LOS ANGELES - On a night that seemed destined to belong to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, it was the Toronto Raptors and their first-year general manager that stole the show. Dante Exum Jersey . With only 11 players in uniform, just eight of which got into the game, the Raptors spoiled Bryants disappointing season debut just hours after Masai Ujiri pulled off a franchise-altering move. "I really applaud our players for the fact they came in and banded together," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said following a 106-94 victory in the aftermath of Sunday evenings trade that sent Rudy Gay to Sacramento in a seven-player swap. Set to board the team bus and make his way over to Staples Center, Gay was told to hang back at the hotel. He had been dealt. He was shocked. So too were Aaron Gray and Quincy Acy - who are alsoNew heading to the Kings in the deal - and the rest of their teammates, most of whom found out about the transaction upon arriving at the arena. As Toronto said goodbye to its best, or at least highest paid player, the Lakers welcomed theirs back. Nearly eight months after tearing his left Achilles, Bryant returned to the court, scoring just nine points and committing eight turnovers in 28 minutes of action. Without Gay, along with Gray, Acy and Tyler Hansbrough - who sat out with a sprained left shoulder - the Raptors led wire-to-wire and snapped a five-game losing streak, playing some of their best and most inspired basketball of the season. "Like I told the team," Casey said, "thats the way were going to play, no matter who is in uniform." "Were going to continue to play that way or theyre not going to continue to play. Thats the way its got to be. No disrespect to anyone but we have to play as a unit to be successful." In the absence of Gay - who was taking a career-most 18.6 shots per game while shooting a career-worst 29 per cent - the Raptors offence looked more diverse and cohesive. Toronto registered 19 assists as a team and 13 from the backcourt tandem of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan while California-native Amir Johnson led the way with a career-best 32 points on an efficient 14-of-17 from the field. "Tonights winning helps lift the cloud," Casey insisted, unable to comment directly on the trade until its made official following a conference call with the league on Monday. "Everyones talking about Kobe coming back and the trade but our guys had what you have to have; a discipline." "I told our guys, no matter what happened or whats in the paper or in the media, we have to be disciplined and focused on what weve got to do, our jobs here. We cant control whos in uniform, whos traded." Gray took the news in stride, learning about the deal during his pre-game workout at the arena. The veteran - who turned 27 on Saturday - finished his workout and had a smile on his face as he cracked jokes and bid his teammates farewell in the visitors locker room. Acy, 23, was more emotional after being traded for the first time, by the only team hes known in his professional career. "Big thank you to the Toronto Raptors organization for drafting me and giving me a chance," he tweeted Sunday night. "Imma miss everything about the city and the fans and the organization as a whole, thanks for helping mold me." "It was kind of a bit emotional," Johnson said, comparing it to the day Gay was acquired nearly 10 months prior, when the Raptors said goodbye to Jose Calderon and Ed Davis prior to a game in Atlanta. Johnson spoke with Gay over the phone, thanking him for everything he gave the team and the city during his brief tenure in Toronto. Lowry, his best friend, exchanged texts with him throughout the evening. "It was difficult, especially for me," said Lowry, Gay being the godfather of his son. "At the end of the day its a business and we have to move on. Hes still going to be my boy. Hes still going to be everyone on this teams boy." "We had to block it out and just play." Although the Raptors say goodbye to their most talented player, they may be a better team - in both the short and long term - because of it. Less, sometimes is more, evident in their win on Sunday. Without Gay - an inefficient, high-volume scorer - there are more shots to be distributed amongst more efficient players, the ball doesnt stick nearly as much and the team can focus on the continued development of DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross. The addition of Greivis Vasquez, however temporary it proves to be, should help in the development of those players, specifically Valanciunas. Vasquez, 26, finished second in most improved player voting last season after breaking out in New Orleans and fills