Rudy Gay’s 2nd game-wner last 3 gam ph Raptors past Nuggets (VIDEO)

RUDYGAY

* rudy gay game winner *

Rudy Gay was red-hot down the stretch, srg 17 pots the fourth quarter and overtime to erase what had been an 11-pot Indiana Pacers lead; seemed only ftg that he'd raise up and dra a 17-footer wh 1.

On Tuday night, though, Gay had been whisper-quiet throughout the fal three quarters of the game, stapled to the bench wh foul trouble and unable to get himself to a rhythm after htg the ground nng agast the Denver, wh the game the balance the closg sends, he wouldn't be able to jt get appropriately warm, get wherever he wanted on the urt agast the able fense of Corey Brewer, and nail down a w for the send time three, about that:Too easy, Drill Gay's dribble-drive for a short basele jumper over Brewer gave the Raptors a one-pot lead, the Nuggets still had one chance to w , but a b of solid Toronto fense on the bounds pass — Kyle Lowry bowlg his way through Anthony Randolph's ial screen, which crowd Ty Lawson, prevented him om cleanly takg a handoff and motorg toward the basket, and forced him to re-gatherg for a tough floater that missed — iced a 109-108 Raptors w ont of a charged-up Air Canada Centre crowd.

But wh the game on the le, Toronto's ach once aga lled Gay's number, and once aga, the newt Raptor livered. Canada brother blog Eh Game:“He’s a big-time player, he’s a closer, ” Raptors head ach Dwane Casey, who listened to his assistant ach and waed until puttg Gay back on the floor, said his post-game media nference. ”The closer trope is often overwrought and overemphasized, and the numbers don't necsarily bear out for Rudy — he's jt outsi the top 35 productn per 48 mut of "clutch" play (last five mut wh your team ahead or behd by five pots or ls), acrdg to 's stat tool; he also fished outsi of the top 20 that tegory last year and far below that each of the three prev years, acrdg to Still, what Gay n do, as TNT analyst Steve Kerr noted last night, is create a good look for himself agast an awful lot of wg fenrs, which — while not necsarily somethg that outweighs his 41 percent shootg om the floor and 30 percent mark om 3-pot range on the season — is still a very valuable skill down the stretch of tight gam.