form. Other fourth-round

DALLAS - The Raptors begin a brutal trek on Friday with a visit to Dallas to take on former Raptor Vince Carter and the Mavericks. After Fridays game, the teams road trip continues with stops in Oklahoma City, San Antonio and New York. Listen to the game live on TSN 1050 at 8:30pm et. Toronto was 3-1 since Rudy Gay was agreed to be traded, but lost a heartbreaker on Wednesday. The Raptors fell 104-102 in overtime, at home, to the Charlotte Bobcats. Charlottes Kemba Walker buried a 15-foot jumper at the horn to get the victory. DeMar DeRozan was the high-scorer in the game with 30 points, while Kyle Lowry added 17. John Salmons chipped in 11 off the bench and Jonas Valanciunas and Amir Johnson both finished with 10 points. Johnson added 13 rebounds. It was another tough loss for a young team with new parts. "I love the challenge of coaching young players, I enjoy that," head coach Dwane Casey said after practice on Thursday. "I enjoy winning more, but I understand where we are." The Mavs, who are 11-2 in American Airlines Center, have won 12 of their last 13 against the Raps at home. The Mavericks have played good basketball of late and will try to continue the surge Friday when they finish off a homestand. The Mavs are 2-0 on this little stay in Big D with wins over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday and a 105-91 victory Wednesday versus the slumping Memphis Grizzlies. Dallas has taken five of its last seven and during that stretch, allowed opponents 100 points or more just twice. During these seven games in the month of December, the Mavs are holding teams to an average of 96.6 points per game. "In the month of December weve been better defensively, and our goal is to stay on that track," head coach Rick Carlisle said Thursday after practice. "Weve spent the majority of our practice time on defense. We know how important it is, and were just going to be vigilant about it. Its not something that you can take days off from. You cant take days off from the mental edge aspect of it, and we know that." The Mavericks held the Grizzlies to just a shade under 40 percent shooting from the field on Wednesday. Dallas lost the rebounding battle by one, but shot almost 55 percent. Dirk Nowitzki paced five Dallas players in double figures with 20. Monta Ellis finished with 18, followed by 14 from Carter, 12 from another former Raptor in Jose Calderon and 10 out of yet another former Rap in Shawn Marion. The Mavs play five of their next six on the road. cheap world cup jerseys . Same for Matthew Stafford, and they knew exactly what to do. cheap soccer jerseys .C. -- The B.Miami, FL (Sports Network) - David Ferrer of Spain and American Mardy Fish were early fourth-round winners Tuesday at the Sony Ericsson Open. The sixth-seeded Ferrer needed just an hour to dispose of fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers, 6-1, 6-2, while Fish advanced with a 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) win over former U.S. Open champ Juan del Potro of Argentina. Fish, seeded 14th, avenged a semifinal loss to del Potro in Delray Beach last month and will next play Ferrer in the quarterfinals. Ferrer has already captured two titles this year, winning in Auckland to open his season and again last month in Acapulco. Del Potro, meanwhile, had a string of four straight tournaments with at least a semifinal appearance snapped. After a second-round loss at the Australian Open, he reached the semifinals in both San Jose and Memphis then went on to win at Delray Beach before a semifinal loss to Rafael Nadal att Indian Wells earlier this month.dddddddddddd The title at Delray Beach was the first tournament win for del Potro since his U.S. Open championship in 2009. He missed the majority of the 2010 campaign because of a wrist injury and is starting returning to form. Other fourth-round matches scheduled for Tuesday include Nadal against Alexandr Dolgopolov and Roger Federer against Olivier Rochus. Dolgopolov finished off a third-round match postponed from Monday night because of rain, beating Frances Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 7-5. Novak Djokovic is also slated to take on fellow Serb Viktor Troicki. Djokovic, the second seed, has yet to lose a match in 2011. He claimed the Australian Open crown in January to start his season and followed it up with wins in Dubai and Indian Wells for a 20-0 mark this year. The 2011 Miami champion will collect $611,000.   wholesale authentic nfl jerseys ' ' '