Raptors' Kyle Lowry's 10,000 point milestone a reminder of how far he's come

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton both had double-doubles as the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Toronto Raptors 115-108.

No one could have expected Kyle Lowry to be in this position nine years after arriving in Toronto as a young point guard mad about being traded, pissed off about being here and looking to ‘do his time’ and move on.

Lowry would be the first to admit that his plan upon joining the Raptors from Houston in the summer of 2012 was to put in a year, maybe two and then move on.

Hey, things change.

So, there was Lowry Wednesday night pulling up for three on his first touch of the game for points 9,999; 10,000 and 10,001 of his Raptors career, joining Chris Bosh and his dear friend DeMar DeRozan as the only players in franchise history to hit the milestone in Toronto colours.

They flashed a tribute to his achievement on the scoreboard at Amalie Arena in Tampa where the Raptors are riding out the pandemic, but there were no fans in the building to see it.

Shame. At Scotiabank Arena the ovation from the crowd that has seen Lowry grow, mature, lead and fight for every inch on the floor during his career in Toronto would have brought the house down.

“I would have never expected it to be here and I tell you guys that all the time,” Lowry said afterwards. “But it just shows in life things happen for a reason and situations happen for reasons, and you continue to work hard, and you continue to believe in yourself. And having a city like Toronto backing me and the relationship myself and [president Masai Ujiri], [minority owner] Larry Tannenbaum, Bobby [general manager Bobby Webster] we've created, the relationship I had with DeMar [DeRozan], all the guys that have been through here, I can keep going on naming guys, but it just shows that hard work pays off. In life, you can't pick and choose where you’re meant to be, but when you are there you take full advantage of it.”

Lowry has squeezed everything possible out of his near-decade in Toronto. But that his latest march into the franchise history books -- he’s already there as the team leader in assists, steals and three-pointers made -- came in a hard-fought, 115-108 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks seems a little more familiar.

This season the measure of success will likely have to come from things other than playoff rounds won or championship rings handed out.

It’s not quite a full circle, but there are some echoes to Lowry’s early days with the team, less the angry young man part.

When Lowry arrived in Toronto the Raptors were a team going nowhere but sideways, having missed the playoff for five straight years and likely headed for a rebuild in 2013-14. Lowry came within an eyelash of being traded as part of it.

But a deal to the New York Knicks fell through in December of 2013; the Raptors subsequently went on a tear and Toronto hasn’t missed the playoffs since, peaking with an NBA title in 2019. Lowry’s a six-time all-star, will have his No. 7 retired when the moment is right and will likely have a statue outside Scotiabank Arena too, hopefully with both hands upturned in wonderment at yet another bad call.

All good things come to an end, however, and with the Lowry in the last year of his contract and this edition of the Raptors looking like all their good intentions aren’t certain to add up to anything tangible in a deep Eastern Conference, this season might have more in common with Lowry’s first couple of seasons here, when the playoffs were a glimmer on the horizon to strive for, rather than simply a means to an end.

The loss to the Bucks wasn’t all that different from so many close battles the Raptors have come out on the wrong end of so often already this season.

Even down OG Anunoby (calf strain) the Raptors scrapped; moved the ball, competed defensively and got some welcome contributions from a range of sources, be it Norm Powell (23 points on 13 shots) as he shined again in a starting role or quality minutes from the likes of Yuta Watanabe, Stanley Johnson or Chris Boucher.

Lowry tried to will them over the hump with a 14-point fourth quarter on his way to a 21-point night. A Johnson three with 1:20 pulled Toronto to within four. But Johnson missed a similar shot on the next possession, the Bucks got a bucket from Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton iced it at the line.

But overall the Bucks were bigger, stronger, deeper and had Giannis Antetokounmpo, who finished with 24 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists. As a team, the Bucks had more offensive rebounds (14-10), more points in the paint (40-26), more second-chance points (19-15) and took 26 free throws to 12 for Toronto, with the Raptors not getting to the line once in the fourth quarter -- not all that shocking considering they rank 25th in free throws attempted on the season.

The Raptors falling short in those areas over-and-over again is a big reason why they are 7-11 and likely need different goals -- or at least additional goals -- than just gunning for an NBA title.

Lowry is adjusting.

“My joy, honestly, is watching Norm, Freddy, Pascal, OG, grow,” Lowry said. “That's my joy -- and winning basketball games. I just want to be able to continue to play at a level where I can help these guys grow and get better -- but the challenge of getting us to the position where we can make the playoffs, that's fun. It sucks when you're losing, but you've got to make sure, 'alright, we've got to chase them.' We've got to be the hunters again. We've been the hunted for so long, and now we've got to go hunt. And I think that part is going to be pretty cool once we continue to get better.”

The Raptors almost certainly will. Scrub off their 2-8 start and they are 5-3 since. They are not an easy out and under Lowry’s watch likely never will be.

But how much better they can get is the question and will it be good enough so what could be Lowy’s last season in Toronto will end differently than his first -- the one he thought was going to be his last, more than 10,000 points ago.

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