When the Raptors needed Kyle Lowry most, he disappeared ... for real
Kyle Lowry has been bad for most of these playoffs, but this was a new low
By
Ken Berger
•
4 min read
CLEVELAND -- As Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals began slipping away from the Toronto Raptors, the full force of LeBron James and a healthy Cavaliers supporting cast bearing down on them like a freight train, something was missing.
Defensive rotations, rim protection, ball movement and shot making, to name a few. But someone was missing, too.
With 2:35 left in the second quarter and the Raptors trailing by four, Kyle Lowry was subbed out of the game and went to the locker room. The training staff looked at one another, in a state of confusion. There was no injury they knew about; no need to follow him back there. So why did he go?
"Just to kind of decompress," Lowry said.
Decompress. In the middle of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.
"I've done it plenty of times," Lowry said. "Just now the magnitude of the situation, it shows a bit more."
We know the Cavaliers have been dominant in these playoffs, coasting to their 10th consecutive victory -- and 17th in a row in the East over the past two postseasons -- with a 108-89 stroll in the park Thursday night. They'll fly to Toronto around 1 p.m. Saturday, and from the looks of things, they won't have to play another game in Quicken Loans Arena until the NBA Finals.
But they have been so dominant in this series, and so demoralized the Raptors in Game 2, that they literally chased a two-time All-Star off the floor and into the locker room.
In the middle of the game.
Never saw that before.
"Just [wanted to] get back there, kind of relax my body and relax my mind," Lowry said.
Soon enough, he'll have the whole summer for that.
When Lowry checked out, he had missed three 3-point attempts and committed three turnovers in the second quarter alone. By the time he returned to the floor with 19 seconds left in the half, the Raptors' four-point deficit had ballooned to 11.
Lowry finished the half 1 for 6 with five turnovers. He didn't have more points than turnovers until he made a free throw two minutes into the fourth -- with the Cavs leading by 18. He finished the night with 10 points on 4-for-14 shooting, including 1 for 8 from 3-point range -- where he is now 1 for 15 in the series.
"I'm just missing some shots," Lowry said. "I'm getting some good looks that I've missed. And I don't think I'll be missing many more of those."
It isn't exactly like Greg Norman at the Master's or Rick Ankiel on the mound, but it's hard to figure. Lowry, a career 36 percent 3-point shooter (39 percent this season on 547 attempts) has forgotten how to shoot.
Well, let me restate that. He has forgotten how to make them go in.
Eight times in 16 postseason games, Lowry has missed at least six 3-pointers. He's had four 1-for-7 performances, an 0 for 7 and Thursday night's 1 for 8. Asked if his confidence was shaken, Lowry said, "I'm super confident. I missed countless threes that I thought were good and that I made last series. That's why I'm not down on myself."
Now, as the series heads to Toronto with the Raptors trailing 2-0 to a team that looks unbeatable, they must not only try to figure out how to stop James and the Cavs -- but also, how to get themselves mentally back in the series.
Before it's over and they've missed it.
Lowry and fellow All-Star DeMar DeRozan had their struggles in the first two rounds against Indiana and Miami, the biggest factor in both series going seven games. Lowry bounced back from a 2-for-11 performance in Game 4 in Miami to finish out the series on a 32 for 72 tear (44 percent) -- 12 for 21 on 3-pointers.
Now, he's utterly lost. And these aren't the Pacers or the Chris Bosh-less Heat. It's a team with three healthy All-Stars playing at the highest level they've achieved since James returned home to Cleveland to team up with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in 2014.
"I don't think our guys have quit," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.
Maybe not. But the Cavs are on the verge of doing it for them.
Of course, the Raptors had many more problems than those two minutes and change at the end of the first half when Lowry went missing. They gave up a 32-point second quarter, trailed by 14 at halftime and ultimately by as many as 22. They committed nearly twice as many fouls as the Cavs -- a step slow on defense, Casey explained -- and were once again obliterated in the paint as the Cavs shot 50 percent from the field.
James had 23 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds, only had to play 33 minutes -- well below his already career-low 37.7 postseason minutes coming in. He had so much energy, on account of the lack of resistance from the Raptors, that he chased down his halftime shot from three-quarters court after the buzzer, leaped up and hung on the rim.
Just for fun.
In the face of that kind of onslaught, if I were Kyle Lowry, I would've run into the locker room, too.
And stayed there.
