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TORONTO - As Rudy Gay took to the Air Canada Centre court for the first time since being traded, moments after being introduced to a chorus of tepid boos, he approached each Raptors starter, slapping hands with his former teammates. cheap nfl jerseys . They reciprocated, but none of them initiated the round of pre-game pleasantries. On the teams bench sat a quartet of former Sacramento Kings, but you wouldnt know it. Their focus mirrored that of the starters. They meant business. "We all have friends on that team," acknowledged Patrick Patterson, one of the former Kings that came to Toronto in the seven-player trade completed on December 9. "Going into this game, we have to treat it as if theyre the enemy. We have to treat them like theyre the villain and were the superhero, pretty much. We cant be friendly with them. As soon as the game starts, you have to put your hard hat on." The Raptors learnt that lesson the hard way. A month earlier, the two teams faced off in Sacramento, their first meeting since the early-season swap. "I thought the way that we approached the game last time was too friendly, too cool, too lackadaisical, too laid-back," Patterson said, looking back at his return to California. Emotions were high, on both sides, as players embraced their friends and old teammates prior to tip-off, laughing and joking around, having also shared a meal the night before. Only the Kings were laughing 48 minutes later. Embarrassed, the Raptors - a post-trade feel-good story - left with their tail in-between their legs. Dwane Casey questioned his teams disposition and professionalism, Chuck Hayes called it their worst performance since the trade and John Salmons conducted his entire post-game interview head down after a 109-101 loss. Round two would be different, Casey promised leading up to the rematch in Toronto on Friday. From the moment his club took the floor, coming face-to-face with Gay and the Kings, it was clear that message had been received. "I thought the roles were reversed this time," Patterson after his new team closed out their 99-87 win. "I thought we came out the right way, with the right intensity." "Guys were professional, very professional, workman-like, not disrespecting their friends on the other team, but yet still knowing we had a job to do when you walk out between those lines," Casey echoed. "After the game is over you can shake hands, hug, kiss, whatever you want to do, but once the game starts those guys have a different colour jersey and weve got to have that razor-like focus every time we walk on the floor." Like the Kings had done in Sacramento, the Raptors jumped on the visitors right out of the gate, taking a 29-19 lead into the second quarter. Although the Kings dominated the paint and lived at the free throw line once again, Toronto neutralized their best player early. DeMarcus Cousins, who has owned the Raptors over his career, played just eight first-half minutes, saddled with foul trouble. After losing some ground in the second frame, the Raptors came out in the third quarter and - like they did in the first - outscored Sacramento 29-19, effectively repaying their old friends for last months debacle. "I think we let go of the personal stuff," said Salmons, who has been preaching forgiveness over the last couple days. "We thought we were doing that the first game, clearly we didnt. This time we just let it go and played basketball." Returning from an ankle injury, Terrence Ross scored half of his team-leading 18 points, hitting half of his six threes in the third. Patterson also added seven of his 15 points in the quarter. "Ill tell you what, hes been a godsend for us, as far as stretching the floor," Casey said of Patterson, who hit three of his four attempts from long range Friday. "Not only that, just his intensity, his work ethic, how hard how plays. Hes got a reputation around the league of playing hard. Hes one of our best pick-and-roll defenders because he uses his quickness and then he can go down and stretch the floor out. Its a big plus, not a lot of guys can do that and he does an excellent job of doing it. The boos for Gay were faint, mostly, but consistent every time he touched the ball. The former Raptors forward scored 15 points on 5-of-13 from the field, a shooting percentage reminiscent of his time spent in Toronto. Gay has shot 50 per cent or better in 23 of 38 games as a King after doing so just once in 18 contests with the Raptors this season. Again, the Raptors won as a team. They got double-digit scoring from five players and although DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry struggled from the field - shooting a combined 6-for-24 - the Raptors backcourt duo totalled 13 assists, one fewer than the entire Kings