Drake falls short in Lowry, DeRozan ASG push

Drake has done a lot for the city of Toronto, but his latest philanthropic act will likely fall short in the end.

In a late campaign to collect enough votes to ensure starting spots for both Toronto Raptors guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan at the 2016 All-Star Game, the platinum-selling artist posted two Instagram videos Sunday morning asking fans to vote for the hometown favourites.
 

The problem is, while the hashtag #nbavote counts towards the vote total, Instagram likes and comments don't count for the game in Toronto on Sunday, Feb. 14. In comparison, all retweets on Twitter with the player's full name and the hashtag #nbavote does count.

Last season, Justin Bieber tweeted his support for Lowry leading up to the All-Star Game but failed to include the hashtag. The tweet resulted in more than 56,000 retweets - all lost votes.

If only the ringing endorsement of one's head coach was all the votes needed.

"They deserve to be in the All-Star game. The politics of it, the voting and all that stuff, who can control that?" Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said. "You can work as hard as you can to get the votes but at the end of the day, that is what it is. I know in my heart of hearts that Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are All-Stars."

Lowry earned a starting spot in last year's All-Star Game after some of Canada's most famous faces came out of the woodwork to campaign on Twitter, resulting in the 29-year-old's first All-Star appearance and only the fifth appearance by a Raptor.

From former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Canadian tennis player Milos Raonic and the Toronto Maple Leafs official Twitter account, there was no shortage of support for Lowry.
 

Since the last update, Lowry trails Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving for second among Eastern Conference guards by 32,285 votes. DeRozan is even further back in sixth place, trailing Irving by 137,074 votes.

The late surge and fan voting played in Lowry's favour last year, but if he and DeRozan are to make it in 2016, it will most likely be as reserves.

As long as they're not excluded altogether - at least says Raptors forward Patrick Patterson.

"I'm going to be extremely disappointed and frustrated if Kyle and DeMar are not on that All-Star team because they're so deserving of it," Patterson said. "They've played exceptionally well throughout this whole season, they've led us into games and they're just great guys overall. So I'll be extremely hurt if those two guys are not in the All-Star Game."

Voting officially closed at 11:59:59 pm et on Jan. 18 and the starters will be announced on Monday at 7pm et.

Lowry can only hope he has the opportunity to play with DeRozan in front of the home crowd at the Air Canada Centre.

"I just think it'd be... words can't explain it," Lowry said. "Just the memories that it would bring back, the memories that we would create, the pictures we would be able to take and the time with friends and family, it would mean a lot, man. For where he's come from, where I've come from, where this organization has come from. It would just mean a lot, man."