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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO - It all seems sort of fitting, doesn't it?

Kyle Lowry has never been one for the quick start. He spent the first half of his 10-year career platooning at his position on two different teams, searching for his identity as both a player and a person in the league. Even statistically, the first quarter has long been his least productive of the game. He's the quintessential underdog, a late bloomer.

Still, the Raptors' All-Star point guard always finds a way to finish strong, and apparently, so do his fans.

For the second straight season, Lowry will start for the Eastern Conference in February's NBA All-Star Game on the strength of another late push by the voters, who had also come through for him a year ago.

Lowry was on the outside looking in after each of the three voting returns, both this year and last. When the league released its final ballot update last week, he was still behind Cleveland's Kyrie Irving for the second starting gig at his position, trailing by more than 32,000 votes. When the starters were announced Thursday evening, he had surpassed Irving by nearly 68,000 votes - a 98,000 swing in just seven days. Lowry's supporters, who were especially active on social media in the eleventh hour, have developed a knack for the comeback. Last year, Lowry trailed Dwayne Wade by over 100,000 before passing him in the final days of voting.

"I just appreciate the fans, the push that they [made]," Lowry said after Toronto's Thursday afternoon practice, hours before learning that it had paid off. "They didn't have to do that. They put a crazy effort into the push and trying to get me in there."

"It is an honour to be voted as a starter for the All-Star Game, especially for one in my home arena," he wrote in a press release following the announcement. "I am thankful to all the great Raptors fans across Canada and throughout the NBA."

The 29-year-old Lowry is averaging career highs in points (20.9), rebounds (5.0) and steals (2.3) while his team holds the East's second-best record through 42 games. He's come along way in just a few years, as those who have witnessed his journey can attest to.

"It's very cool," said Raptors teammate Luis Scola, who also played with Lowry for three years in Houston. "I'm very proud of him. I think he built his career in an amazing way. He came to Houston as a backup, earned the starting job, had some ups and downs after, but then exploded into the All-Star he is now. He's been great. It's been fun to watch him evolve throughout his career."

Scola and Lowry were both with the Rockets until the end of the 2011-12 campaign. That was supposed to be Lowry's breakout year. He had earned the starting job out of camp and looked like he was finally coming into his own, playing the best basketball of his young career through the opening two months, before a serious bacterial infection and clashes with head coach Kevin McHale derailed his season. He could have been an All-Star, but instead he was jettisoned over the summer, traded to Toronto for a conditional first-round pick.

Like many of his other former teammates and coaches, Scola could see Lowry had the desire and the means to be great, even as a young player, but he didn't expect him to take off the way he has with the Raptors.

"I think he did more than I thought he was going to do, a little bit," the veteran forward said. "I think everybody knew he was going to be a good player. There was no question about it, he was going to be a good player and he was going to play a lot of years in the NBA. I just think he took it a step further."

His evolution hasn't just taken place on the hardwood. With time, experience, marriage and fatherhood, Lowry has grown into a better leader and a better man, which has allowed him to take his game to a level most didn't think possible.

"That happens," Scola added. "Four or five years ago, we happened to be in the mid-20s, some of us in the early-30s and five years is a lot of years, so you grow. There's no way around it. You're going to mature, you're going to get better as a person, you're going to understand the game better, you're going to understand the NBA life better. He was single. Now, he's got a family, he's got babies.

"So all those things make you grow and you can see that growth in him. You can see that growth in pretty much everybody, most of the people, it's just natural life, you just mature and grow. He's doing a great job at that. He became a great leader, he became a great player. He was always a positive personality on the team but now not only is he a positive personality but he's also an All-Star and he's also the leader of the team."

Lowry had to wait until his ninth season until he was finally named an All-Star, but this year's selection may be even more meaningful. Not only will he be representing the host Raptors in Toronto on February 14, but he'll almost certainly be doing so alongside his teammate, backcourt partner and good friend, DeMar DeRozan - a virtual lock to make the team as a reserve.

"Oh man, words can't describe [what that would be like]," Lowry said. "It's just one of those things where, hopefully, you both get in there and we share these moments together. For him being in a sitaution where his team wasn't so good seven years ago, to a team where we are in second place in the East right now. I know it means so much to him.

"I think it's just people are starting to respect that we're actually really great together. We've worked on it for four years now. We both want to win, we want the best for our team and organization. I think if you start from there, your two top guys want that, it goes a long way."

For Lowry and DeRozan both, nothing has come easy, nothing has come quick. Perhaps that's one of the reasons they've bonded the way they have, perhaps it what makes the taste of success that much sweeter. They've earned it.