team. Salmons added eight points off the bench, Greivis Vasquez chipped in with four and, although Hayes was scoreless in 10 minutes, his defence on Cousins changed the game in the third quarter. "He has that old man stretch," Casey said of Hayes. "Youve got to be strong to hold your ground against Cousins. Hes a beast in there and now they bring Reggie Evans in, two of the strongest guys in the league. So I thought his brute strength helped him hold his position." With their 34th victory, the Raptors matched last seasons win total in just 60 games. nfl jerseys china . Play hard, play tough and play rough. The philosophy has been a lesson in frustration for opponents. jerseys from china . Brooks and Harrison, along with tackle Walter Jones and coach Tony Dungy, were the first-year eligible candidates to make the cut from 126 to 25. Brooks won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay, while Harrison and Dungy were champions with Indianapolis.(SportsNetwork.com) - Having lost consecutive starts for the first time this season, Toronto hurler Mark Buehrle watched on Tuesday as New York rookie sensation Masahiro Tanaka passed him for the major league lead in victories. Buehrle will now try to join Tanaka in the 11-win club on Wednesday and even the Blue Jays three-game series with the AL East-rival Yankees. The resurgent Buehrle picked up his 10th win of the season on June 1, but followed up with a tough-luck 5-0 setback to St. Louis six days later as he was charged with just one run over seven innings. The lefty then struggled a bit in a 4-2 setback to Baltimore on Thursday, allowing four runs on eight hits and a walk in 6 1/3 frames. The loss dropped Buehrle to 10-3 on the year with a 2.28 earned run average. "There were times I made a lot of mistakes, and they made me pay for them," Buehrle told Torontos official website, "and then I made a few good pitches, and they put the ball in play and got some base hits." Buehrle will need to avoid the mistakes tonight given his history with the Yankees. The 35-year-old has made 16 prior starts against them, going a mere 1-10 with a 6.02 ERA. Tanaka secured his major league-leading 11th victory with last nights 3-1 victory, settling down from allowing a solo homer to Jose Reyes on the games first pitch to shut down the Blue Jays for the rest of his six-inning performance. Tanaka struck out 10 batters and moved in line for the victory following Brett Gardners two-run homer off Toronto hurler Marcus Stroman in the third inning. Tanaka lowered his ERA to an AL-best 1.99 and he is second in the league with 113 strikeouts. "What hes done is remarkable," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi of Tanaka. "He has been a big part of our success this year and continues to grind out starts, make adjustments and give us distance. He wins." Derek Jetter and Kelly Johnson each had two hits and a run scored to help New York halt a two-game skid with its fifth victory in seven games.wholesale jerseys. The Yankees also moved to within 3 1/2 games of the Blue Jays for first place in the AL East. With Tanaka leading the charge, Toronto hitters fanned a total of 15 times on the evening en route to their 14th consecutive defeat at Yankee Stadium, the longest active streak by one team at a particular venue. Stroman allowed just two runs, but lasted only 3 2/3 innings while throwing 98 pitches in Torontos seventh loss in 10 games. "We had some good at-bats, we hit some balls hard early on, and then it just disappeared," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons remarked. "(Tanaka) pretty much shut us down. But hes good. Theres a reason hes doing what hes doing." New Yorks 14-game home winning streak over the Jays is the longest by one team over another since Toronto topped Baltimore 16 straight times at Rogers Centre from 2009-11. The Yankees hope to extend that run tonight behind Chase Whitley, who takes the mound four days after his 25th birthday. Whitley opened his major league career with four straight no-decisions, failing to pitch longer than five innings in any of those outings. However, the righty has improved on that in back-to-back wins, logging seven frames to beat Kansas City on June 6 before pitching 7 2/3 innings in a 6-3 win over Seattle on Thursday. Whitley held the Mariners to a pair of runs on five hits while striking out six to zero walks, giving him a 2.41 ERA heading into his first ever meeting with the Blue Jays. Toronto is expected to have center fielder Colby Rasmus back in the lineup tonight for the first time since May 12 as he returns from a strained right hamstring. Rasmus, hitting .222 with nine homers and 19 RBI in 37 games, made his sixth and final rehab appearance on Tuesday with Triple-A Buffalo. cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
