TORONTO Bears Khalil Mack Jersey , April 15 (Xinhua) -- Toronto Raptors dropped their eighth consecutive game to open a playoff series in the team's 97-83 loss to Milwaukee Bucks in the first game of their first round playoff series on Saturday evening.
With the loss, Toronto fall to 1-11 all-time in the opening game of a playoff series and has never won a game one in the first round. Their only victory occurred in 2001 when they defeated Philadelphia Sixers in the second round.
Raptors head coach Dwane Casey, who has been in the lead bench role for the past five playoff series, was not impressed with the team's effort, particularly in the second half.
"There are no excuses. I don't know if we played hard enough to deserve to win," he said after the loss. "I thought they played hard longer than we did. I thought they played with more force for longer than we did," he added.
"Our second half was just abysmal. We didn't play with any pace or rhythm," Casey continued. "A lot of that led to tough shots, challenged shots. You can't play that way and it'll always bite you in the behind."
In the second half, Casey's squad managed 32 points while shooting a mediocre 20.0 percent (7-for-35) clip, compared to the 51 points on 50.0 percent (20-for-40) in the first half.
All-Star guards DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry were a large part of the struggle, shooting a combined 2-for-15 (13.3 percent) in the second half for 11 points. DeRozan finished with a team-high 27 points, while Lowry scored just four points, his lowest single-game output in a Raptors playoff game.
Lowry is coming off wrist surgery that sidelined him for 21 games from the end of February until early April. Having played just four regular season games since the injury, Casey hopes his point guard can regain his pre-injury form.
"We got to go the way Kyle goes. He's our guy, he's our All-Star," said Casey. "He's got to continue to be aggressive, make or miss. A lot of our stuff goes around him being aggressive. He's got to begin doing that.
The series will continue on Tuesday evening for game two in Toronto. Raptors hold an all-time record of 5-6 in game two's.
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By Xinhua writers Cheng Yunjie and Shen Yang
NANCHANG, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- During his first visit to Shanxi, a 1,000-year-old town in Jiangxi Province known for porcelain-making, Eric Kaplan from the United Kingdom received a blue and white plate bearing his family's insignia.
He received the gift at the ongoing 2015 China Jingdezhen International Ceramic Fair. Bearing the serial number 001, it is one of five newly fired porcelain plates that imitate pieces originally manufactured by Jingdezhen craftsmen some 600 years ago for European aristocrats.
Having grown up with a lot of fine china in his home, the descendant of a noble family in Leicestershire said it felt amazing to obtain something similar to a piece collected by his ancestors.
"We appreciate this art very much, and I am extremely honored to be here and very thankful," said Kaplan.
Master pottery maker Huang Yunpeng, who presented the plate to Kaplan as a gift, has collected more than 300 antique ceramics tailor-made by local craftsmen for special clients in Europe, including aristocrats, high-ranking officials, wealthy merchants and social organizations.
His son, Huang Bin, president of the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Company, said he hopes these antique porcelain pieces can attract people to revisit Jingdezhen's ties to the British nobility and boost the town's handmade porcelain industry.
A ROYAL HERITAGE
Hu Yinjiao, a resident of Jingdezhen, takes pride in the town's history as a royal porcelain supplier, not just for Chinese emperors but also European royals and nobility.
In the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Jingdezhen was not only the home of imperial kilns dedicated to Chinese emperors, but also saw strong exports in porcelain. It is estimated that some 100 million pieces of china were sold to Europe from the 16th to the 18th century.
"In overseas museums, quite a number of exquisite porcelain antiques for European royals and aristocrats were made in Jingdezhen. To understand how famous the city is, just look at the mark below each antique. Oftentimes, I've found it mentioned just the city -- adding the country was seemingly unnecessary," said Hu.
"When browsing armorial porcelain antiques in overseas museums, I do feel the town's strong connection with the royalty there," said Hu.
In Exhibition Hall A at the ceramics fair in Jingdezhen, Chinese swarmed the stands of royal suppliers to appreciate the designs.
Moorcroft, an 118-year-old brand based in Stoke-on-Trent of Staffordshire in England and an appointed "potter to H.M. The Queen" until 1978, is one of the most popular ceramics makers at the expo.
Head of Sales Gina McNicholas said that Moorcroft's heritage as a supplier to the Queen and royal families helps its sales in China.
"We've found our traditional English products have sold better than anything in China. It's very regal and royal. I think people buy into that idea," said McNicholas.
Moorcroft has hired a Hong Kong agent to deal in exports to China. The brand has a history of working with overseas markets to establish new designs, so designers can influence one another and come up with new ideas about how things will sell in each market.
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25.03.2019 08:52
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