a current need at the backup point guard position, also making Lowry expendable in a subsequent trade. John Salmons, 33, will become the oldest player on the Raptors roster. He may or may not report and if he does he may or may not play. Patterson, 24, a stretch-four and Hayes, 30, a hard-nosed rebounder are both serviceable but more than anything else the deal was made to give the Raptors much-needed cap flexibility. In one fell swoop Ujiri turned one gargantuan contract - believed to be untradeable - into four far more manageable deals. Toronto can save roughly $14.5 million for next season. While Hayes will be under contract, making $5.9 million next season, Salmons has a $1.0 million buy-out option on a non-guaranteed $7.0 million deal and Vasquez, along with Patterson could become free agents if the Raptors pull their qualifying offers. "I believe in Masai, hes big time," Casey said after the game. "Hes shown it, hes done some great things. He knows talent, hes a salesman, so I believe in him." Pete Maravich Jersey . Got Jacks? Pulling off a comeback for the ages, feisty Stephen F. Austin became the latest No. 12 seed to pull off an upset, tying the game on Desmond Haymons did-that-just-happen four-point play with 3. Derrick Favors Jersey . Griffin scored 13 of his 31 points in the final 7:05 and Dudley got 11 of his 20 points in the third quarter, leading the defending Pacific Division champions to a 112-85 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night. "Dud is a shooter. http://www.cheapjazzjerseys.info/Authentic-John-Stockton-Jazz-Jersey/ . - Skiing far more aggressively than in her season debut a day earlier, Lindsey Vonn was in provisional 10th place after the first 45 skiers in a World Cup downhill on Saturday.REGINA - Olympic gold-medal favourite Mark McMorris is in "great spirits," despite a fall that fractured a rib and nearly derailed his dream. Don McMorris, the snowboarders father, says Mark is moving around quite well after the incident during Saturdays slopestyle event at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo. "When we left him (Sunday), he could bend over and touch his toes because of where (the injury) is at," Don McMorris told The Canadian Press on Monday. "You know a cracked rib in the front, you couldnt do that, but where its at (around the back), he could bend to his toes and could raise his knees up to kind of his chest. "He was really doing better than we all thought. Hes got five or six days before he has to worry about riding and hes got the best people around him." Mark McMorris caught his snowboard on the lip of a rail and went sliding down the bar on his right side before landing hard on the snow during the final. He stayed on the ground for a few minutes before riding down the hill under his own power. It seems the 20-year-old Regina native lost focus. "He probably hit that rail through the week, I dont know 50 times, and never had a problem with it or any of the rails because thats, I think, one of the strongest parts of his riding," said Don McMorris, who was in Aspen when his son fell. "But obviously he was focused on what he was going to do on the jump line because he was going to try something pretty major." Don McMorris says his son didnt hurt much at first, but the pain got worse as the afternoon wore on. Mark McMorrris finished with a silver medal at the event, but was "pretty down," said his father. Tony Bradley Jersey. Mark McMorris had said being an Olympian is a dream come true. He was the two-time defending Winter X Games champion in slopestyle. When he was named to the Olympic team earlier this month, McMorris said hes been "preparing like a mad man." The fall raised questions as to whether he could compete in Sochi. "He was really scared, not necessarily about his own well-being, I dont think, but that he wouldnt get to go to the Olympics," said Don McMorris. "That was really playing on his mind and when he does that, he just gets really quiet and doesnt really talk or say much to anybody. "And you could just tell that he was really scared and worried about not getting to fulfil his dream." The elder McMorris says the tough part was waiting to hear what the team doctors had to say. He describes it as an agonizing wait of about three hours. They eventually decided Mark would go to Sochi, as planned. "I cant tell you what he said because that would not be printable," joked Don McMorris. "He was really relieved." A fractured rib usually takes six weeks to heal, so Mark McMorris wont have time to fully recover before the Games start Feb. 7. But his father is cautiously optimistic. "Yes, Im optimistic, (I) have to be," he said. 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