MIAMI — They were there just at opposite ends of the cramped visitors locker room at American Airlines Arena, at opposite ends of the Toronto Raptors‘ divergent emotional spectrum.
In one corner there was big man Jonas Valanciunas, limping, his right foot wrapped heavily to keep the swelling in his ankle out of the joint as much as possible.
In an instant he’d gone from the best thing that had happened to the Raptors in the playoffs to a painful question mark symbolizing that no matter how well things seemed to be going for Toronto, the banana peel that can trip up a franchise is always lurking around the corner.
At the other end of the room? There was Kyle Lowry, getting dressed, about to head to post-game podium yet again. For most of the playoffs it’s been an exercise in frustration, although he’s never shown it. Game after game, practice after practice he’s had to explain the unexplainable, trying to articulate what it’s like when your game has abandoned you in the playoffs one more time.
But this time there was only good things to talk about. This time Lowry could sit behind a microphone and explain what it’s like when everything goes just right, when your magic returns just when your team needs it the most.
“I felt like the shot was there last game, to be honest,” said Lowry, moments from putting up 29 of his 33 points in the second half, moments from answering the questions with emphatic deeds. “I felt like it was just a matter of time for me to shoot the shots and for them to go down.”
But what timing.
The Raptors won Game 3 of their second-round series against the Miami Heat 95-91 to take a 2-1 lead with Game 4 slated for Monday night.
What that will hold is unknown, but it’s hard to imagine it will have the whiplash between heartbreak and euphoria that Game 3 had, although these being the Raptors, anything is possible, realistically.
Valanciunas’s moment and Lowry’s triumph were intertwined. If you were following along at home it must have been like having your worst nightmare followed by a fantasy come true.
With the Heat’s Hassan Whiteside out with a knee strain, Valanciunas, already Toronto’s best player in the series, was dominating. His first half was a thing of beauty. He scored in the post. He hit one of his gawky-yet-effective elbow jumpers. And most of all he rolled to the rim confident there was no resistance, catching lobs, finishing and drawing fouls. Through 24 minutes Valanciunas served up a convincing snapshot of why the Raptors are certain his best days are ahead of the just-turned 24-year-old as he finished the first half with 16 points and 10 rebounds on 11 shots in 19 minutes of playing time. That it came after his brilliant showing down the stretch in Game 2 made it all the better.
There seemed to be more on the way given that Whiteside left the game early in the second quarter after his teammate Luol Deng rolled into his already strained knee. He will be getting an MRI, but the initial sense was that he’s almost certainly gone for the series. All of a sudden the Raptors had a clear edge in the paint and maybe a clear path to the Eastern Conference finals.
Even better, after the Raptors took a 49-40 lead at the half, Lowry came out of the locker room after a four-point first half and hit two consecutive triples – the same Lowry who was 9-of-60 from deep to that point in the playoffs. The Raptors were up by 13 and things were looking about as good as any reasonable Raptors fan might expect.
You could see it. The Raptors potentially up 2-1 in the series. The Heat without Whiteside, Valanciunas rolling, Lowry finding his game.
And then Valanciunas extended himself to go after a Dwyane Wade layup and appeared to step on the back of Wade’s foot after the play. It was completely innocent. Of all the ways to get hurt playing in an NBA game, stepping on guy’s foot after the whistle has to be the most innocuous.
And yet there was Valanciunas in pain, grabbing his ankle, rocking, hoping it wasn’t true. He limped to the locker room with Luis Scola following for support.
It didn’t matter. He was out for the game. An X-ray proved negative.
“It’s swollen, we’re gonna see tomorrow how it is,” said Valanciunas. “And we’ll play it by ear.”
Meanwhile, Wade was heating up. The Heat shooting guard hadn’t hit a triple for 56 games before the playoffs began and by the time he’d hit back-to-back threes late in the third quarter, he’d hit seven straight and three in Game 3.
The Raptors’ lead was down to four and the crowd, most of whom arrived in Wade’s No. 3 jersey, was suddenly electrified.
But so was Lowry. What had begun as a trickle when Lowry hit a pair of key jumpers late in Game 2 had turned into a river in the third, as Lowry matched Wade’s 18-point period with 15 of his own.
Valanciunas was gone, but Lowry was back.
“It was highs and lows. We started the game on a high, JV goes out and it’s low, D-Wade gets it going and it’s a low and seeing Kyle play like Kyle was a high,” said Patrick Patterson, who played a little bit of centre himself in what became a small-ball game, dominated by Lowry and Wade. “It’s just a mixture of emotions: frustration, happiness, sadness and proud, seeing Kyle play like Kyle and trying to feed him the ball as much as possible and seeing him hit shots.”
The Raptors needed every one because the 34-year-old Wade was turning back the clock, scoring 29 of his 38 points in the second half. By the time he paused the Heat had turned a 13-point deficit when Valanciunas left into a six-point lead.
But Lowry wasn’t done. His triple with five minutes left gave the Raptors the lead again; three minutes later he gave them another lead and one of his trademark fading left jumpers with 31 seconds left – answering a Wade floater – gave Toronto a three-point edge that was enough get it home thanks to six straight free throws by DeMar DeRozan, who had nine of his 19 points in the fourth quarter.
It was the kind of performance Raptors fans wouldn’t have blinked at in March. Lowry finding a way to elevate his team was the theme of his all-star season. But it was a showing Lowry had never really managed in the playoffs. Certainly not in this post-season and obviously not against Washington last year. He had some big games against Brooklyn, but that whole series in 2014 was found money.
Heading into Game 3 it was beginning to look like the idea of Lowry being able to carry his team in the playoffs was simply not feasible. Play well? Sure. Impact the game? Of course. But carry his team? He hadn’t so it was hard see it happening in his 21st playoff game as a Raptor.
It looked like Valanciunas could be that player and through the first half and a bit on Saturday night he was. Then he went down, and who was there to pick him up?
You never would have guessed.
“I don’t think it was me putting the foot on the gas,” said Lowry. “JV was holding it down. He’s been holding it down all playoffs. I think me and DeMar just said we have to be more aggressive. Not verbally say it, but we knew the situation we were in and it kind of was Whiteside’s out, JV’s out. It’s a guard’s game today. The floor opened a lot more.”
And for the Raptors, their post-season possibilities have too.
