TORONTO - Drake stood from his courtside seat, his arms over his head motioning for the sellout crowd to get on their feet as the final buzzer sounded and his iconic anthem, "Started From The Bottom" blared over the Air Canada Centre loudspeakers. The Raptors global ambassador was the guest of honour on Saturday but - as he explained to the hoard of media that assembled in front of him before the game - he did not want the evening to be about him, although the night was in fact titled Drake Night. It could have been and very nearly turned out to be a sideshow. The Toronto-born recording artist handed out free shoes while his DJ entertained a captivated audience of 19,800 at halftime. Moments later the buzz that had filled the arena abruptly disappeared as the Raptors came out flat in the third quarter, trailing by as many as 10 to the division-rival Brooklyn Nets, winners of their previous five contests. In the end, Drake asked for noise and the ACC faithful obliged, saluting the team and its ambassador. The Raptors had earned it, putting on a show of their own and sending their fans home with more than just a black and gold OVO T-shirt. "I think we just got a spark there," coach Dwane Casey said after the Raptors closed out the game on a 40-18 run to defeat the Nets 96-80. "I thought our guys showed mental toughness and won a slug-out game, which I dont know if we could have won a couple months ago, no less last year. [Its] a testament to our guys mental growth and mental toughness to win a game like that." "We stayed patient," said DeMar DeRozan, who led all scorers with 26 to go along with seven rebounds and a team-high five assists. "We knew they were going to make a run, especially in the second half and we understood that. We stayed disciplined, understood we had to get stops, rebound the ball and push it." DeRozan scored the last seven points of the third and first two of the fourth as the Raptors began to take advantage of a veteran Nets team that had played a double overtime game against the defending champions a night earlier. Toronto held the visitors without a point for over seven minutes of game time and without a field goal for over nine minutes during a 22-1 run midway through the final frame. Despite their 41 per cent field goal shooting and just 16 assists, the Raptors were able to get out in transition - besting the Nets 13-6 on the break - and take advantage of Kevin Garnetts absence on the boards (the 37-year-old was rested on the second night of back-to-back). As a team the Raptors grabbed 16 offensive rebounds, five of them from Patrick Patterson, who continued to be a game-changer off Torontos bench. The Raptors outscored Brooklyn by 40 with Patterson on the floor Saturday. He finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds while fellow reserve John Salmons added 13, connecting on all five of his shots. The Nets and their rookie head coach Jason Kidd were struggling when they visited Toronto in late November, having lost five in a row before narrowly defeating the Raptors. This time around, they came to town riding a five-game winning streak, which included impressive victories over the Heat, Warriors and Thunder. Without Garnett, Deron Williams (nursing an ankle injury) and Brook Lopez (out for the season after foot surgery) in the lineup on the second night of a grueling back-to-back, Toronto seized another opportunity during this crucial stretch against sub-.500 teams. The Raptors have now won seven of their past nine contests overall and five of their last six at home, pulling within one-game of third place Atlanta in the Eastern Conference standings. With some assistance from Drake, the in-arena atmosphere reflected the teams recent success on Saturday and did not go unnoticed by those in the locker room. "I definitely think (Drake) succeeded," Amir Johnson said. "He got fans hyped, they had some sweet t-shirts in the crowd, everybodys screaming, every play everybody seemed like they were standing up cheering for us and thats what we need from our fans." "The atmosphere was great, I hope we can continue having that. Weve got to keep winning though." Accompanied by an entourage that included Tim Leiweke and Masai Ujiri before the game, Drake showed off his suit jacket, lined with a retro Vince Carter jersey. He also pitched in during the pre-game introductions, announcing the Raptors starters with his own unique twist. "Tonights not really about me, despite the title of the night," he said. "I think its just more about the momentum in the city, bringing the city together, how well these guys have been playing, honouring this squad that is really finding [itself], finding stability with each other and the revamp of this team." Given the result, its safe to say his mission was accomplished. Cheap Nike Shoes Black Friday . Granlund scored 2:04 into the first period. Max Reinhart, on his first NHL shift of the season, neatly stripped the puck from Zack Smith at the Senators blue-line. As he moved in, his attempted shot deflected into the slot where Granlund buried a shot past Craig Anderson. Fake Nike Shoes Black Friday .com) - The Boston Bruins announced Monday that the team has signed goaltender Niklas Svedberg to a one-year contract. http://www.nikeshoesblackfriday.com/ . With the Nets winning streak in jeopardy, Williams scored 23 points, 11 in the final six minutes, to lead Brooklyn to a 104-99 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night. Nike Shoes Black Friday Online . - Alex Dostie scored two goals and assisted on another to lead the Gatineau Olympiques to a 5-3 victory over the Drummondville Voltigeurs in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action on Sunday. Nike Shoes Black Friday 2019 . Picard had a goal and two assists to help Canada improve to 2-0 at the tournament. Seven different players scored for the two-time defending champions. "Today all four lines played excellent," said head coach Laura Schuler.Imagine if you will a Jays team starting this season with Roberto