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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO - While the Celtics may have read the scouting report on Kyle Lowry, one of their traveling fans must have missed the memo, apparently.

You probably don't want to make Toronto's All-Star point guard angry and, on Friday, he found that out the hard way.

The Raptors lead, once as large as 19 points, was cut down to five late in the game as Boston made its run, which we knew they would. Despite losing four games in a row for only the second time this season, the Celtics have established themselves as one of the toughest, scrappiest teams in the NBA. They're well coached, they play hard and there's no quit in them.

With Boston knocking on the door and Lowry having a relatively quiet night, by his immense standards, there was a nervous energy building at the Air Canada Centre. There were plenty of tired legs in white uniforms, wrapping up a stretch of four games in five nights and, historically, Toronto has struggled maintaining big leads and putting teams away.

Enter Lowry.

He opened the fourth quarter by picking off a Celtics pass and going coast-to-coast for the layup. Terrence Ross followed suit with a transition bucket of his own, a Patrick Patterson turnaround shot after that, then Lowry really went to work. The Raptors' best player drilled a long three, then 30 seconds later he hit another and as he ran back down the court, after each one, he barked in the direction of the sideline. At first it looked like he was having words with the visiting bench, but he clarified after the game.

"I would never disrespect a bench," he said following his team's 105-91 victory. "I have the utmost respect for those guys. It was definitely not towards them and I went and told them that."

"It was to a fan, who was talking trash the whole game."

The fan was dressed in Celtics green, seated right behind their bench. What did he have to say? Lowry wouldn't specify but he wasn't shy in firing back. A motivated Lowry is a dangerous Lowry and, once again, his play did most of the talking.

"He was big," Dwane Casey said of Lowry, who scored 15 of his game-high 32 points in the final frame. "He came through and he played with force and that's what you've got to do. If you don't play with force in this league people will take your reputation and take everything you have and I thought he came in and played with force, met their force."

Lowry's status has turned into a daily guessing game, as Casey continues to hint at giving his point guard and other starters routine nights off as the playoffs get closer. Some speculated that Friday could be one of those nights, given his workload in an overtime win over the Pacers just 24 hours earlier. He had logged over 40 minutes in three of the previous four games and five of nine games this month but, despite all the talk of finding him rest, he's only missed one game this season and he's showing no signs of slowing down.

This is the time of year he had in mind when he altered his body and lost the weight last summer and it's certainly paying dividends. Perhaps it's even helping him late in games, where he's playing his best basketball and blossoming into Toronto's closer.

Ranking seventh in the league in fourth-quarter scoring, Lowry is in some pretty good company, trailing just Damian Lillard, James Harden, Anthony Davis, Stephen Curry, DeMarcus Cousins and LeBron James in that category.

"I think it’s just the ability to play off the ball with Cory [Joseph]," Lowry said. "It gives me time to roam and chase the ball and his abilities to get to the basket and create for me have just been a good combination. For me it’s just about being consistent throughout."

On the night, Lowry needed just 14 shots to score 32 and the Raptors bested Boston by 20 points in the 37 minutes he was on the floor.

After the game he had one last message for the poor soul that helped light his fire.

"I think I got the last word."