who average 39.6. Lowry was a full participant in practice

BRASILIA, Brazil -- IOC President Thomas Bach met Tuesday with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and said he feels "very confident" in the preparations for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. But Bach acknowledged once again that Brazil has no time to lose and must speed up work for the first Olympics in South America. Rios preparations have been plagued by delays, the late approval of an operating budget and concerns about water pollution in Olympic venues for sailing, canoeing, rowing, and distance swimming. IOC members have talked openly about their worries and have constantly urged Rio organizers to move faster. "We are very confident," Bach said after talks with Rousseff in Brasilia. "Weve seen great progress in the last couple of months. The organizing committee has worked extremely well. But on the other hand, the president (Rousseff) also made it clear that time is key and we dont have any day to lose." Bach is making his first visit to Brazil since being elected president of the International Olympic Committee in September. The German was upbeat after meeting with Rousseff and said the Olympics would make Rio an even better city. "Im sure that after these Olympic Games the people of Rio and the people of Brazil will say -- like for instance the people of Barcelona or the people of Munich -- there is a Rio de Janeiro before the Olympic Games, and there is an even better city -- if in Rio de Janeiros case that is possible -- there is an even better city after the Olympic Games." After a long delay, Rio organizers are expected in the next few days to announce an operating budget. The original bid document listed the operating budget at $2.8 billion. Bid cities usually underestimate the costs, and observers expect the Rio operating budget to grow. The operating budget is to run the games themselves. About $11 billion more in public and private money will be spent on games-related projects, costs reflected in a separate capital budget. "I can assure you this will be a very reasonable operational budget," Bach said. "The organizing committee is working very hard to respect the budget limitations and to make it really reasonable." Bach is to meet Wednesday in Rio with organizers and government officials. Disagreements over the budget have gone on for months, with national, state and local governments debating who pays what. This is also an election year with Rousseff facing voters in October. Public spending on the World Cup and Olympics has become sensitive since protests last year during the Confederations Cup. Many Brazilians ask why billions are spent on two mega sports events when the country lacks good schools and hospitals. Rios chief operating officer, Leo Gryner, said in August that $700 million in public money would be needed to balance the operating budget. Since then, chief executive officer Sidney Levy, who took over a year ago, said the $700 million would not be needed with some new income expected from local sponsorships. Adidas Superstar Clearance Sale . -- Fresh off their surprising run in the playoffs, the Portland Trail Blazers have signed head coach Terry Stotts to a multi-year contract extension. Adidas Superstar Wholesale . Bozak and Clarkson suffered the injuries in pre-training camp workouts, according to Carlyle, who said they made "small amounts of improvement" from Friday to Saturday. After the players were deemed less than 100 per cent by doctors after Thursdays medical testing, the Leafs held them out of on-ice testing and are being cautious. http://www.cheapsuperstar.net/ . Bale has had a successful debut season in Spain, and Ancelotti appears ready to reward him with a starting role on Saturday. Ancelotti says "Gareth had some problems at the beginning (of the season) but when he found good physical condition he scored a lot of goals, he had a good impact on the team. Buy Cheap Adidas Superstars . Didnt need any help this time. Wood beat Cincinnati for the first time in his career, repeatedly pitching out of threats for seven innings, and Chicago stalled the Reds week-long surge with a 2-0 victory Monday night. Adidas Superstar Wholesale China . HEROES Alex Ovechkin – Scored a pair of goals in Washington’s 4-0 win over Pittsburgh. With 13 goals in the past 13 games, Ovechkin now has 29 goals on the season to lead the league.TORONTO - If youve played or coached in the NBA long enough, you probably have a tried and tested method for shaking off unsettling losses. A couple days removed from the Raptors most recent defeat, a triple overtime loss to the Washington Wizards, Dwane Casey is still making notes, having reviewed the game tape two or three times since Thursday night. DeMar DeRozan has also watched the tape, hoping to identify areas of weakness in his and the teams performance. However, that form of reflection is not for everybody. Some prefer to look ahead, rather than dwell