National Post

LOWRY VITAL TO RAPTORS PLAYOFF CHANCES.

BUT PLAYOFF RIDE GETS MUCH EASIER IF HE IS

- Scott Stinson sstinson@postmedia.com

Two minutes i nto Game 5 against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night, Kyle Lowry attempted a long turnaround jumper that missed. Four minutes after that, off a Serge Ibaka steal and with the Bucks scrambling to get down court, Lowry pulled up for a 25-foot three-pointer. It missed badly.

This was Playoff Kyle Lowry and that was not a good sign.

But then, funny thing. After going scoreless in the first quarter on three missed shots, Lowry hit 4- of- 5 in the second quarter, including both of his three-point attempts. He would score just four points the rest of the way to finish with 16 on the night, but with his 10 assists, three steals and usual handful of hustle plays, Lowry was again one of Toronto’s best players. He had just two turnovers and no Raptor had a better rating on the night than his +29.

Perhaps this is why Lowry, on Wednesday after practice, seemed the furthest thing from a man concerned about his well-documented post-season struggles. Because he knows this team doesn’t need him to score.

Lowry sat in his chair on stage at the Raptors’ practice facility, leaning back with the microphone held loosely in his hand. He joked with reporters, being playful- grumpy as opposed to actual grumpy. When one began a question with a preamble on the frustratio­n of another post-season that involved bumps and bruises, the point guard cut him off: “My body’s fantastic right now,” Lowry said. “Thank you for asking.”

Ah. So those stretches in Game 5 where Lowry was prone on the sidelines, were just ... naptime?

But if Lowry is loose and comfortabl­e as the team heads to Milwaukee with a chance to close out the series in Game 6 on Thursday night, it’s not like he doesn’t have good reason to feel that way. Coach Dwane Casey’s move to a small lineup, with Norm Powell starting for Jonas Valanciuna­s, has had the Bucks out of sorts for two games now — both Raptors wins — and Lowry said the addition of another wing player alongside Toronto’s all- star backcourt had obviously counter- balanced the aggressive defence that Milwaukee had played early in the series.

“It’s kind of hard for them,” Lowry said, talking about Milwaukee’s tendency to go to quick double teams on the perimeter. “I mean, you can’t put your attention on three guys,” he said. “He fits in well with what DeMar (DeRozan) and I do.”

And so, if the Bucks try to adjust by giving Powell — 25 points in Game 5 — less room, that in theory will open up space for the all-stars to do their thing.

Unless Milwaukee does something else entirely. This series has been wildly inconsiste­nt from game to game and Casey acknowledg­ed on Wednesday that he will need to be ready to mix things up again on the fly.

“You have to. You have to. The most important thing is the players have to understand the moment. It’s the playoffs,” Casey said. “I probably wouldn’t have made substituti­ons in the regular season as quickly as I do now, just because (now) you don’t have time to make up for ( mistakes). Each game is so important, each possession is so important.”

He said he doesn’t want his players out there with one eye on the bench, afraid the hook will come as soon as they clank a shot, but that they know it’s up to the coaches to find the right combinatio­ns at different moments of the game. Casey has made a point of not just crediting Powell for being ready to step in and perform, but always compliment­ing Valanciuna­s for willingly moving in the other direction. ( The large Lithuanian, for his part, does not seem to mind coming off the bench for now. “Same game,” he said. He is economical with the words.)

But as much as this series has been one about the typical backand-forth of adjustment­s, with the Raptors taking a punch and then responding and now the Bucks with a chance to swing back, all of that would become moot if Lowry finally steps up with the playoff game that Toronto fans have been waiting to see. Not the Playoff Lowry whose scoring numbers are a sharp drop from his norms, but the Fourth Quarter Kyle and the Kyle Lowry Over Everything and whatever other nicknames and memes have been created as he has become an all- star and an Olympian and one of the most reliable crunch- time players in the NBA. If that guy shows up, the guy who shoots 41 per cent from distance instead of 28 per cent, who takes over the game in key moments, then the Raptors almost certainly win a Game 6 for once in their playoff lives.

Lowry, when he wasn’t blowing off questions about his health on Wednesday, admitted he would have to be some kind of hobbled to not play. He talked about watching the playoffs as a kid, the Jordan years, and how these were the games in which he always wanted to play.

The Raptors don’t need Lowry to be the playoff hero to win this series. But it sure wouldn’t hurt.

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 ?? MORRY GASH / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Raptors guard Kyle Lowry hasn’t been at top regular-season form during the Eastern Conference quarter-final series against the Milwaukee Bucks, but he has done enough to help Toronto take a 3-2 lead.
MORRY GASH / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Raptors guard Kyle Lowry hasn’t been at top regular-season form during the Eastern Conference quarter-final series against the Milwaukee Bucks, but he has done enough to help Toronto take a 3-2 lead.
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