Lowry channels Marshawn Lynch after bad loss to Bucks

Josh Lewenberg

TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO - Marshawn Lynch has set an unfortunate precedent and the Raptors, all of them, should be above it.

Fresh off a bad loss, one in which his team set a new season-low in scoring, Kyle Lowry had little interest in disguising his frustration, taking a page out of the Seattle running back's handbook by repeating the same short phrase, or a variation of it, over and over again in response to a series of post-game questions.

The Raptors' all-star point guard was asked about his coach's comments. Dwane Casey had referenced the team's lack of energy and focus, what was it like to be out there as a player?

"Just had a bad game," Lowry shot back after being held to two points, hitting one of his seven tries in 29 minutes of action on Monday.

They had hit 32 per cent of their field goal attempts as a club, how much of those shooting woes were self-inflicted, how much a result of Milwaukee's defensive pressure?

"I think we just had a bad game as a team," Lowry responded.

Finally, a reporter inquired about the injury that briefly took him out of the game in the first half.

"Just overall bad game for us as a team."

Okay, at that point it became abundantly clear, Lowry was not in the mood to cooperate and - unlike some of Lynch's recent Super Bowl press conferences that would go on this way for several minutes - no one was going to continue wasting his time, or their own.

So that was it.

DeMar DeRozan, also (understandably) frustrated, answered questions in his usual mindful and thorough manner.

"We came out flat," he explained. "They were missing a couple of key guys that they usually have and they came out playing extremely hard. We got to give credit where credit is due. They played extremely hard at both ends."

A thorough account of what had gone wrong. No excuses, full accountability: what we've come to expect from DeRozan, from the team as a whole and - up until Monday - from Lowry.

Lowry, to his credit, has blossomed into a sterling leader for the Raptors over the past two seasons. He's set a positive example with his toughness and work ethic. His voice, his actions are the most dominant on the court and in the locker room. But most importantly, he generally takes accountability, as any good leader should.

This loss was bad, but not particularly troubling. The Raptors had just won six games in row, looking like their old selves after hitting a mid-season roadblock earlier last month. They were coming off two overtime wins on back-to-back nights and a stretch of four contests in five days. This was just one night, one game of 82.

There's no reason for panic, but it shouldn't be on DeRozan to stand up and explain that. Not just DeRozan, anyway.

Lowry rarely seems ecstatic to speak with the media, few professional athletes are - although some may be more willing to fake it - but it's part of the gig, especially for the team's highest paid player. It's part of being accountable, a quality Lowry and his teammates have consistently demonstrated since they turned the corner last year, a quality that Lowry did not display on Monday.

Lynch's reluctance to speak to the media goes back years, but his tactics have been in the spotlight during the week leading up to Sunday's Super Bowl. Having received a series of fines for failing to uphold his media responsibilities in the past, the Seahawks star running back has popularized the disengaged scrum as an attempt to circumvent the NFL's policies.

He'll often use one word or phrase - most recently, "I'm here so I won't get fined" - to answer every question. Outside of deflated footballs and a controversial late-game play call, it's been the biggest story in the NFL of late. Lynch isn't the first high-profile athlete to take a public stance against league-mandated cooperation with the media, but his is currently the most topical and has been since late in football's regular season. People are talking about it and, naturally, so are players.

Several NBA players have jokingly paid homage to Lynch, with one, Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook using a similar tactic to make a statement directed at a reporter he doesn't care for, repeating the phrase "we did a good job of executing" in a post-game scrum earlier this year.

With his reenactment, Lowry made his own statement. But was it the right one? Would he not have been better suited following DeRozan's lead by addressing the loss, taking responsibility for an off night and explaining how they plan to turn the page?