Raptors' Lowry: 1st-half exit was to 'decompress'
CLEVELAND — Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry said he went into the locker room late in the first half of Thursday night’s 108-89 Game 2 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers because he needed to “decompress.”
Lowry, a two-time All-Star, had five turnovers in the first half and missed all four of his 3-point shots before he left the bench with 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the second quarter to blow off some steam. The Cavs were in the midst of a 16-2 run, 12-2 of which came after Lowry’s exit.
“Just to kind of decompress, get back there, kind of relax my body and relax my mind,” Lowry said. “And knowing that we had a chance to kind of make some things [happen], I wanted to get myself going and get my teammates going and get the team going. It was nothing more than just kind of to decompress, breathe and get back out.”
Lowry said this wasn’t the first time he had gone back to the locker room to decompress during his 10-year NBA career.
“Yeah, I’ve done it plenty of times,” he said. “It’s just now with the magnitude of the situation, it shows a little bit more.”
For the series, Lowry has scored 18 points, shot 1-for-15 from 3-point range and committed more turnovers (nine) than assists (eight). The Raptors trail the Cavaliers 2-0 in the Eastern Conference finals. Game 3 is Saturday night in Toronto.
“I’m super confident,” said Lowry, who averaged 26.2 points on 41.9 percent shooting in his past six playoff games after averaging 13.0 points on 30.6 percent shooting in his first eight postseason contests. “I missed countless 3s that I thought were good and that I made last series. That’s why I’m not down on myself. I’m not down — I’m really like, we’ve got a game on Saturday, and I know I’m going to be much more effective on Saturday. Simple as that.”
Despite outside perception to the contrary, Raptors coach Dwane Casey was defiant in saying his team hasn’t quit.
“I don’t think our guys have quit. I refuse to believe that,” Casey said. “We’ve won 56 [regular-season] games. We’ve been down before. We’ve had some rough patches and we’ve bounced back. I think this is the first time in the playoffs we’ve lost two games in a row, so this team will bounce back. I believe in them and they’ve got to believe in themselves, and I think they do.”
Casey, always mild-mannered with reporters, grew tired of constant questions regarding LeBron James‘ greatness. James had 23 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in Game 2 for his 15th career postseason triple-double.
“Look, you know, he’s a great player,” Casey said of James. “I don’t know how many more adjectives I can give him. He’s a great player. He’s playing great. He’s assisting. But I’m more concerned about the Toronto Raptors. [The Cavaliers are] a great team, and we respect them, but we’re here to win. We’re not here to increase his legacy or anything like that. We’re trying to take his legacy. We’re trying to win. I’ve given him all the adjectives you can give a great player that I’ve ever coached against. But I’m more concerned about our team.”
Raptors forward DeMarre Carroll voiced his support for Lowry.
“We still believe in him,” Carroll said. “He’s going to show up once we get home. Sometimes you go through a rough stretch. I believe once he gets back home, he’ll knock down those shots.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
