Victor Oladipo. Carter-Williams leads all NBA rookies in points, rebou

TORONTO -- Kyle Lowry addressed his teammates after the Toronto Raptors concluded the regular-season Wednesday night. While Torontos point guard wouldnt repeat his speech for reporters -- "Thats for me and my guys to know" -- any words of wisdom are much appreciated by this young Raptors playoff team. "I think theyre going to lean on us (veterans) a lot," Lowry said of his less experienced teammates. "But were all going to help. Were all going to be in this together. "Were 15 deep so weve got guys who are very experienced, inexperienced, weve got a coach who has a ring. So everyone is going to lean on everybody." Experience is the early theme of the Raptors opening-round playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets. Toronto hosts the Nets in Game 1 on Saturday and Game 2 on Tuesday before the series shifts to Brooklyn. The Nets expected starting five -- Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Andrei Kirilenko, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett -- have 417 post-season starts between them. The Raptors starters -- Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Terrence Ross, Amir Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas -- have none. Lowry and Johnson at least have some post-season experience -- Lowry played 13 playoff games as a backup point guard for Houston in 2009 while Johnson played in 11 post-season games with Detroit in 2008 and 09. As for the rest of the starters, they dont know quite what to expect. But theyre about to find out. "Well figure it out Saturday," the 23-year-old Ross said. Ross said hes been told the big difference is intensity. "The one thing that stuck out to me the most is the seasons all about repetition," Ross said. "When you get to the playoffs, its all about its your chance to prove what youve been doing the whole season. "The seasons about repetition but when you get to the playoffs, its either win or go home." DeRozan said its important to remain calm. "Dont overhype anything, go out there and take it one game at a time," DeRozan said. "Thats how weve all got to treat it. "Weve got to treat it like its another big game but we understand whats at stake." Johnson said the mood in the locker-room has taken on a decidedly more serious tone. "(Im) just telling everybody its a brand new season," the forward said. "Weve just got to pay attention to detail. "Were doing that in practice, were going through a lot of film. Its a very serious approach." The 26-year-old said the team is making a conscious effort to not become swept up in the playoff excitement thats gripping Raptors fans. "Theres a lot of stuff coming at us. Family, fans, media," Johnson said. "Its basically just us as a team and we have to stick together and stay focused and just look at the bigger picture." Raptors coach Dwane Casey, whose defensive expertise helped the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat for the 2011 NBA title, has been preparing his players for the more intense post-season game. "Theres a higher level of being specific on each play, attention to detail. Youve got to challenge the shot, youve got to box out and rebound -- second shots are a no-no. Physicality, no layups," Casey said. "A lot of different things change in the playoffs that weve talked about." Asked if his young players will adapt quickly to the post-season style of play, the coach said "Well, we better. "We better in a couple possessions. Again, its basketball. I dont want to say its day and night. Youre still putting the ball through the hole and keeping your guy from scoring, as basic as you can get. I dont want to overhype it to scare our guys. Its still basketball. "Again, guys will see the difference and theyll feel it. . . the pace of the game, theyll feel that as soon as they walk on the court." Still, Casey said there can be too much emphasis placed on playoff experience. "Its important, but its not the only thing, youve still got to play the game," Casey said. "I go back to Dallas, we were an underdog in every series. We had experience, but we were still an underdog. Its important, but its not the only thing you measure it by." Coaching is where the Raptors do win the experience game. Brooklyns Jason Kidd is in his rookie season as a coach. Kidd was the point guard for that Mavs team that beat LeBron James and the Heat back in 2011. "Jason, Im sure hes prepared himself pretty well to handle the situation," Casey said. Ecco Shoes Wholesale . - John Elways philosophy is to address immediate needs in free agency, even though some of his own veterans may prove too pricey to keep around. Cheap Ecco Shoes Online . Nix is a career .218 hitter in 425 games over six seasons. The 31-year-old right-handed hitter batted .270 with a homer this spring for Tampa Bay. http://www.cheapecco.us/ . Vonn punctuated her near-perfect season in perfect fashion Friday, earning her fourth overall World Cup title with a dominating giant slalom victory. Discount Ecco Shoes Online .Y. -- A month ago, Syracuse was unbeaten, ranked No. Discount Ecco Shoes Sale .Y. -- The Detroit Red Wings had just enough time to salvage a point.ORLANDO, Fla. -- A miserable season just keeps getting worse for the Philadelphia 76ers. Tobias Harris scored a career-high 31 points and the Orlando Magic beat the 76ers for the second time in less than a week, winning 92-81 Sunday night to extend Philadelphias losing streak to 14 games. The 76ers skid is their longest since 1994, when they lost 15 straight, and includes a defeat last Monday to the Milwaukee Bucks, the NBAs worst team. The 76ers have the NBAs second-worst record, while the Magic have the third-worst. Nikola Vucevic had 18 points and 17 rebounds for Orlando, which outscored Philadelphia 26-12 in the fourth quarter to earn the win. "It was definitely my mindset to attack them, put pressure on their defence," Harris said. "When I saw gaps in their defence, I wanted to attack them. They were focusing a lot on Nik tonight, so I saw a lot of openings spacing-wise that I used to my advantage." Both Orlando and Philadelphia have been clear that they are in rebuilding phases, and the 76ers traded two of their best players -- centre Spencer Hawes and guard-forward Evan Turner -- on Feb. 20. Philadelphia coach Brett Brown attributed the 76ers new-look lineup to their recent woes, pointing to it as a reason behind his squads spate of turnovers against Orlando. "We had 19 turnovers and six came from our point guards," Brown said. "A lot of that happened when we had three of five guys on the court who have only been with each other four days. Our offence hurt us more than our defence. "We were throwing the ball away or not knowing who to turn to..dddddddddddd. We poked ourselves in the eye with our turnovers. But give Orlando credit for raising the intensity in the fourth quarter and bothering us." Thaddeus Young had 29 points for Philadelphia and Michael Carter-Williams added 17 points and 11 rebounds. Both teams played road games the night before, which might have contributed to sloppy in a game that featured two of the leagues top rookies: Carter-Williams and Orlandos Victor Oladipo. Carter-Williams leads all NBA rookies in points, rebounds, assists, steals and minutes played, is a front-runner to win the Rookie of the Year award, with Oladipo closely following him. Oladipo finished with nine points and Magic coach Jacque Vaughn admitted hes monitoring Oladipos minutes out of concern for fatigue. "Ill gauge his minutes to see how he feels," Vaughn said. "But hes been taking care of his body." NOTES: Magic guards Jameer Nelson (sore calf) and Arron Afflalo (illness) were out with injuries. It was the fifth game in a row Afflalo has missed, three with a sprained ankle and two with illness. . The Magic have a 15-15 record at home, thanks to winning seven of their last eight. . In their 14-game losing streak, Philadelphia has lost by an average of 16.8 points, with 11 of 14 of those losses coming by double digits. ... Even though the team that finishes with the leagues worst record increases its draft lottery chances, its no guarantee. The last team to finish with the worst record and secure the No. 1 pick was the Magic 10 years ago. They used that pick to select Dwight Howard. ' ' '