Two teams separated by three games in the Eastern Conference standings clash tonight north of the border, as the Toronto Raptors play host to the Washington Wizards. The Raptors are third in the East behind Indiana and Miami, while the Wizards are three games behind the Atlantic Division leaders in the fifth spot. Catch all the action live on TSN and TSN Radio 1050 at 7pm et/4pm pt. Toronto is five games ahead of Brooklyn in the Atlantic and will also host Golden State and Sacramento on the homestand. It has won three straight and six of seven games, including Tuesdays 99-93 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. DeMar DeRozan poured in 33 points, Terrence Ross netted 19 and Kyle Lowry added 13 points with nine assists for the Raptors, who found a way to win despite shooting 44.3 percent and making 10-of-32 3-pointers. Lowry scored 14 or more points in eight straight games from Feb. 5-23, then was held to a point below that mark against the Cavs. "Youre not going to have great games all the time, youre not going to shoot 10-for-12 or 20-for-30. Youre always going to have some type of off-game," Lowry said. "You cant let that stop you from helping your team win a game. I wasnt making my shots, but I know I can still help the team." The Raptors are 11-3 at home since Jan. 1 and 16-11 at Air Canada Centre. They have also held their opponent under 100 points in a season high-tying six consecutive games. Toronto is 27-7 when doing that this season. Meanwhile, DeRozan is averaging 25.7 ppg in February for the Raptors, who are ensured of a winning record for a third month in a row. Toronto was 8-6 in December, 11-6 in January and currently has a 7-4 mark in February. Washington enters the great white north on a four-game winning streak. The Wizards, who will also visit Philadelphia on its quick quest, disposed of the Orlando Magic 115-106 on Tuesday thanks to four players with 20-plus points. John Wall led the Wizards with 27 points, Trevor Ariza had 22 and both Marcin Gortat and Bradley Beal netted 21. "I thought we came out really energized. We got great performances from everybody," said Wizards coach Randy Wittman. The Wizards, who made 52.5 percent from the field and hit 10-of-16 3-pointers, led by as many as 17 a day after learning forward Nene would miss around six weeks with a sprained MCL in his left knee. Washington is 11-6 in its last 17 road games and is averaging 99.8 ppg in that stretch. Wall has 18.6 points and 7.8 assists over that time. The Wizards are 14-14 overall away from D.C. this season. Toronto has defeated Washington three times already this season and is unbeaten in four straight and six of the last eight meetings between the teams. The Wizards havent succeeded much lately in Canada, losing seven of eight and 11 of the past 15 trips there. MLB Jerseys China . The Alouettes live game broadcasts move from sister station CJAD 800 to Montréals English-language all-sports station TSN 690, which will provide exclusive broadcast coverage of all Alouettes pre-season, regular season, and playoff games for at least the next three seasons. Wholesale MLB Jerseys . -- Brett Cecil walked into spring training last year with his career in limbo. http://www.salejerseyswholesale.com/Mlb-jerseys.html. Buffalo defensive co-ordinator Mike Pettine is the front-runner to become the teams seventh full-time coach and will reportedly have a third interview with the team on Thursday.EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Two wins do not make a playoff contender, unless youre in the NFC East. Despite opening the season with six straight losses, the New York Giants (2-6) remarkably are still in the playoff hunt heading into their bye week. The Giants won their second straight game Sunday with a 15-7 decision over the Eagles in Philadelphia. Things only got better after the game when Detroit staged a furious last-minute rally to knock off the division-leading Dallas Cowboys (4-4). The math is simple: New York is two games behind with eight to play. Its not the best position and the chances that the Giants will make the playoffs are not good unless they run the table. "We won our last couple of games, which is a great thing. Are we back?" safety Antrel Rolle asked Monday, and then answered, "Well be back once we reach that post-season. Thats when Ill say that were back. Right now were grinding. Were grinding, were fighting extremely hard and, you know, being 0-6, like I said several times before, can do a lot of things to you. Ive had to dig extremely deep, had to be so mentally tough to overcome it because Ive never been in that stage in my life either. "Right now, as a team, were grinding. Were grinding and were pushing ahead and more importantly were staying together." The Giants still have a chance because they have corrected some of the errors that led to their worst start since coming out of the gate with a franchise-worst nine straight losses in 1976. In the past two games, Eli Manning and the offence have not turned over the ball. The defence, which has improved since getting middle linebacker Jon Beason in a trade with Carolina, has not allowed a point. The only major mistakes have been by special teams that gave up a punt return for a touchdown against Minnesota — the third one this season — and handed the Eagles a recovery for a TD late in the fourth quarter with a bad snap on a punt. The only turnover in the past two games was a lost fumble on a punt return. If they can avoid the turnovers, get the offence a little more in gear and continue to play good defence, the Giants will be competitive. The problem is thhe Giants have not been a good team in the second half of the season in recent years, and the schedule is tough even with five home games, including three straight out of the bye — Oakland (3-4), Green Bay (5-2) and Dallas.dddddddddddd. They also have games with the Chargers (4-3), Lions (5-3), Seahawks (6-1 heading into Monday night) and two with Robert Griffin III and the Redskins (2-5). "We havent done nothing yet," said cornerback Terrell Thomas, who made his biggest stride returning from two ACL surgeries by playing every down against Philadelphia. "Were 2-6. It feels great to have two wins. There are smiles around here and everyone is confident. This team has a makeup to make a run. Weve been in this position before and we are better when our backs are against the wall." Coach Tom Coughlin plans to self-scout his team over the bye week and he expects running back Andre Brown, who broke a leg in the preseason, to be ready to return from injured reserve after the bye. "I think theres some excitement," said Coughlin, who did an outstanding job keeping his team together after the horrible start. "Were certainly not blind to the issues that we do have, but by the same token were excited about having an opportunity to improve on those areas and excited about the second half of the year." Defensive end Justin Tuck said the key for the second half will be to continue doing what they have done the past two weeks. "Its really that simple," Tuck said. "We cant allow ourselves to think about the past or future, all we can think about is whats next. Thats the day-to-day life of a football player. We have to make sure once we get back in the swing of things that the only thing were thinking about is Oakland. Not thinking about what Dallas did or Philly or Washington or whoever else. We can control what we can control and thats how we play." While its a long shot, the players still maintain the hope they can be the first team to play in a Super Bowl in their own stadium. The title game at Met Life Stadium, the home of the Giants and Jets, is Feb. 2. ___ AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org ' ' '