Columnist image

TSN Raptors Reporter

| Archive

TORONTO - With four minutes remaining in the third quarter, Kyle Lowry blew past Kyrie Irving and laid in two of his 35 points on the night, increasing the Raptors' lead to 15 and forcing the Cavaliers to call a timeout.

As Lowry walked back to the bench a couple of his teammates rushed over to greet him, to celebrate, but the all-star point guard waved them off as if to say, 'We've got a long ways to go.'

"We were excited, we were happy, I think we were making a good run and Kyle got a good look and was able to knock it down," recalled Patrick Patterson, who was on the court at the time. "We were excited, we were happy but Kyle was cool and composed, just realizing the game wasn't over, there was still a lot of basketball to be played and he was trying to settle us down and keep us going."

For months, the Raptors - led by head coach Dwane Casey - had been stressing the importance of staying balanced, not getting too high and, most importantly, not getting too low. It's easier said than done, of course, especially at this juncture. They had every reason to be down on themselves after dropping the first two games of their Eastern Conference Finals series in Cleveland by a combined 50 points. Some assumed that they were.

They had thrown in the towel, many said after Game 2, Lowry had quit on his team. Most of those people, as you might imagine, hadn't seen this Raptors team play much, if at all, so you can see the confusion. However, those who know them, who have watched them, who are familiar with Lowry - the indisputable heart and soul of the team - knew better. They may have been overmatched and they may be again, but quitting isn't in their DNA because, more than anything else, quitting isn't in Lowry's DNA.

Once again, Lowry and the Raptors flipped the script, they took control of the narrative and stunned the NBA universe, including their heavily-favoured opponents. They were supposed to be the worst team to ever advance to the Conference Finals and the Cavs were supposed to cruise to the next and final round. It was supposed to be quick and painless. The Raptors had already exceeded all expectations, making it further than they ever have. They were just supposed to be happy to be there. They weren't supposed to take one game let alone two and now, just like that, we have a brand new series.

The Raptors had your attention, but they want your respect.

"We're not there yet," Casey stressed after his team tied up its best-of-seven series with a 105-99 Game 4 victory at home. "Right now we've found something, but again, I still say that we're a young up-and-coming team that's got to stay hungry, got to stay humble, and continue to compete with poise, because again, nobody thought we were going to be here."

"Nobody gives us a snowball's chance in you know where to beat Cleveland, but we've just got to keep on churning, keep on working, keep on grinding to try to continue to win."

After pulling off the upset in Game 3, the Raptors were expecting the reigning East champs to come at them hard on Monday. However, it was Toronto that threw the first punch and maintained a lead throughout the first 36 minutes, going into the fourth where the Cavs eventually made their run, and you knew they would. Cleveland made its first 10 shots of the final quarter, at one point scoring on 14 straight possessions. The Raptors advantage, once 18, evaporated and the lead would change hands eight times in the frame as Lowry and DeMar DeRozan went toe-to-toe with Kyrie Irving and LeBron James.

The Raptors bent but they didn't break. Lowry and DeRozan were their stabilizing forces. Toronto's prized backcourt has endured an up-and-down playoff run, to say the least. 

Lowry battled an ugly shooting slump, only to get out of it before falling victim to it again. Now, he's on a role. After hitting one of his 15 three-point attempts in the first two games of this series, he's knocked down eight of 15 over the last two.

"Kyle, he's a little pitbull," Casey said. "I mean, you question him, that's when he rises to the occasion. I've seen it so many times, and throughout the playoffs everybody second-guessed him, and he's always bounced back."

"Some games we haven't shot the ball well, and we just continue to go back and understand the work that we've put in," Lowry said. "I know the work he's put in and I know the work I've put in. You can't go away from that. You have to continue to stay with the work and the process that you've put in throughout your career, throughout the years. I think the things that we've learnt from ourselves is one game, two games erases everything that has happened before."

DeRozan has recorded back-to-back 32 point contests - two of the best performances he's turned in over his seven years as a pro. On Monday he did it with James serving as his primary defender, just about the highest degree of difficulty you can think of. Toronto's all-star guards combined for 67 points, the most they've totalled in any of their 29 playoff games together. According to ESPN Stats and Info, they're the first pair of teammates to each record 30 points on 60 per cent field goal shooting in a Conference Finals game since Charles Barkley and Dan Majerle did it with the Suns back in 1993.

Ask their teammates about their night of work and they won't mention the scoring, not initially anyway. They'll credit their leadership, the way they held the team together when most just assumed it would fall apart.

"It's very important," Patterson said. "There are a lot of situations out there where guys can lose their heads and Kyle is able to get in there and talk to us about certain plays that we feel should have gone our way. Kyle is able to calm us down, get us refocused and just have us realize that there's so much basketball left to be played, that a lot of things can happen, that the game isn't over yet and we still need to continue to push forward."

"Kyle and DeMar just did a great job of talking to us about realizing they're going to make runs. This game is going to be a game of runs but at at the end of the day it's who can make the best run and withstand the opposing team's punch. They did a great job of running plays for themselves and for the rest of the team. No one put their heads down, everyone was focused, everyone was still enjoying the moment and realizing that we have to fight and continue to push back."

They've come a long way, certainly a lot further than most expected them to, but they're not done yet. They're two wins away from the NBA Finals which, if you're familiar with the franchise's sorted history, is a feat in and of itself. However, as Lowry reminded his teammates on Monday, this is no time to celebrate.