Holly MacKenzie - Raptors.com
The Toronto Raptors are trying to figure things out. Down 0-2 in their series against the Washington Wizards, they have no other choice but to find some answers quickly. With the series shifting to Washington for Games 3 and 4, Toronto hopes to have Kyle Lowry on the floor. They also hope he’s able to stay there.
Limited with foul trouble in the first two games of the series, Lowry left Tuesday’s game in the fourth quarter after getting tangled with Paul Pierce and did not return. He called the injury a shin contusion before saying he would be okay. Raptors head coach Dwane Casey echoed Lowry’s assessment after the team went through a film session on Wednesday morning.
“He's fine,” Casey said. “[It’s a] bruise, just his shin. Got hit on the knee, he's going to be OK.”
With John Wall and Bradley Beal turning in postseason bests in Game 2 (26 points and 17 assists for Wall, 28 points for Beal), the Raptors need Lowry on the court. They also need him to be more effective than he’s been in the series thus far.
Through two games, Lowry has made just five of 20 field goal attempts, and has missed all six of his attempts from beyond the arc. Picking up his second and third fouls in a 10-second span in the second quarter on Tuesday, Lowry expressed frustration after the game at trying to play physically, but hearing the whistle blow as a result.
“He’s got to continue playing,” Casey said. “You can watch [his two fouls in the second quarter] 50 times and say. ‘That’s a foul, that’s not a foul.’ The official called a foul. Don’t put yourself in that position. He’s a smart player. He’s one of our smartest players. He understands that he can’t put himself in that position, to put the team in that position, to take a foul. We just had the same thing on Saturday. It happens. It happened. He’s smarter than that. I know he’ll do a better job the next game.”
DeMar DeRozan said Lowry knows the team needs him on the floor.
“[It’s] extremely frustrating, for sure,” DeRozan said. “Him dealing with foul trouble, dealing with an injury last night and me knowing him, it’s just tough. He feels like he’s letting us down in a sense, but we all gotta stick together no matter what. If you’re not playing well, if you’re missing shots, you still gotta stick together and fight through.”
In this position the only option is to fight through and find a way to sustain the energy they’ve had in the first quarter of both games. Toronto led by seven in the second quarter of Game 1 and by as many as 10 in the opening quarter of Game 2.
“If being down 0-2 [doesn’t] stimulate urgency, then I don’t know what would,” DeRozan said. “Nobody’s ready to go home, nobody’s ready to pack it up. We understand how bad we played these last two games and we want to do a lot better.”
The Raptors had a laundry list of things to correct after watching film. The common thread mentioned by everyone who spoke — aside from needing Lowry on the floor — was the need to play with a sense of urgency.
“In the playoffs, there’s another level [of intensity],” Casey said. “That level is what they’re talking about, and that’s what we talked about in the locker room.”