At the end of Game 4, when the Raptors’ victory began to seem safer, Nick Nurse saw an opportunity for a joke with one of his star players.
He asked Kyle Lowry, whose late 22 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists were in 44 minutes, if he sought to be replaced.
“I consulted him a couple of times, but I joked. I asked him if he needed a submarine, with some kind of smile.You know… He groaned me,” Nurse said, laughing after his team tied his series with Boston..
I said, “I’m kidding.”
Back on par with Boston after the Raptors’ ultimate full and impressive game in this series, there’s room for jokes where there probably wouldn’t have been a day or two ago.all by locating its three-point touch (17 out of 44 for 38.6%) and getting a healthy bench contribution from Serge Ibaka (18 numbers and seven rebounds).
More importantly, the Raptors have locked up a Celtic team that, even without the injured Gordon Hayward, is full of offensive options.His percent-93 win marks the first time in the series to keep Boston below a hundred points.
You may not be surprised to read this, however, it’s all Lowry’s.He managed to replicate his start in the third game, scoring 11 of the team’s first 17 points.His score stopped until the last quarter, essentially, however, he dug during the 44 minutes he played, leaving his fingerprints in all facets of the game.
There was a series in defence where Lowry defended the band, then had to push under the basket to put a mark on Daniel Theis, who is almost a foot larger than Lowry, who with the neutralized medium, turned in time to take a rhythm from Kemba Walker, one of the three offensive fouls he had committed at night.
There was a fearless education to the basket, Fred VanVleet’s best passes on the perimeter, a magnificent touch passes his hands to a Pascal Siakam for the end.At one point in the first quarter, caught in transition, Lowry controlled to get up on the air enough to break a hallway that not a single idea understood.
“Every time Kyle starts like he did tonight, it’s a smart sign,” Ibaka said.
“We want it. It’s our engine and that’s what we want.It’s great to see Kyle have games like him (in Games 3 and 4).”
As much as it helped, it wasn’t so much Lowry’s offense that looked like daggers in the last quarter; it’s just his presence.It’s as if he’s in each and every game, impacting the game one way or another.
He chased a lost Marcus Smart pass that may have gone off limits on his own, but instead, Lowry threw himself towards the ball, sending her and Jayson Tatum to the LED display on the sideline.Lowry finished the chalk game at the table, in all his shorts.It’s the best performance of his night.
“That’s what playoff basketball is all about,” VanVleet said.
“Kyle embodies what this team is and sees him step in and take matters into his own hands, watch him undress (players) and play defense, still Jayson Tatum, one of the league’s most sensitive scorers, just giving a overall effort to loose ball … nothing yet to see him put it all out there. That’s what we expect from him and I think we’re all looking to fit into that power ourselves.
When they were down 0-2 in this series, VanVleet said the team just needed a little juice, a little magic to move forward and get them out of their bad mood.Lowry responded with a two-game streak that enthusiasts and experts don’t forget in the coming years.He has played 90 minutes in the last two games, making one of the hardest passes to put a winner that the league can see.Both games were efforts of the Tasmanian demon type, just a surge of power at both ends of the ground, sacrificing his small body every time he saw the opportunity.
“I mean, when someone comes out, it gives us a competitive boost,” Nurse said, “but it’s obviously our team leader and our veteran.When he does that, I think he automatically hits everyone like an explosion of energy, concentration and confidence.
Much can be replaced in two games. After a terrible start in this series, the Raptors have regained momentum and it seems like everything is imaginable again.