Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey believes that part of Kyle Lowry’s early struggles was due to the point guard trying to do too much.
“Kyle is such a competitor that when he first came in I think he felt like he just had to do the bulk,” Casey told Roger Lajoie Wednesday on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. “We got behind or we hit a rough spot and sometimes when you hit a rough spot you don’t get anything done.”
Since Lowry returned from injury on Dec. 28, Casey noted that Lowry has been a changed man.
“Now he’s just letting the game come to him. He’s taking what the game is giving to him,” Casey said. “He’s doing a great job of accepting his role and playing within the team concept.”
Lowry won’t be the last player that will have to be reintegrated in the lineup. Andrea Bargnani is expected to return to action soon, but the Raptors coach is not overly concerned about it.
“I am not too worried about Andrea. He’s a veteran — he’s not really an old player but he is one of our veteran players — being in the league as long as he has, so he certainly won’t have as big of a problem fitting in because he knows the system. He knows what we are trying to do,” Casey explained.
Bargnani and Lowry were both injured when the Raptors were in Portland, where they were shellacked by the Blazers Dec. 10, a game which many believe to be a tipping point for Toronto’s fortunes.
“I think the game at Portland was the turning point,” Casey said. “The guys made a decision collectively that hey we’re tired of getting our butts kicked. The best way that we are going to have a chance to win is to do it together and if one guy doesn’t do it as a team you stick out as a sore thumb.”
A big part of the Raptors’ poor start was because they were forced to play a good portion of their schedule on the road, where a couple of recent wins have pushed their away record to 4-15. At home the Raptors are 7-5.
Casey said that while they will play their next six games at home, they are not guaranteed to win and that the team will need to protect the home-court advantage.
“Just because we are playing at the Air Canada Centre, it doesn’t mean we are automatically going to win,” Casey said. “We’ve got to come out with the same focus, the same energy and the same sense of desperation that we did in the last couple of weeks.”
Casey praised his players’ work rate at home and that played a big part in their success.
“Nobody comes into the Air Canada Centre and outworks us,” he said. “Execution wise — nobody comes in and out-executes us. But most importantly no one comes in and outworks us.”
