Raptors show Gay what he has missed: winning

• Sacramento coach Mike Malone’s father, Brendan, was the first head coach in Toronto Raptors history. Mike was not a constant fixture in Toronto that year, but he has a few memories: opening night and the late-season game when the Raptors upset the Michael Jordan-led Bulls. One thing always stuck out. “They’ve come a long way as basketball fans in Toronto,” Malone said on Friday. “The first home game, they were handing out balloons to wave behind the other [team’s] basket when they were shooting free throws. The only problem is they handed them out to wave behind the Raptors’ basket. So Tracy Murray is shooting free throws, and they’re waving free throws behind the Raptors’ basket.”

Perhaps Malone is right about the maturation of the fans. Rudy Gay returned to Toronto for the first time since a disappointing 51-game stint, and the default-setting booing the local fans conjured up was tepid. The Raptors have a winning season to focus on, and it continued with a 99-87 victory over the Kings on Friday. The result allowed the Raptors to match their win total (34) from last year.

The fans were right not to give Gay, who was traded in De- cember, the Carter/Bargnani treatment. Gay was a talented player who just did not fit in Toronto. Sure, he did not adapt very well to his teammates, but he had admirable intentions while in Toronto. The fans took some delight when Gay was called for a travel in transition, but it was all pretty tame.

It is an era best forgotten, though. Raptors fans can revel in the here and now, and that is going pretty well. Two of the four players acquired for Gay, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes, provided massive contributions during an important stint.

Raptors coach Dwane Casey has been trying to rest DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, and he sat them both for the final two minutes of the third quarter. The Kings kept their starters in, hoping to cut the 12-point lead. Instead, the seldom-used Chuck Hayes slapped the ball away from talented Sacramento centre DeMarcus Cousins twice, and Patrick Patterson scored a pair of buckets. The lead grew to 17 points, and the game was effectively over. Patterson, who has been the best of the four ex-Kings in Toronto, finished with 15 points.

Gay finished with 15 points, and the fans barely seemed to revel in it. They have more meaningful things to think about.