Alomar at second base, Joe Carter in right field, Devon White in centre, John Olerud at first and Paul Molitor at DH. Not to mention a pitching staff, that includes Dave Stewart, Juan Guzman, Pat Hentgen and up-and-comers like Woody Williams, Al Leiter and Todd Stottlemyre. This team would also have three young prospects who could be the foundation of a great team for years to come in Carlos Delgado, Shawn Green and Alex Gonzalez. You might already be printing the World Series tickets. Well it didnt exactly turn out that way for the 1994 Blue Jays. They did win six of their first seven games and got off to decent 12-6 start including a six-game win streak. However it didnt last, and by the time the strike came in mid-August that led to the eventual shutdown of the season, they had faded to 55-60 and the dream of a three-peat gone with it. I painted that little scenario to show you how difficult it can be to predict division winners, let alone World Series champs. The 1994 Jays had most of the key components back from the team that had repeated in 1993, including having WAMCO intact as the top five hitters in the lineup (White, Alomar, Molitor, Carter and Olerud). There were three missing pieces. Closer Duane Ward had injured his shoulder in the offseason and was never really able to come back and be the dominant bullpen stopper he had been. Shortstop Tony Fernandez and left fielder Rickey Henderson had been allowed to leave in the offseason as well. Still, there was more than enough talent for this team to contend. Darren Hall, a mere shadow of Ward took over as closer and recorded 17 saves. Veteran Dick Schofield played the bulk of the games at short and journeyman Mike Huff played left for the most part. I would submit the 94 Blue Jays had far more talent than the current Jays, yet they finished the abbreviated season five games under .500. You dont want to be a total buzz-kill about the 2014 Jays, because they do have talent. If they both stay healthy, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion are capable of hitting at least 40 homers. Melky Cabrera, sans back tumour, is looking more like he could have been batting champ with the Giants a couple of years ago. Jose Reyes, again when healthy, is one of the top shortstops in the game. Brett Lawrie could be on the cusp of developing into one of the top third basemen in the Majors, and this is a free agent contract year for Colby Rasmus, so the pressure is on for him to produce. In other words, the offence should be there. As it has been the past two seasons, pitching is the question. The starting rotation has to log enough innings to give a solid bullpen the chance to produce results for the entire season, not just the first half, after which they could fade from overuse. If Drew Hutchison is the real deal, and it looks as though he just might be, the top three in the rotation looks pretty decent, though you always worry about the inevitable age-related declines of veterans like R.A. Dickey ( 39) and Mark Buehrle (35).dddddddddddd The question marks are the 4 and 5 starters. Brandon Morrow has to prove he can put together a dominant healthy season and finally realize his vast potential. As for Dustin McGowan, youd have to have a heart of stone not to be pulling for this guy, whos battled through injury after injury to finally crack the Opening Day roster for the first time since 2008. Top prospects Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman are waiting in the wings, but probably wont make significant contributions this season, unless there is another rash of injuries, or the Jays drop so far back, they just decide to go young. After calling the Jays to win 92 or 93 games a year ago and contend for a wild card spot, Im reluctant to make any kind of a call on where they will finish in 2014. But my gut tells me they will win 83 or 84 games and be battling for fourth with Baltimore or maybe even Boston. I really do hope Im wrong. Jays Elsewhere Not a really good well for Canadians in the Majors or ex-Jays. The Cubs released Canuck catcher George Kottaras, while Minnesota out-righted lefthander Scott Diamond of Guelph, Ontario to Triple "A" Rochester. Lefty Frank Viola, a Cy Young winner and World Series star in his days with the Twins, had a brief stint with the Jays near the end of his career. The now 53-year-old Viola is taking a leave of absence from his job as the Mets Triple "A" pitching coach at Las Vegas after undergoing open heart surgery. The man taking Violas place is Tom Signore, who was the Blue Jays Double "A" pitching coach at New Hampshire the past three years. So Signore will get to work with the Mets top pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard, whom he also had in the Blue Jays system before he was traded as part of the package for R.A Dickey. Former Jays righthander Shaun Marcum was sent to their minor league camp by Clevleand. Marcum, who was dealt to Milwaukee for Brett Lawrie, has seen his career hampered by injuries. Over eight years in the bigs, the 32-year-old Marcum has a 58-46 record with a 3.88 earned run average. The Indians are hoping he can battle his way back at some point this season. J.P Arencibia was hoping to get some significant playing time in Texas this season to re-establish his career. When the Rangers number one backstop Geovany Soto went down for 10-12 weeks with torn meniscus in his right knee, it looked as though J.P would be the man but skipper Ron Washington has been more impressed with Robinson Chirinos. So it appears J.P., at least for now, is stuck as the backup. One Jay having a good week, in fact a good spring, is catcher Yan Gomes. He appears to have won the number one job with Cleveland after the Indians moved Carlos Santana from catcher to third base. The Jays traded Gomes and veteran utility infielder Mike Aviles to the Indians for righthander Esmil Rogers in the previous offseason. Considering how Gomes has progressed and Rogers has faltered this spring, the Jays might like a mulligan on that one. ' ' '