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BOSTON - An anonymous Raptors player stepped into the elevator descending from the third floor following a Saturday afternoon practice at Air Canada Centre and with the mental and physical grind of a long season beginning to weigh on him he let out a long sigh. "I just want the playoffs to start," he said in a moment of refreshing truthfulness. Hes not alone. He cant be. They can see the light at the end of the tunnel, a tunnel that has led to darkness so many times before for the bulk of this Toronto roster. On Wednesday they moved one step closer. "That was a character test for us," Dwane Casey said after his teams bounce-back 99-90 win in Boston. "I think this team has a lot of character. I get upset with them but theyre mine, just like youre kids. They compete hard and they make mistakes but its not from a lack of fight or togetherness." It was their first victory in Beantown since 2008, the last season in which they qualified for the playoffs. Now, theyre on the cusp of returning to the postseason, and theyre in the drivers seat. The Raptors are just one win, or Knicks loss, away from clinching their first postseason berth in six years and can do so as early as Wednesday evening if the Kings defeat New York in Sacramento, a game Kyle Lowry says he wont watch but admits hell have to keep an eye on. "I said that before the game, I said look, we can take care of our business tonight," Lowry told the assembled media after the win. "We cant count on anyone else but we can take care of our part. I aint going to lie; I think tonight everybodys rooting for that Western Conference team over there." Going into the game, the Raptors were in danger of dropping their second straight and five of their last seven, following Tuesdays botched comeback attempt in Cleveland. Even after getting off to a better start - scoring 31 points in the opening 12 minutes after totaling 33 in their last two first quarters - they looked like a team going through the motions at points in the middle of the game, exchanging the lead with a lackluster Celtics club. Then the sense of urgency kicked in. Lowry scored nine of his 23 points in the fourth quarter and the Raptors closed out a win they needed to have. "[Casey] challenged us," Lowry said. "He challenged us big time and I think we responded tonight." With a little help from the Bobcats, who defeated the surging Nets in overtime, the Raptors have a two-game cushion sitting stop the Atlantic Division, also moving into a virtual tie with the Bulls for the Easts third seed. Although theyre anxious, theres still work to be done and each game, regardless of opponent, is increasingly meaningful with playoff seeding at stake and things to shore up over the seasons final three weeks. "We cant afford to look ahead," Casey cautioned. "Weve got to take care of business. Weve got to continue to get better and improve and shape up some areas that we have thats leaking a little bit." Only five of the Raptors 15 players have appeared in a postseason game over the last three years. Only three on the roster have logged time in more than 20 playoff contests. The teams starters have a combined 24 games of playoff experience, all from Lowry and Amir Johnson, who havent been to the dance in five years. "Its tough just because guys havent been there before," Casey told TSN.ca. "Playoff runs are tough. Theres a mental toughness, a physical toughness you have to have. Fight through injuries, little nicks and bangs that we have. You cant feel sorry for yourself because its a marathon. Youve got to be able to do that. This is the first time for some of our guys so its a new frontier for them." Many of them are heading into unchartered waters. Its only natural to fixate on the final destination but theyve come too far to lose focus now. "I think its kind of human nature," said Landry Fields, who started eight playoff games for the Knicks in his first two NBA season. "We see the playoffs and theres a pretty high probability that well get in but at the end of the day you cant really focus on that. These last few games are important, not just for us growing and building and getting momentum for the playoffs but also seeding. Seeding is huge in the playoffs and I think as long as we keep that as a focal point rather than thinking these games are just filler games until we get into the playoffs than theyll become more meaningful for us." "Were going to finish it off strong," echoed DeMar DeRozan, who scored 20 on Wednesday and will be making his playoff debut next month. "Weve worked too hard to just to get complacent with where were at. Weve still got a long ways to go and everybody in this locker room loves the game too much to sit back and say, were going to wait until the playoffs." Big night for the sophomores Both Terrence Ross and Jonas Valanciunas stepped up in Wednesdays win. Ross led Toronto with 24 points, hitting five of his nine attempts from three-point range, while Valanciunas registered his team-leading 20th double-double of the season with 15 points and 14 rebounds. "I thought Jonas had one of his better nights, not only scoring but he rebounded," Casey said. "[Ross] kept us afloat. He knocked down some shots. We needed it." Struggling second unit The Raptors second unit - still without injured forward Patrick Patterson - mustered only seven points, all from Greivis Vasquez, who made just three of his 10 shots. Meanwhile, the Celtics bench scored 51, led by Jared Sullingers 26, 19 of which came in the fourth. "Again, point