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MEMPHIS - Rudy Gay has played 244 games in Memphiss FedExForum, perhaps none as vindicating as this one. Coming off the worst shooting night of his career - one of the worst in league history - in a devastating loss on Monday, the Raptors forward bounced back at an opportune time for both himself and his team. For the first time since the three-team trade that sent Gay from the Grizzlies, the only NBA team he had ever known, to Toronto last winter, the 27-year-old returned to Memphis on Wednesday and left with a convincing victory that the Raptors sorely needed. "I dont think it was for me as much as we needed it anyway," Gay said, deflecting attention off himself moments after he scored 23 points on 8-of-18 shooting in Torontos 103-87 upset win over the reigning Western Conference finalists in Memphis. "For me personally, it was a little emotional, but other than that, especially coming off the Houston loss, we needed this game." After shooting an abysmal 11-for-37 from the field in the double-overtime loss to the Rockets, Gay eased into his return. He began the game with a concerted effort to get his teammates involved, but when he failed to convert on any of his first four field goal attempts, the look on faces around the arena spoke louder than words. Here we go again, everyone thought. But then Gay did what he does best. He kept shooting. This time he got into a rhythm and when hes locked in, as Grizzlies fans remember, he becomes an exceptionally dangerous scorer. "After last game, I just wanted to get my teammates involved first, move the ball around, get the offence moving and I picked my spots where I wanted to be aggressive," he said. "I missed shots," he acknowledged of the slow start. "Ive missed shots before, last game I missed a lot of shots, so its nothing. Im one of those guys that, if I go out there and miss two, Im going to make sure I make the third." He missed fou,r but then he made the next one and then the shot after that. In fact, he hit four straight, three of them from beyond the arc and just like that, the Raptors were firing on all cylinders. They led by as many as 15 in the first half, 11 at the break. The Raptors offence that looked so terrible in Houston followed Gays lead, as you would imagine. As he looked to distribute, so did DeMar DeRozan. Both players had four assists and Kyle Lowry added six in his best game of the season. As a team, Toronto had 11 assists in 24 minutes, one more than they accumulated in 58 minutes two nights prior. "Its a lot easier because we drew so much attention," said DeRozan, who had 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting. It was the first of nine games this season where both he and Gay were effective at the same time. "One of us has to sacrifice. If we draw two or three guys, we have to kick it to the next man and hell create for the next player. Thats how we have to play. Once we play like that consistently, its definitely going to be hard to guard us." The start of the third quarter brought on another here we go again moment. The Grizzlies, as good teams do, made their run led by the explosive Mike Conley, who scored 12 of his game-high 29 points in the period. With 15 minutes left to play, the home team had tied it up at 70. We have seen this narrative before and we know how it plays out, generally. Perhaps the Raptors have learned something from heartbreaking collapses of the past. Perhaps it was an outlier. But they refused to back down from the Grizzlies, a quality and always-intimidating opponent. They ended the third quarter strong and, by the time the fourth rolled along, the game belonged to Gay. It was his night regardless of whether or not his humility would allow him to accept it. "Thats where you find that extra motivation," DeRozan said, mindful of what this game represented for his teammate. "Every game you look for it somewhere, somehow and tonight we played a lot for him. We knew how much he wanted to come back here and win." The reception Gay received as he was introduced to the fans before tip-off was primarily a positive one, but by the time the game was out of reach for the home team, they certainly made him feel like an opponent. As Gay drilled a 19-footer midway through the fourth, giving his team their largest lead of the evening at 19, boos rained down from the stands. "Thats when I realized I dont play here anymore," he joked. What does this game mean in the larger scheme of things? No one knows. The Raptors, at least for now, hope to be a winning team and to do that theyll need to steal games like this. Sure, you can excuse them for cowering to superior teams - Miami, Indiana, Houston - but at some point you need to win one youre not supposed to. They did that on Wednesday and theyll need to do more of it to reach their ultimate goal. "It was a great night for our team," said Lowry, who finished with 21 points. "The effort we showed tonight is how we should play every night." Getting to the line The Raptors set the tone early in the game, aggressively attacking the rim and earning the benefit of the doubt from the officials the rest of the night. "This is a very physical team and we had to be the aggressor," said Lowry, another former Grizzly. "Their physicality can take anybody out of the game, so our goal tonight was to be really aggressive and try to get to the basket and get to the free throw line as much as we could." Toronto outscored the Grizzlies 33-11 at the line, outshooting them 39-17 from the stripe. Quiet, consistent production from Ross Last season, very little of what rookie Terrence Ross did was quiet. He would exchange several ineffective minutes on the floor - on both ends - for one highlight-calibre dunk that would almost mask the inconsistency that held him back as a player. For the second straight game, Ross has been quietly useful. Hes been efficient offensively, shooting three-of-five, where he may be starting to understand that sometimes less is more and, most importantly, hes