Kyle Lowry: LeBron’s ‘probably’ one of NBA’s best ‘besides Steph’
Kyle Lowry was brilliant on Sunday, scoring 35 points with nine assists, seven rebounds and four steals to lead the Toronto Raptors past the Miami Heat and into the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in franchise history to square off against the East’s top seed, the Cleveland Cavaliers. As tremendous as he was during the game, though, it was a moment after the final buzzer that drew attention on Monday.
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“Waiting in the wings is a LeBron James-led team that looks awfully tough to beat,” said ESPN’s Doris Burke. “What are you most looking forward to?”
“Just the opportunity to play against those guys. You know, LeBron’s probably one of the best players in the league besides Steph[en Curry]. Kyrie [Irving] is a tough matchup and Kevin Love’s always a tough matchup, but we’re going to go in there, play our game, and try to go out there and do our job, and see what happens.”
“Probably” is a qualifier that would normally arch eyebrows anyway. “Besides Steph,” though, surely reads in Ohio like outright warfare … especially less than a week after LeBron responded to Curry’s selection as the NBA’s first unanimous Most Valuable Player — a race in which James finished third — by noting the vague and slippery nature of the term “most valuable,” which, as it happens, doesn’t necessarily mean “best.”
Whether there was any malice aforethought there, any intention of denigrating LeBron or attempting to get inside the four-time MVP’s head, is anybody’s guess, really. Personally, I seriously, seriously doubt that Lowry felt the best course of action minutes after clinching the conference finals berth was to lick a shot at a dude making his sixth straight trip to the third round, but I suppose it is possible. (I thought CBSSports.com’s Matt Moore did a pretty good job of laying out the other possibilities, too.)
Raptors coach Dwane Casey certainly made it clear during his Monday chat with the media that neither Lowry nor anybody else associated with his club has anything but an appropriate level of fear and admiration for the King:
“Whoever’s making a big deal about that has nothing else to write about,” Casey says about people talking about Lowry saying … (1/2)
— Eric Koreen (@ekoreen) May 16, 2016
…LeBron is one of best players in league “beside Steph.” (2/2)
— Eric Koreen (@ekoreen) May 16, 2016
Raptors coach Dwane Casey called LeBron the best player in the NBA. “There’s nothing but respect in our locker room,” for James, he said
— Jason Lloyd (@JasonLloydABJ) May 16, 2016
Casey: Cavs are playing like maybe best team in the league. “In my heart I feel like LeBron James is the best player in the NBA right now.”
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) May 16, 2016
Casey calls LeBron best player in league. Has been consistent in saying that for years now.
— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) May 16, 2016
Intention only matters so much, though — that’s word to my man Pablo — and if James took that “probably” and that “besides Steph” as a slight, well, that’s probably all that’s going to matter. One suspects LeBron didn’t need any additional motivation with a second straight NBA Finals trip just four wins away. One suspects he’ll use this for that anyway, because, well, that’s what hyper-competitive elite athletes tend to do … especially if they’re still feeling some type of way about coming in third in MVP voting.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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