TORONTO - The Raptors organization and its fans can breathe a sigh of relief after receiving positive news regarding the status of injured point guard Kyle Lowry. Lowry will wear a splint on his non-shooting hand to protect an injured left ring finger tendon for approximately six weeks, however, he is still expected to participate in practices and play in games once the regular season begins next week, the team announced Thursday evening. The starting point guard sustained the injury during Wednesdays victory over Memphis when his finger popped out while reaching for a loose ball late in the third quarter. Attending a follow-up examination, Lowry was absent from practice Thursday morning and did not accompany the team to Milwaukee. He will miss Torontos final exhibition game against the Bucks on Friday but should be ready to go when the Raptors host Boston in the season opener on Oct. 30. The Raptors catch a lucky break as long as Lowry is active and in the lineup, even if hes playing at less than 100 per cent. Given the uncertainty off the bench at that position - neither D.J. Augustin nor rookie Dwight Buycks has stood out in the preseason - Lowry is expected to get the bulk of the playing time at the point this season. Coach Dwane Casey has hinted at a possible platoon with the back-up point guard role, depending on match-ups and who has the hot hand, alternating between Augustin and Buycks heading into the season. With Lowry sidelined for Fridays preseason finale, Casey should get a good look at his reserves. Julyan Stone, who is still battling for the final roster spot but has been used to spell Lowry at the point during camp, is also nursing an injury after taking a knee to his surgically repaired right hip on Wednesday. He was a non-participant in Thursdays practice and is consider day-to-day. Centre Jonas Valanciunas was limited in practice, able to participate in non-contact drills after taking an elbow to the face a couple minutes after Lowrys injury. Valanciunas needed three stitches to patch up a laceration to his chin and was still sore on Thursday but insisted he was feeling better and will also be good to go next week when the games count. "I feel not bad," he said. "[I] still need a couple days but Im feeling good so Im going to be ready for the first [regular] season game." Tyler Hansbrough, who tweaked his right thumb Wednesday, was a full-participant in practice. Raptors exercise team options on Valanciunas and Ross The Raptors also announced they have picked up third-year options on the rookie contracts of sophomores Valanciunas and Terrence Ross. Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed. The team had until Oct. 31 to exercise its option on both players. Valanciunas, 21, was named to the 2012-13 NBA All-Rookie Second Team after averaging 8.9 points and 6.0 rebounds in his first season with the Raptors. Ross, 22, averaged 6.4 points and 2.0 rebounds as a rookie last season, winning the 2013 Slam Dunk competition at All-Star weekend. Both of their contracts are now guaranteed through the 2014-15 season. Alexis Sanchez Jersey .com) - Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer were among the third-round winners Friday at the French Open. Mesut Ozil Jersey . The team sent out a press release on Friday stating Poile was resting and recovering and that he will remain in hospital for further observation. The Predators were preparing for the game against the Wild when Poile was hit by a puck that flew off the ice at him where he was standing in a tunnel behind the bench. http://www.arsenalsoccerproshop.com/Auth...Arsenal-Jersey/. Both sides of the deal have formally announced acquisitions: TFC introduced Jozy Altidore as a designated player on Friday, while their counterparts announced a three-and-a-half-year deal with Jermain Defoe. Ainsley Maitland-Niles Jersey . -- EJ Manuel followed the worst game of his career with the best. Blank Jersey . But last years runner-up Jarkko Nieminen crashed out despite winning the first set against Denis Istomin. Istomin fired 10 aces and won 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 to even his career record against Nieminen at 3-3.TALLADEGA, Ala. -- A group decision for all of the cars powered by Earnhardt Childress engines to work together at Talladega Superspeedway proved the correct call in NASCARs new knockout qualifying format. Richard Childress Racing drivers and their affiliates swept the first three rows on the starting grid for Sundays race, with the pole going to Brian Scott, who will lead the field to the green flag in just his fifth career Sprint Cup Series start. "Who would have thought that, huh?" Scott asked after Saturdays qualifying session. Cars with ECR engines took six of the 12 spots in the third and final round of knockout qualifying, and they all waited patiently on pit road for someone to make a move. It came with roughly 2 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the 5-minute session, when all 12 drivers made their way onto the track. Tony Stewart posted the fastest lap as he worked with the other three Stewart-Haas Racing drivers, and as the clock neared the final buzzer, it appeared the three-time NASCAR champion had the pole locked up. Then came the ECR pack of cars, with Ryan Newman leading, Scott somewhere in the middle and Paul Menard bringing up the rear. Team owner Childress had designated Newman as the driver to decide when the pack should go, and Menard was charged with pushing them along. Just as time expired, the entire group shot past Stewarts speed and moved to the top of the leaderboard. It was Scott on the pole, followed by Menard and then AJ Allmendinger, an RCR-affiliated driver. Casey Mears, also an affiliated driver, qualified fourth and was followed by Daytona 500 pole-sitter Austin Dillon and Newman. "It was just a great plan by RCR, getting all the RCR alliance cars working together," Allmendinger said. "We worked on that (in practice) and felt like we all had great speed.ddddddddddddRyan was the guinea pig for all of us and timed it right, and that last session, it was just basically who was going to wait the longest to go out there." It was the first time NASCAR has used its new knockout format on a restrictor-plate track in the Sprint Cup Series. Daytona 500 qualifying in February was done with traditional single-car runs. "The qualifying format, I think there are good tracks for it and bad tracks for it, and this is definitely a great track for it," Menard said. "We had a plan and we tried to stick to the plan as best we could. Ryan, we put the burden on him to decide when to go and where to go, and the rest of us held it in line. ECR top-six and RCR cars all up there is pretty exciting." Now Scott gets to show what hes made of on one of NASCARs fastest tracks. A Nationwide Series regular, hes got three previous starts this season and finished 25th in the Daytona 500. "Ive got that dreaded yellow (rookie) stripe on the bumper, and thats going to make people run away from me like the plague," Scott said of finding drafting partners on Sunday. Stewart wound up 12th in the final session after it appeared he had the pole locked up. SHR put all four of its cars in the final round, and Danica Patrick earned the highest starting spot at seventh. Joey Logano, meanwhile, failed to advance into the final round of qualifying for the first time this season. Hed made it through all three rounds in eight previous sessions. He qualified 16th. "Its not by a good car or not, its just by strategy," Logano said. 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