on the past. "I didnt watch it," Kyle Lowry admitted. "No. We lost. I didnt watch that game." The Raptors overcame a spotty showing on the boards, giving up 18 offensive rebounds, and in the trenches, allowing 80 points in the paint, giving themselves a couple of opportunities to steal a victory in what would eventually become the franchises longest game. In the end, Toronto simply ran out of bullets. By the third overtime period, they were without Lowry, Amir Johnson and Patrick Patterson - all having fouled out - as well as Terrence Ross, who left the game with an ankle injury in the first half. "Its definitely tough, just to watch it and understand how close we came to pulling it [out] but it happens," said DeRozan, who scored 34 points - his third 30-plus point outing in the last five games - in 57 minutes of action. "Its the NBA and youve got to learn from it." For Jonas Valanciunas, who struggled in overtime after sitting out the entire fourth quarter, Thursdays loss was another learning experience, one Casey hopes his young centre wont take too personally. "We all make mistakes," Casey said following practice Friday afternoon. "He made some mistakes down the stretch, hes got to learn from them, not get his head down [or] feel like the weight of the world is on his shoulders [and] play basketball." "Hes 21-years-old, not really good looking but a nice looking guy," he joked. "Why be stressed about anything?" "His role is to go in, have fun, learn, get better, improve and try to play the game the right way. If you make a mistake, okay, learn from it. Dont make the same mistake twice." With a rare four-day break looming, the Raptors have an opportunity to redeem themselves when they host the Golden State Warriors Sunday. Its been nearly three full months since they last saw the Warriors but their 112-103 loss in Oakland on Dec. 3 is not one that can easily be forgotten. "Me personally, I remember it," Lowry said of that game, in which the Raptors surrendered a 27-point lead, the largest collapse in franchise history. "At the end of the day, were a different team, theyre a different team so were just going to go out there and play our game..dddddddddddd" Just six days prior to the trade of Rudy Gay, Toronto led 88-70 after 36 minutes before the Warriors went off for a 42-point quarter. Since that night, the Raptors have gone 26-15 while solidifying themselves as one of the leagues best fourth quarter teams, holding opponents to 21.9 points in the final frame, first in the NBA. The Raptors have lost only two games when leading going into the fourth quarter this season. "It was tough, man," DeRozan said, looking back on that night. "I think that game really bothered us afterwards because we had them beat and before you know it, they started raining threes. It sucks to lose like that so we definitely understand that and I definitely think everyone remembers that." Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson accounted for 26 points, on 6-of-7 shooting from three-point range, in the fourth, carrying the Warriors to victory. The Raptors are winless in seven games facing Golden State with Curry in the lineup, allowing 119.3 points in those contests. The all-star guard averages 27.3 points and 8.7 assists against Toronto, his highest marks against any opponent in his career. "You have two of the best shooters in Golden State, probably in the league," DeRozan said of Curry and Thompson. "The way Steph can score the ball at an all-time high is definitely amazing and youve got a guy like Klay that can catch and shoot at will. It makes it tough so weve got to come out [Sunday] night and be aggressive on both ends, make it tough on them." Averaging a combined 41.8 points per game, the Warriors duo of Curry and Thompson is the NBAs highest scoring backcourt, just ahead of Lowry and DeRozan, who average 39.6. Lowry was a full participant in practice Saturday and insists he is good to go against the Warriors after coming down on his right ankle at the end of regulation Thursday. Ross was held out of practice as a precaution, though he did get some work in on the stationary bike, and is considered questionable for Sundays contest. The Raptors, who have won 12 of their last 16 at home, havent lost back-to-back games at the Air Canada Centre since Dec. 1 and hope to avoid doing so against the red-hot Warriors. Golden State, in the middle of a season-long six game road trip, has won five of six. After being held to 83 points and losing to the Bulls by 20 on Wednesday, they scored a season-high 126, dismantling the Knicks by 23 Friday night. "We stopped attacking the basket, settled for jump shots, we tried to play their game and theyre better at it," Casey said of his teams collapse in Oakland. "[We] didnt do a good job of handling their pressure offensively. They made some tough shots, now weve got to go down, attack the paint, make them play defence [and] attack the rim if our jump shots are not falling." ' ' '