of fame, though he wouldnt commit to a similar jersey retirement. He has not allowed any player to wear Lucks No. 12 since the quarterback graduated after the 2011 season. "I dont know what their plans are," Elway said. "Maybe this one opens the door for others to be retired." ' ' '