TORONTO – He’s been here a long time. More than half of his long career. Long enough to play more playoff games than anyone who has ever worn a Toronto Raptors uniform; long enough to win more playoff games than any other Raptor. Long enough to lead the franchise in steals and (soon) lead it in assists.
Long enough to be acknowledged – by knowledgeable fans anyway — as the most impactful single on-court performer the franchise has ever had.
Long enough that Toronto is Lowry’s basketball home, regardless of where he’s been, where he’s from or where he goes from here.
In time, Lowry’s career with the Raptors – barring some kind of epic, messy break-up – will be properly celebrated. The 33-year-old who plays basketball in a way a traditional hockey market can easily appreciate will be recognized in some permanent way, shape or form.
For the moment the manner doesn’t matter. He’s done enough to deserve whatever he gets. Never forget: the previous No.7 for Toronto was Andrea Bargnani, the marshmallow-minded Italian who is Lowry’s opposite in every conceivable way.
For scrubbing his memory alone, Lowry deserves a medal.
But Sunday evening’s game at Scotiabank Arena will go a long way towards determining not only how Lowry is rewarded, but how he’s remembered.
Guide the Raptors to a win in their second-round, Game 7 showdown with his hometown Philadelphia 76ers and Lowry will have one more milestone on his lengthy Raptors resume.
Whether the team advances to the NBA Finals or not and whatever happens in what is likely shaping up to be a tumultuous off-season, helping the Raptors to two Eastern Conference Finals in four years is an accomplishment that should never be minimized or over-looked. It took 21 years to get there the first time after all.
The Raptors’ best six seasons in terms of wins and playoff wins all happened under Lowry’s watch. He’s left more skin on the floor at Bay and Front than any player ever has or likely will. He’s been the cornerstone of the Raptors’ ‘Era of Relevance’.
But fall short? If the Raptors’ one guaranteed season of Kawhi Leonard gets them no further than they did the past two seasons without him? Fair or not it will be hard to look at Lowry quite the same way. It’s a fine line between over-achieving underdog and simply not being good enough.
It’s not necessarily fair or even rational but life is like that. Blood has been spilled to get the Raptors to this point. Lowry knows it more than anyone. Part of Toronto being able to get to this stage and survive through a fairly topsy-turvy season was Lowry being able to push aside his feelings for his departed friend DeMar DeRozan and learn to work with — and eventually thrive alongside — Leonard, Danny Green and, lately, Marc Gasol.
But all that pain and all those moves weren’t about the regular season or even the second-round of the playoffs. They were about something bigger.
"[It] means a lot. Means a chance to go to the Eastern Conference finals, a chance to get another step closer to our goal, our team goal, my individual goal to make The Finals," Lowry said Saturday. "… [It] means a lot just overall for our team, our organization, [to] take another step towards where we want to be."
But the Raptors have to get past the 76ers first, and through six games Philadelphia has come as advertised – talented, big, athletic and on the rise.
Lowry knows the parallels between this current series and the one franchise milestone that precedes his time in Toronto. He was a 15-year-old Allen Iverson worshipper in North Philly when that Sixers club beat Vince Carter and the Raptors in Game 7 of the second-round and made it all the way to the NBA Finals. The Sixers haven’t been out of the second-round since, and have leveraged nearly everything to get their team this far.
One of these star-powered assemblies is going to fall well-shy of expectations and after pushing a lot of big chips into the middle of the table.
But will anyone wear it more than Lowry?
On the Philly side they have youth to explain things away. No such excuse in Toronto.
Leonard, Green, Gasol? They’re all passing through, potentially. They don’t have any nicks in their armour from past battles in a Raptors uniform. Their time in Toronto won’t alter their personal legacies in a negative way. They only have upside to gain. They are thought of as a solution.
Pascal Siakam? He can only do well and learn. He’s not going to be held responsible for anything bad — only the good.
Lowry, though, has been the constant through the rise and is now the only remaining original as the franchise crests towards what should or could be the peak.
He’s done his part, a scoreless stumble in Game 1 against Orlando and a passive 2-of-10 stinker in Game 3 against Philly aside.
"I think he’s played very, very well in these playoffs, just in general," said Raptors head coach Nick Nurse. "I just think he’s had really good games, and there’s obviously been some games where he’s had more points and it seems like he’s played a lot better, but I think he’s played really, really well. Continuing to fight like heck and block everybody out no matter how big they are and take charges and all those kinda things … I believe Kyle will be there to play tomorrow, with some unbelievable energy and making plays … "
Nurse and Lowry and the Raptors’ fanbase can take some comfort in knowing that some of Lowry’s best moments in the uniform have come in Game 7s — the ultimate test of mettle. His best game ever might have been his 35-point, nine assist, seven rebound tour de force to eliminate the Miami Heat in the Game 7 of their second-round series in 2016. In three Games 7s as a Raptor Lowry is averaging 24.7 points, seven assists and six rebounds on 43.4 per-cent shooting overall and 47 per-cent from deep.
Lowry and the Raptors would certainly sign off on an ‘average’ Game 7 from their point guard if those were the results.
One way or the other, Lowry seems determined to come out gunning, driving, diving. Being timid with so much at stake might mean you don’t fail as spectacularly, but it almost guarantees you won’t succeed. Going for it was the plan against Miami two years ago, and Lowry remains committed to it.
"It was the moment. Game 7s are what you play for, what you work for," he said. "It’s one of the best games in your career … you get to a Game 7 you know how hard it’s going to be. For me, it’s kind of like, you go out there and you play hard. That Game 7 [against] Miami it was just about doing whatever it takes to win. I think this game it’s just working as hard as you can, leave it all out there.
"Like I said, we really have to win or go home."
The problem for Lowry is, in basketball terms, Toronto is home. It’s win or live with it. One way or another he will be remembered forever here. There is nowhere to turn.
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