been a standout on defence. "Hes very poised out there," Dwane Casey said of Ross, who contributed eight points in 20 minutes off the bench. "Hes growing as a player and thats what this year is about for him." Up next After playing six of their first nine games on the road to begin the season, the Raptors happily return home for six of their next seven. Theyll host the Chicago Bulls at the Air Canada Centre Friday evening, a game you can catch live on TSN 1050 Radio beginning at 7:00 pm et. Jason Taylor Jersey . Solomon Elimimian did not make the trip with the team after suffering what appeared to be a right leg injury in the teams regular season finale against the Calgary Stampeders. Larry Csonka Jersey . - Vince Carter, heading into his 17th NBA season, doesnt consider age a big issue anymore. http://www.authenticdolphinspro.com/. Louis against the Blues. The Canucks picked up their second straight victory in the swings opener on Tuesday in Calgary before getting routed in Minnesota last night, 5-1. Dan Marino Jersey . Lowry and the Raptors officially announced a four-year US$48 million dollar deal Thursday. The deal was reported last week but couldnt be made official until Thursday, when the moratorium on signings was lifted. "They were real factors. I did my homework. Minkah Fitzpatrick Jersey .ca contributor Grant McCagg provides a look at some risers and fallers on the prospect watch.LOS ANGELES -- Once they got Matt Cain out of the game, Yasiel Puig and the Los Angeles Dodgers roughed up the San Francisco Giants stellar bullpen. Dee Gordon and Puig broke open a tie game with consecutive RBI doubles in the seventh, Matt Kemp homered in the eighth and the Dodgers beat the NL West-leading Giants 6-2 on Saturday. "Cain pitched a good game and pounded the zone," Kemp said. "He threw strikes, mixed his pitches up well and got them over the plate. We couldnt really get anything off of him. But we waited him out, got him out of there, got to their bullpen and scored some runs at the end for the W." Zack Greinke (6-1) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings, striking out eight and walking three. The right-hander extended his streak to 20 consecutive starts in which hes allowed fewer than three runs -- the longest by any pitcher since the "dead ball" era. "Its always a luxury to have two Cy Young winners at the top of your rotation like Zack and Clayton Kershaw. Thats a plus for our team," Kemp said. "Hopefully theyll continue to stay healthy and keep doing what theyre doing. But we have to do our job as hitters and drive in runs for those guys." The Dodgers took the lead in the seventh against reliever Jeremy Affeldt (0-1) when Drew Butera doubled and scored on Gordons hit inside third base with Pablo Sandoval playing in on the grass with the Dodgers speedy leadoff hitter at bat. Puig then greeted Jean Machi with a ground-rule double into the left field corner. "Thats a bad break," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Pablo had to cover the bunt with two outs. Gordon hit it in a good spot, and the ball just bounced by him." The four runs charged to the Giants bullpen was in sharp contracts to the major league-best 1.75 ERA they brought into the game. Affeldt had pitched 10 2-3 scoreless innings in his 10 previous appearances since coming off the DL on April 16. "They got nicked up a little, but they had been so good and really solid all year," Bochy said. "Its going to happen." Former Giants closer Brian Wilson escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, retiring Hunter Pence on a foul pop to Butera behind the plate after a visit from pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. The Dodggers tacked on two more runs in the bottom half on Kemps leadoff homer against Juan Gutierrez and Buteras sacrifice fly.dddddddddddd Cain was charged with two runs, three hits and four walks over five-plus innings in his first start off the disabled list. The three-time All-Star hadnt pitched since April 23 and missed two turns in the rotation because of a cut on the tip of his index finger. He was hurt in the clubhouse kitchen at AT&T Park when he tried to catch a knife that fell out of his hand. Affeldt came on in the sixth with the bases loaded and none out after Cain gave up two walks around a towering single by Puig. Gordon scored on a double-play grounder by Adrian Gonzalez and Kemp followed with an RBI single that tied it 2-all. "It kind of got out of hand in the sixth," Cain said. "I let that inning get away from us and that ended up being a turning point." Greinke escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first by fanning Sandoval, who hasnt driven home a run in 20 games and 68 at-bats since his RBI single against the Dodgers on April 16. He has only two hits in his last 26 at-bats with men in scoring position. The Giants loaded the bases again in the second with none out, and managed to scratch out two runs. Hunter Pence drove in Angel Pagan with a sacrifice fly to centre and Brandon Hicks scored on Buster Poseys single. Less than 24 hours after Dodgers left-hander Paul Maholm broke the left thumb of Giants first baseman Brandon Belt with a pitch, Cain plunked Hanley Ramirez above the left elbow on a 1-2 pitch after Gordon led off the first inning with a single and stole two bases. But Cain escaped the jam, striking out Gonzalez and retiring Kemp on a flyball. NOTES: Dodgers 3B Juan Uribe missed his second straight game with a sore right hamstring -- and for the second straight game his replacement committed a throwing error. Friday it was Justin Turner, and this time it was Chone Figgins. ... Gonzalez is 2 for 31 over his last eight games following a 16-game hitting streak. ... The Dodgers lead the majors with 44 stolen bases, including 24 by Gordon in 27 attempts -- also the most in both leagues. The last time a Dodgers player led the NL in steals was 1976, when current first base coach Davey Lopes won his second straight stolen base crown. 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