Lowry: Raptors need to treat Game 1 like a Game 7
TORONTO — A lot of critical fingers pointed in Kyle Lowry’s direction when the Toronto Raptors were swept by Washington in the opening round of the 2015 NBA playoffs.
The humiliating exit was a low point for both the team’s starting point guard and the franchise, and was the catalyst for changes to both.
“I know I got a lot of blame from some people in this room and I took it hard,” Lowry told a crowded room of reporters at the team’s Biosteel Centre practice facility Friday. “I came back and got better from it. I think a lot of people got better.”
The Raptors open the NBA playoffs today (2:30 p.m. PT) against the Wizards, and Lowry talked about adding that embarrassing series three years ago to the giant chip on his shoulder he’s famous for playing with.
“Every day I step on the floor, I use it as motivation,” Lowry said. “But I don’t dwell on it. It’s something that’s old for me. I’m not going to lose no sleep from it.”
Raptors fans, however, might lose some sleep over the team’s ill-boding opener. The team is infamous for blowing Game 1s, even in the friendly confines of the Air Canada Centre, winning just one of their 13 playoff openers. Their lone victory came in the second round against Philadelphia in 2001.
The question was posed to several Raptors on Friday’s eve of the post-season. How do they slay that Game 1 dragon?
“Our Game 1 is our Game 7, to be honest,” Lowry said. “We’ve gotta play like it’s Game 7, like it’s our last game. We’ve lost a lot of Game 1s . . . that’s the mentality that we have to have.”
Lowry had just four points on 2-of-11 shooting in last year’s opener, a 97-83 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Why are the Raptors notorious for bad starts?
“I think we just haven’t played hard enough,” Lowry said. “We’ve just been so uptight in Game 1s. I think this is a different year for us. We wanna play like a Game 7, but we just wanna go out there and play our game. It’ll be fun.”