Lowry wills Raptors to gritty win over Lakers

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The Toronto Raptors donโ€™t believe in statement games, and why should they? After winning the NBA championship a year ago, theyโ€™ve more than proven themselves worthy of defending it this season.

When the campaign came to an abrupt halt nearly five months ago they were the second-best team in the Eastern Conference, third-best in the whole league, and were ahead of their own pace from the year prior.

If there was any question about who they were and how good they could be, it certainly wasnโ€™t coming from anybody in their locker room. There arenโ€™t many clubs that have established and embraced an identity quite like the Raptors.

They play hard, donโ€™t quit, defend better than almost anybody else, and theyโ€™re in it for more than just one game, or one win. That doesnโ€™t mean they canโ€™t recognize and rise to a big moment, though. They may not believe in statement games, but they sure have a flair for the dramatic.

โ€œI don’t think anybody’s going to pay much attention, they don’t ever seem to, but it’s OK,โ€ said head coach Nick Nurse, following Torontoโ€™s impressive 107-92 victory over the Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Lakers in its season re-opener on Saturday.

โ€œSeriously man, we love to play the games and we like to compete, we know we’re tough to beat, we really do, and I think there’s a ceiling we can get to yet.โ€

The Raptors were led, as they usually are, byย Kyle Lowryย โ€“ a man on a mission Saturday night, and from the moment he arrived in the NBA bubble.

With the spotlight shining bright on Torontoโ€™s first game of the restart โ€“ it was being broadcast nationally in the U.S. on ESPN โ€“ Lowry put on a show. Not only did he outplay the Lakersโ€™ superstar duo ofย LeBron Jamesย andย Anthony Davis, he nearly outpaced them himself โ€“ scoring 33 points and grabbing a career-best 14 rebounds, compared to 34 points and 16 boards from James and Davis combined.

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โ€œNick says heโ€™s gonna ease us back in and use it as exhibition but our competitive spirit, we have too many competitive guys out there that want to go out there and play and hoop and win games,โ€ Lowry said. โ€œEspecially playing against a team like the Lakers, a team that is No. 1 in the West. The competitive juices get going.โ€

Lowry was brilliant. When the Raptorsโ€™ offence was sputtering along through the first three quarters, he put them on his shoulders โ€“ getting to the rim or the line, where he attempted 15 free throws. When he felt the momentum slipping away he took a charge or fought for a loose ball. When the game was in the balance, he hit big shots and made winning plays.

โ€œHe was vintage Kyle tonight,โ€ Nurse said. โ€œHe was scoring and flying around and taking charges and competing and getting us some critical buckets and keeping things ticking over. He was great.โ€

These resilient 2019-20 Raptors were born in a game against the Lakers nearly nine months ago. It was November 10 โ€“ the ninth game of the season, but it was the first night we really found out what this team was made out of.

Lowry andย Serge Ibakaย had just gotten hurt a couple days earlier. They were going to miss extended time and, to make matters worse, Nurse didnโ€™t trust his young bench.

โ€œWe all didnโ€™t think we were very deep at all a couple weeks ago,โ€ he said just before that game in L.A. โ€œIโ€™ve been saying we got eight guys I really like and three guys are missing [from the rotation]. So, Iโ€™m gonna have to start liking a few more guys here pretty quickly. This is their chance.โ€

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In what could have been called a statement game at the time, the undermanned Raptors shocked the Lakers, who were 7-1 and undefeated at home going into that contest. It was the night they found out theyโ€™ve got more depth than anybody realized. It was a character win and maybe the most emblematic victory of their season so far. It set the tone for who they would become.

On Saturday, 266 days later, they reinforced it against that same Lakers team. Despite everything thatโ€™s happened in the world during that time, the Raptorsโ€™ identity hasnโ€™t changed.

Their second-ranked defence held the Lakers to a season-low 35 per cent shooting. Davis โ€“ who scored just 14 points, nearly half his season average โ€“ only attempted seven shots. Former Raptorย Danny Greenย was held scoreless in almost 20 minutes.

โ€œI think theyโ€™re a great team,โ€ James said. โ€œThey won a championship for a reason, and it wasnโ€™t just all solely because of Kawhi [Leonard],ย and obviously you see thatโ€ฆ Thatโ€™s why theyโ€™ve been the team that theyโ€™ve been all year.

“Great team, no if’s, and’s or but’s. Well coached.ย Championship DNA. The media may not give them as much credit because Kawhi is gone but players know what type of team they are.”

OG Anunobyย was excellent as the primary defender on James and also contributed 23 important points on 8-of-9 shooting. After a slow start,ย Pascal Siakamย (15 points and nine rebounds) made some big plays down the stretch.ย Fred VanVleetย had a double-double of 13 points and 11 assists. But the night belonged to Lowry.

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The 34-year-old doesnโ€™t just look refreshed after the hiatus, but he seems focused. Heโ€™s fully committed to leading the Raptors back to the Finals, but his purpose in Orlando is bigger than basketball.

In a powerful moment during the pre-game anthems, both teams linked arms and took a knee to peacefully protest social injustice and anti-Black racism, as other clubs have been doing since the season resumed on Thursday. Whatโ€™s unique about this demonstration is that it was the first to include both the U.S. and Canadian anthems.

Lowry, his teammates, fellow NBA players as well as coaches and personnel around the league are united in their goal โ€“ to use this platform and the spotlight of the restart to amplify the message, fight for social justice, and inspire meaningful change. More than anything else, thatโ€™s whatโ€™s fuelling the Raptorsโ€™ all-star point guard.

โ€œI just want to win games, have an opportunity to go out there and play for my teammates, have an opportunity to go out there and play basketball and have an opportunity to go out here and spread our social messages that we have, Black Lives Matter,โ€ Lowry said. โ€œGo out there and talk about voter suppression. Those are the things that are getting me going right now โ€“ education reform, worrying about getting justice for Breonna Taylor. These things are all things that are getting me going and have me out there doing the best I can.โ€โ€‹

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