At various points this season DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry have played superb basketball, proving themselves as all-star calibre players and justifying talk that has them rated among the best backcourts in the NBA.
At other times each of them has played somewhere between poor and average. In either case DeRozan and Lowry, the backbone of the Raptors, have never quite played their best individually at the same time.
And yet the Raptors set a franchise record with 49 wins and will host the Washington Wizards on Saturday afternoon as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, the second straight year Toronto has opened the playoffs at home.
Now, with the playoffs at hand, the question: Can they play like all-stars together, and at once? And what happens if they do?
The question was posed to DeRozan Thursday as the Raptors began to ready themselves for what they hope will be a long playoff run. As he pondered it Lowry lurked just off stage, waiting for the answer.
“We can get done whatever we want to get done honestly,” he said. “And with that I give you Kyle Lowry.”
The Raptors point guard picked up the gauntlet.
“He answered it,” said Lowry. “I think we can get done whatever we want to get done. That was the reason he was an all-star last year, I was an all-star this year. There’s a good chance we can do a lot with both of us playing at a high level.”
The reality is they can play at level 11, or even level infinity, and it won’t matter unless it translates into the Raptors doing one better than their loss at home in Game 7 of the opening round last season.
Could Lowry and DeRozan peaking earn the franchise its first appearance in the Eastern Conference finals?
“I think we can go as far as, going to, playing until June,” Lowry said, who stopped just short of putting ‘Raptors’ and ‘NBA Finals’ in the same sentence. “We’ve just got to go out there and concentrate and think about the things we’re going to do and lock in. I think we can do a lot of good things.”
The potential shimmers like coins at the bottom of a fountain. The idea of Lowry and DeRozan playing at their highest level at once – in the playoffs no less – is tantalizing both a fan base and an organization.
“That’s what you hope [for],” said Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri. “That’s why we really put them on the team and gave them this opportunity.”
Ujiri will be watching closely, admitting that he’ll evaluate his team and his stars even more intently in the post-season. Are DeRozan and Lowry a duo that can lift a team to a championship one day, given the proper help? It will be up to Ujiri to decide as time presses on. Lowry is 29 and DeRozan is two years from a massive free-agency payday. The Raptors are a young team, but their stars are in their prime and there is no time like the present for them to stake a claim on the near future.
In November and December Lowry was one of the best players in basketball and the Raptors one of the hottest teams in the NBA, a combination that helped him get voted in as an all-star game starter. He averaged 21 points, 7.6 assists and 4.7 rebounds on 45.5 per cent shooting as the Raptors surged to a 24-7 start, the last half of that run accomplished with DeRozan out with a groin injury.
Since March 1 it’s been DeRozan who has looked every inch the all-star he was a year ago, as he posted a line of 24 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists on 45.5 per cent shooting.
“That man is playing at a high level. An unbelievably high level,” said Lowry. “I think his game is just taking the next step. Last night, honestly, if y’all watched the game, he didn’t even try and still had 16, six and four [against Charlotte in the season finale]. No disrespect to who we were playing, he didn’t try. He was just out there and he didn’t shoot any free throws. He had 16, six and four. It’s pretty impressive.”
What wasn’t impressive was the play of the franchise’s two stars in between their best months. Lowry hit a wall in January and February, shooting just 36.4 per cent from the floor before the team shut him down for three games at the beginning of March to rest unspecified injuries.
Similarly, DeRozan struggled to find his form after missing 21 games with a torn tendon in his groin as he shot just 37 per cent over the 22 games he played in January and February.
Given that the pair took a third of the team’s shots, it’s little wonder the club listed to a 13-14 record over the two lost months.
There are signs – and hope – that the two are finally peaking at once. DeRozan is playing some of the best basketball of his career, according to head coach Dwane Casey, in part because he’s recognizing how his ability to attack opens the floor for teammates.
“He’s reading the situation,” said Casey. “[He’s] reading what they’re trying to take away; that’s been huge and it’s been a luxury because now he’s getting Tyler [Hansbrough] buckets, he’s getting [Jonas Valanciunas] buckets and making [teams] pay for cheating off of them and he’s reading that situation very well.”
Meanwhile Lowry showed a hint of his vintage form on Wednesday night after three erratic shooting performances following his return from a back injury. He went 6 of 9 from the three-point line in one of his best shooting performances in a month.
Peak Lowry and peak DeRozan at the same time is a dizzying prospect, and could be the key for a Raptors club that has dreams of playing well past April.
“For me, if those two can reach that level where they’re playing together and playing the way we know they can play I’m absolutely confident,” said Ujiri. “They’re both fearless, they can both score. I think they can make an impact on the defensive side of the ball. … This is a good stage. This is a good time to see this happen and we can’t wait until Saturday.”