Homan rink sets sights on world title
NEW YORK — No one can ever question Kyle Lowry’s presence with the Raptors, no person on the roster capable of replacing his leadership and fearlessness down the stretch when the game is on the line.
In the two tips played by Toronto without Lowry in the lineup since the NBA reconvened from its allstar break, the Raptors didn’t drop a game.
Monday, the club dropped a bombshell, the kind of news that will test Toronto’s resolve and depth, the kind of news that came out of nowhere when everyone thought Lowry would return sooner rather than later from a wrist injury.
Instead of heading back to the court, Lowry will be heading for surgery in New York Tuesday morning, a procedure to remove loose bodies from his right wrist, or shooting hand, performed by Dr. Michelle Carlson.
Lowry is hoping to return in time for the playoffs.
In a release by the Raptors, the club acknowledged how symptoms began following the Feb. 15 meeting against Charlotte.
It went on to say that swelling was persistent with pain and limited joint range.
The surgery is being done now with the intention to put Lowry in a position to get ready for the postseason.
An all-star who didn’t have much an impact during all-star weekend in New Orleans, Lowry is averaging 22.8 points, 6.9 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 37.7 minutes in 56 games this season.
He’s a free agent this summer with the potential for Lowry to cash in big with the NBA flush with cash.
On paper, the Raptors had an ideal point guard rotation with Lowry as their starter, Cory Joseph at backup and emerging piece Delon Wright waiting in the wing.
Joseph has been very efficient in Lowry’s absence since the break, turning the ball over a combined two times in wins over Boston and Portland.
While Wright did struggle against the Celtics, he rebounded nicely against the Blazers.
Clearly, the Raptors are a better team with a healthy — or even a banged-up — Lowry available, but as long as DeMar DeRozan can score at the rate he’s been filling the net — he had games of 43, a career high, and 33 heading into Monday night’s game against the host Knicks — there should be enough talent to compensate for Lowry’s loss.
Defensively, the Raptors are a more locked-in team with the additions of Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker, versatile players who can guard multiple positions, veterans familiar with the game’s bright lights.
With Ibaka, the team can go small and the added presence of Tucker allows the Raptors to switch on defence without getting caught in poor matchups.
Lowry is Toronto’s floor leader and general, but this is a battletested team coming off a deep playoff run last spring, made tougher with the separate trades that landed Ibaka and Tucker.
After conquering Canada for the third time in dramatic fashion, Rachel Homan and her robust Ontario rink have their sights set on yet more gold.
World-championship medals.
Homan’s foursome next competes at the worlds, March 18-26 in Beijing. Homan’s team from the Ottawa Curling Club won silver in 2013, and bronze in 2014.
On Sunday night at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines, Ont., Team Ontario overcame two lost leads in posting a pulsating, extra-end, 8-6 victory over Michelle Englot and Team Manitoba in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts gold-medal game.
Being the world’s top-ranked women’s curling team is one thing for Homan, third Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney and lead Lisa Weagle. But having medal-winning experience on the world-championship stage will help them most in Beijing.
“It’s different,” Homan said of the worlds late Sunday night. “It’s a different crowd, different venue, a little bit different ice. And so our experiences there will help us perform to our best.
“We’re representing Canada. It’s just a surreal feeling, and I can’t wait to put the maple leaf on.”
In defeating Manitoba for the first time in three attempts at this year’s Scotties, Homan seemingly made every type of difficult shot there is. A whistling, cross-sheet, double takeout for three ... Another double to briefly sit four ... A delicate freeze to the button to sit shot stone ... A game-saving double at the back of the house with the penultimate throw in the 10th end, to force an 11th … And finally — at the conclusion — a long runback to dispatch Englot’s buried shot stone, and sit for victory.
Homan wasn’t perfect on the night; no player was, or would expect to be, when two such teams of proven, unflappable shotmakers go at it. Indeed, the skips crashed into the odd guard, and misjudged gold line or weight on a few draws.
As in all sports, however, the headshaking misses only heighten the drama and make us appreciate all the more the jaw-dropping makes.
For instance, Englot and her team of third Kate Cameron, second Leslie Wilson and lead Raunora Scott continued their inexplicable, late-game affinity for scrounging points from unpromising ends with the hammer, and stealing points without it. That’s in part how they lost only one of 12 games before Sunday, and turned a 3-1 deficit after two ends on Sunday into a 4-3 lead entering the eighth.
Ontario lost a second lead (6-4) in the 10th, but still pulled out victory in the 11th.
I asked Homan afterward if she and her three-time Canadian champions ever had to make so many clutch, unlikely shots to win a big game.
“I don’t think so,” Homan said. “Not for this stage, not for this kind of pressure, with that much on the line for us — no.”
Among the lasting takeaways from this thriller was the play of the thirds: Ontario’s Miskew and Manitoba’s Cameron. Each shot 86%.
The best example of their representative effectiveness came with their last throws in the most dramatic end, the 10th. Miskew wiped out two Manitoba stones for Ontario, which earned a thunderous cheer from most of the 4,143 on hand.
Cameron calmly answered by scattering the resultant two Ontario shot stones, to leave Manitoba sitting two.
Bam, bam: elite one-upmanship for any curling position, level, or gender. And this was the 25-year-old Cameron’s first Scotties, and fourth for the 28-year-old Miskew.