production from our bench has been an issue," Casey said. "Thats something we have to rectify. Thats just putting too many minutes on our starters." Toronto bench has now been outscored by a total of 129 points in 11 games without Patterson, who was cleared for contact earlier this week. Although theres no timetable for the return of Patterson - out with an elbow injury - the team hopes to have him back later this week. The stat The Raptors snapped an 11-game losing streak in Boston, the fourth time theyve snapped a skid of eight road losses or more against an opponent this season. Earlier this year, Toronto ended a 10-game slide to the Lakers in Los Angeles, also snapping a nine-game skid against the Nuggets in Denver and an eight-game losing streak versus the Bucks in Milwaukee. The quote "We cant worry about those other teams," Lowry said. "We control our own destiny. When you start worrying about other teams is when you lose focus and I think tonight we did a good job of focusing in on our team and not worrying about nothing else." 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Authorities in Medina, Minn., released the details one day after Cunningham was jailed for another alleged incident with the woman he had been living with for the previous eight months. Cunningham had already been charged with felony domestic assault for allegedly choking the woman last week. Cheap Sabres Jerseys Authentic . The deals were announced on Friday. Beckham will receive $4.175 million in base salary, while De Aza will receive $4.25 million. Beckham hit .267 with five home runs and 24 RBIs over 103 games last season, his fifth with the White Sox. ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Someone has to score first and for the first time in eight games the Minnesota Wild beat their opponent to the punch. Jason Pominville and Charlie Coyle scored goals 57 seconds apart early in the third period to break open a defensive standoff and lift the Wild to a 2-0 victory over the Philadelphia on Monday night. "Wed been giving up the first goal so many times lately," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "I figure if were not going to score it, dont let them." Josh Harding made 21 saves for this third shutout of the season. "Better start," Yeo said. "And again, thats something weve talked about." In their previous seven games, the Wild had immediately fallen behind and were outscored 15-4 in the first two periods. They were 2-4-1 in those games. Although it took a while for the Wild to get anything going offensively, they effectively kept the Flyers locked down. Playing without leading goal scorer Vincent Lecavalier (back spasms), Philadelphia had only six shots on goal and no real scoring chances in the first 33 minutes. The Wild didnt really, either, until Pominville collected Mikko Koivus pass in the crease and flipped it past Ray Emery 3:52 into the third period. Koivu was skating around the back of the net when he spun and passed behind his defender. "I didnt know if it was Poms or Zach (Parise), but once I saw someone was there, I tried to get it on tape and I did," Koivu said. "Obviously he made a good shot, getting it up high. It was pretty tight for him. Good shot." On the ensuing shift, Coyle tapped a rebound off Jared Spurgeons slap shot into an empty corner at 4:11 to make it 2-0. "It took a while, but we know if we stick to our system, were going to break them down, and thats what happened," Coyle said. It was an impressive and unexpected flurry in a game that had played out as the statistics predicted. When the puuck dropped, the Wilds 17 even-strength goals allowed in 21 games led the NHL; and the Flyers had allowed two or fewer goals in 10 of their past 14 games.dddddddddddd Plus, the Wild had scored only six goals in their five previous games (1-3-1). But Minnesota controlled most of the action, even if its chances were minimal, to improve to 11-3-2 at home. Harding improved to 11-1-0 at Xcel Energy Center this season and 32-10-2 all-time despite playing at a disadvantage for much of the third period. He faced down two power plays to nurse a 2-0 lead - once going corner to corner to dive in front of a point-blank shot by Jakub Voracek - then stopped two shots after Flyers coach Craig Berube pulled Emery with 3:22 left in regulation. "Its unbelievable this year, so many chances," Voracek said. "I hit a couple posts, a couple good saves. Last year everything went under the bar. ... This year I think its going to go in and then something happens. That was a great save by Harding." The Flyers were trying to crack .500 for the first time this season after rebounding from a 1-7-0 start. Theyre 11-6-2 since a 4-1 victory over the New York Rangers Oct. 24, but fell to 1-10-1 this season when the opponent scores first. NOTES: Flyers C Vincent Lecavalier (back spasms) was a scratch Monday. He entered the game with a team-leading nine goals. ... Wild D Mathew Dumba, 19, was one of 25 players invited to Canadas Junior National Team camp on Monday. The only invitee on an NHL roster, Dumba would have to be loaned out by the Wild. Thats likely barring an injury on Minnesotas blue line. Camp is scheduled to begin Dec. 12. ... Peter Luukko left his job as president and chief operating office of Comcast-Spectacor, which owns the Flyers, on Monday. Luukko will be replaced on an interim basis by Dave Scott, who recently retired as executive vice-president and CFO. ... The Flyers have killed 14 consecutive power plays. 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