TORONTO – After the Toronto Raptors were defeated in San Antonio over the weekend, falling to 0-2 on the young season, Kyle Lowry couldn’t recall the last time his team started the campaign with a losing record.
It had been a while. Toronto hadn’t lost its first two games since 2012-13 – Lowry’s first year with the club.
"This is a brand new situation for everybody,” the 15-year veteran said that night. “I haven’t been at this record in a long [expletive] time, so we’ve gotta figure it out sooner or later for our team.”
With a trip to his hometown of Philadelphia and a meeting with Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and the rival 76ers on deck, you knew Lowry would do everything in his power to will the Raptors to their first win, and he sure tried. It’s hard to imagine him doing more.
In 37 minutes, he scored 24 points, grabbed eight rebounds and recorded nine assists. He was responsible for nine of his team’s 14 free throw attempts, hitting each of them, and he was a team-best plus-12 – to put that into perspective, no other Raptors player was better than a plus-five.
He took a charge, because of course he did, and he went vertical to stop a Sixers player at the rim – the type of play that’s usually reserved for guys nearly a full foot taller.
We’ve seen that look in Lowry’s eyes before, that scowl, as if to say ‘we’re not losing this game’. That appeared to be where things were headed again, but not even Lowry’s heroics were enough on Tuesday.
For the first time since 2005 – when Lowry was in his final year at Villanova – Toronto has lost three consecutive games to open the season. To make matters worse, the Raptors – a club that had been known for its many comeback wins over the years – are the only NBA team in the last two decades to start 0-3 and blow double-digit leads in each contest.
"I think we’re mentally tough, I just think we’re not all on the same page right now,” Lowry said following a 100-93 loss to Philly. “We’re not on the same page but we’re working to get towards that. We’re adding a couple of new guys, new positions and new roles, and this and that, and I think that with the shortened pre-season, the shortened time off, guys are still getting their legs under them a little bit.”
With Aron Baynes, Alex Len, Chris Boucher, and others, replacing Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka in the rotation, this is a different looking Raptors team and one that’s still trying to find itself.
The defence has had its moments, especially on Tuesday – holding Philly to 38 per cent, a marked improvement from Saturday’s performance in San Antonio. So has the offence, but neither has held up long enough or consistently enough, or been effective at the same time. Lengthy droughts continue to plague them – they were held scoreless over the final five minutes of the third quarter, and then registered just 17 points in the fourth.
One thing that remains the same is Lowry’s importance, even at the age of 34. The Raptors have been outscored by 26 points through three games, but they’ve actually bested teams by 14 points with Lowry on the court. In other words, they’ve been outscored by 40 points in 33 minutes with their all-star point guard on the bench.
Nobody else has matched Lowry’s impact, though, at least not consistently. Fred VanVleet, who broke out for 27 points against the Spurs, was held to just eight on 3-of-12 shooting Tuesday. Norman Powell, who is coming off a career season, has been a non-factor. OG Anunoby impressed against the Sixers, scoring 20 points, but was quiet offensively in each of the first two contests.
However, if there’s a common denominator between the three losses, it’s been the uneven early-season play of Pascal Siakam.
Once again, Siakam got off to a strong start on Tuesday. After grabbing a rebound early in the opening quarter, he pushed the ball up the floor, dribbled into the lane and drilled a pretty step-back off one leg. A few minutes later, Lowry found him cutting towards the rim for a slam-dunk. Then, he splashed a three from 25-feet out.
For the third straight game, he started out looking like the pre-pandemic version of himself – the all-star and All-NBA calibre talent. For the third straight game, he went into halftime break with 12 points. Then, for the third straight game, he faded as the night went on.
By the fourth quarter, when the Raptors were barely clinging onto a lead that was once as large as 14 points, Siakam had reverted back to player that couldn’t get out of his own way in the bubble a few months ago. He wasn’t just missing shots – they can live with that, provided he’s getting and taking good looks.
With less than four minutes remaining, a routine pass from VanVleet went through his hands and sailed out of bounds. On a crucial possession, with roughly 90 seconds left, he drove into three Sixers defenders in the paint and lost the ball. He committed five of his six fouls in the final seven minutes of the game, most of which were entirely deserved and avoidable. Frustrated after fouling out, Siakam walked straight down the tunnel and towards the locker room, despite there being 26 seconds left on the clock.
That the Raptors have built up big leads when Siakam’s been at his best early in games is no coincidence. That they’ve collapsed as he’s disappeared down the stretch isn’t either.
"He’s our closer,” Nick Nurse said. “He’s going to get the opportunities there and I think the increased reps will get him there. He’s got to find his balance, he has to find his strength a little bit and he’s going to have to produce on a few more of those shots.”
"It’s growing pains with our team right now,” said Lowry. “We’re pretty young right now. Like, we’re old, but we’re young. We have guys that have played in the Finals and all that stuff, but we’re still like a brand-new team with guys trying to figure it out.”
Lowry had nine of Toronto’s 17 fourth-quarter points on 3-of-7 shooting. The other four starters scored just two on 1-of-8.
For many years, the Raptors have prided themselves on their resiliency and that innate ability to find ways to win. It’s strange, now, to see them finding new and creative ways to lose. It’s still early, though, and there’s plenty of basketball left to be played. Even in a shortened campaign, three games do not make a season. In each of the last three years, a team that started 0-3 went on to make the playoffs.
If anybody understands that and is able to keep things in perspective, it’s Lowry, but even the team’s most senior member can feel the sense of urgency growing as a New Years Eve date with the Knicks awaits.
"We don’t have time to waste no more,” Lowry said. “We’re 0-3 and we need a win really, really bad. I feel like we’re getting to that point where it’s a must win. We gotta do everything we possibly can to win the next game.”
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRzbi5jYS9yYXB0b3JzLXNxdWFuZGVyLWFub3RoZXItYmlnLWxlYWQtaW4tdGhpcmQtc3RyYWlnaHQtbG9zcy10by1vcGVuLXNlYXNvbi0xLjE1NzA0NDTSAWxodHRwczovL3d3dy50c24uY2EvcmFwdG9ycy1zcXVhbmRlci1hbm90aGVyLWJpZy1sZWFkLWluLXRoaXJkLXN0cmFpZ2h0LWxvc3MtdG8tb3Blbi1zZWFzb24tMS4xNTcwNDQ0P3Rzbi1hbXA?oc=5
2020-12-30 08:01:30Z
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